The United States has become a country which contains the fattest people and the fast food industries are taken the blame. Morgan Spurlock, an American documentary filmmaker, who embarks on a thirty day journey to showcase why America is considered to be the fattest nation in the film Super-Size Me. He would eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, dinner during the thirty days and would supersize (doubling the size) the order if he was asked. There was no exercise involved during the process besides walking and everything he ate had to come from the McDonalds menu. Spurlock documented and released this film to show the world how fast food chains like McDonalds have adverse effects on our bodies and to increase awareness of obesity around the world. Morgan convinces the audience that obesity is a serious issue through the use of statistics and emotions of the people surveyed in the film.
Spurlock supports his decrease in health and weight gain through fact based evidence. He uses an appeal to logos to convince the audience to stop consuming fast food throughout the whole film. The film began with an abundance of facts and the one that stood out the most is “Over 100 million Americans are overweight or obsess, 60% of all US adults are overweight or obsess”. This truly helps people to focus on the social issue of obesity. It is a national pandemic that is spreading which needs to be stopped before it gets out of hand. Spurlock had several doctors monitoring his progress through the journey and documenting it to gain the approval of his audience. After the thirty days of eating nothing but McDonalds, Morgan got tested for his health for the last time, and the results showed a profound effect on his body.
Morgan had gained 24.5 pounds, doubled his body fat percentage, double the risk of heart disease, and his liver contained an adequate amount of fat. Morgan Spurlock had appointments with dieticians, nutritionists, physicians to create a sense of credibility for the film. He fulfills this by leaving the names of the people he interviewed on the bottom of the screen, so the viewer can check their credibility. During his appointments the doctors documented his medical results and gave him personal advice. Every time Morgan visited the doctors his body was drastically declining. Spurlock tried to convince people that fast food is unhealthy and as well as unsanitary. He used pathos as an appeal to the audience’s emotion throughout the entire film. We see this in the beginning when Morgan vomits inside his car from the supersized fries and drink. It showed how sick the food can make you because Morgan was nauseous right after vomiting. There was another important scene where Morgan called his mother and explaining to her how his liver was declining. It was a sentimental moment between them because his mother was crying knowing her son was risking his life eating that food.
Spurlock also appeals to emotion through inserting a video of a man getting a surgery to make his stomach a size of an apple. The purpose was to show what people struggling with obesity have to go through just to stay alive and live healthy. The filmmaker Morgan Spurlock flourished in convincing and getting people to understand that fast food is not a great health choice in the documentary Super-Size Me. It showed how your body gets dismantled through the constant eating of fast food. The documentary appealed to the audience logically, emotionally, and ethically which left them with another view on the fast food industry and obesity.
