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Super Size Me Documentary analysis
Type of Documentary • Mixed-all types e.g. self-reflective Morgan Spurlock directly address the camera throughout the documentary making it self reflective. There are also multiple interviews throughout the documentary. It is fully narrated with Morgan supplying the voice over. Overall there is a mixture of types of documentaries in order to prevent the audience from getting bored and also to reinforce and authenticate what is on screen e.g. The interview with a doctor will authenticate the health risks associated with fast food.
Themes McDonalds says that people know their food is unhealthy and so its the customers responsibility to take care of themselves. It is up to the consumer what they eat not the establishment. This has been represented in the evidence from the lawsuit filed against McDonalds. At the end of the documentary, the audience finds out the prosecutors were unsuccessful in her case against McDonalds. The use of the lawsuit makes the audience feel more involved as it is a more personal as it is a real life story (not a set up) and factual piece of evidence to back up the idea that your welfare is your responsibility. • Personal responsibility to health • Manipulation of others Companies will try to place the blame on others in order to keep a good reputation. They will also use advertising/marketing strategies to manipulate people (especially young children) into wanting to buy their products. This theme adds to the documentary as it reveals how not everything the media says is true. The audience may feel more involved as they will share this experience of being manipulated and so they support Morgan and trust the voice over.
Profit • Obesity/Fast Food There are multiple other themes in the documentary such as profit and obesity/fast food. The main storyline follows Morgan as he does the McDonalds Diet for a month. This links to the theme Obesity and fast food. Other information is given about obesity e.g statistics on the fattest states which all supports the theme as well as reinforces the main storyline. Another theme is profit. Morgan Spurlock has emphasised the fact that the reason for fast food is profit. Companies are only bothered about making more money. These themes and the type of documentary are a preferred reading (Stuart Hall) in which information has been encoded and decoded by both audience and the documentary. Fast food establishments do not care for the health of the customers but are only interested in how to make more money. The obesity crisis is highlighted to support the main storyline
Narrative Structure • Multi-Strand narrative The documentary is multi-stranded as there are multiple stories rather than just one. The main storyline is about Morgan Spulock on the McDonalds diet. However the documentary also includes stories about other people e.g. Bruce Howlett who underwent a gastric bypass in order to lose weight. Lack of exercise is also highlighted as well as how corporations have manipulated audiences into buying their products without them being aware of the damage they may causes. A multi-stranded documentary helps prevent the audience from becoming bored whilst adding extra information to support the main storyline.
Linear • Open and Closed The documentary is in chronological order from the start of the experiment to the end. This makes it easier to follow; preventing confusion which can lead to the audience becoming less interested in the film. The documentary is both open and closed. It is left open at the end as McDonalds never contacted Morgan Spulock for the interview so the audience never finds out what they had to say about both the lawsuit and Morgan’s social experiment. However, the film is multi-stranded so it can also be closed. The other storylines were closed at the end of the film in a summary in which we find out what happened to them. The main storyline was also closed as we found out how long it took Morgan to return back to his original weight. By having a mixture of open and close storylines, this leaves the audience feeling satisfied but also left questioning what happened which can help promote the film as audiences will begin to ask questions.
Healthy v Non-healthy Healthy v non-healthy is a main theme and binary opposite in the film. Most noticeably, this has been highlighted in the comparison of two schools and what they serve for lunch. This is very effective as it shows the audience that even from an early age, we as a society are eating junk food- all because companies want to make profit. For parents, this will hit home and they will be more likely to engage further in the film and are more likely to be influenced by its message. This is an additional storyline to the narrative but brings the issue forward as it is happening now, everyday in schools across the country. Spurlock may have done this to show to parents that their kids are at risk and so the impact this message has should lead to change. The whole purpose of documentaries is to educate and so this method is most effective as it has a specific target audience.
Camerawork • A variety of different shot types and movements have been used in the documentary. In doing so, this allows for the multis traded narrative to not become confusing. Establishing shots help to set the scene so the audience knows where they are. 2-shots allow them to see the relationship between the people i the shot and mid-shots place the audiences attention of the person speaking rather than the background. The use of zoom ad extreme close-ups focuses the audience attention on a certain object/thing which Morgan Spulock may be talking about. Finally, Morgan also uses a handheld camera when the shots relate to his personal social experiment. This may have bee doe to immerse the reader i the film ad make them feel a part of the action. It can also add realism ad makes his experience seem more real as the self-reflective type of documentary mesa the audiences feels like Morgan i directly addressing them.
Establishing shots • 2-Shots • Mid shots • Mid close ups
Handheld Zoom • Extreme close ups
Mise-en-scene • Fast Food establishments • Doctors Office When eating in fast food establishments, in the shots you can see other customers also eating. Most commonly, you can see the logo of the fast food company as well as the products they are selling which reinforces where Morgan Spurlock is. Additionally, children are normally seen in the background eating or playing. This highlights the fact that these fast food companies target the younger generation but may also undermine the companies by making them seem simple and childlike. To support the main storyline, Morgan Spurlock interviewed doctors and also had regular check ups himself to show the audience the audience the impact the McDiet has on the body. The doctors would either be seen wearing a white, lab coat or a stethoscope around their neck. This has been done to signify where Morgan is and also make the information given seem more truthful as the audience will more easily trust what a doctor says about health compared to someone else. In the background, posters about the body can also be seen and often the environment is predominantly white to connote the sterile environment of the doctors. Again, this has been done to create a greater impact on the audience with the information as it is more trustworthy.
To represent are amount of sugar and fat Morgan ate when on the McDiet, jars filled with sugar and meat are visual representations to support what is being said. In doing this, the audience can see the vast quantity of sugar and fat he ate which could be a scare factor in order to give the audience one last push to change. It also makes it easier for the audience to see and link what is being said to something visual making it more likely to be remembered. • Jars • Car Many times throughout the film, Morgan goes through a drive thru to buy his McDonalds. You can clearly see the seat, seatbelt and steering wheel which are all features of a car. In doing so, Morgan is showing how easy it is to buy junk food without even having to leave the car. Fast food is now easily accessible and with the advancements in technology, people no longer have to walk anywhere and so less people are exercising but eating more.
Sound • Diegetic • Dialogue e.g. ‘It’s not about money, not about economics, it’s about health.’ • Synchronous e.g. Phone call with mum-‘I’ll give up one of my liver for you’ The use of diegetic sound adds realism to the film and helps to audience to engage as it makes them feel like they are involved in what is happening. It also helps to explain what is going on in the scene.
Non-Diegetic • Background music e.g. Classical music played in operating theatre, theme tune to fast food establishments • Voice over-Morgan Spurlock The use of non-diegetic sounds adds professionalism to the film but also has been used in a lighter, humorous way. The use of the omniscient voice over helps to explain what is being told on screen. Morgan often adds sarcasm and humour when doing the voice over to create a lighter tone which audiences will appeal to more than darker tones. In doing so, Morgan creates a friendly, conversational, all knowing voice which audiences can trust. The use of classical music in the operating theatre puts a comical twist on the situation. Using the childish theme tunes of the fast food establishments as background music not only links the environment in the scene to the company through knowledge of advertisements, it could also be used as mockery. It portrays the company as being silly and childish, Furthermore, it could also have been used to highlight the power of advertising as most audiences would be able to link the music to the company which is their goal.
Editing • Cuts • Fade to Black The most common use of editing is cuts. Cuts between shots means that there is no ‘dead space’ as it can be filled with other clips. These other clips link to either what the voice over is narrating or what the people on screen are discussing. Using other clips makes the film more interesting as it helps prevent boredom, constantly changing what's on screen. Moreover, it also makes the long takes seem more important as this emphasises the severity of what is being said. Overall, cuts have been used to create a sense of pace and keep the audience swept up in the movement of the film. Fade to blacks have been used on occasion to represent the passage of time and also to suggest a finality to what's being said. Fades have been used when Morgan goes to sleep/when its night-time as black is associated with night. At the end of the film when there are clips summarising some of the other storylines, fade to black has been used to connote the ending of the story to show the audience that these narratives are closed. Additionally, they have also been used when Morgan receives bad news which lowers the light tone created through the humorous narration. This has been done to remind the audience that this social experiment is in fact serious; further influencing and reinforcing the message of the film.
A few times, a dissolve effect has been used between clips. This slows the fast pace created by the cuts and allows the audience time to process what has been said. It is also a good transition to use to avoid ‘dead space.’ • Dissolve
Archive Material • Archive material has been used to back up what is being spoken about. The material is often used to break up long interviews. It has also been used in association with what is being said; for example a speech by Tommy Thompson from a few years previous makes predictions which become true to show that the obesity epidemic is happening now. Other archive material includes past posters and advertisements made by McDonalds to support the idea of manipulation and show how fast food has now become apart of everyday life.
Graphics • Graphics have been used as a way of simplifying and explaining complex information. The language and animations used are simple and easy to understand. They summarise the basics of what has been explained but also because the information is repeated, this drives home the information making audiences more likely to remember what has been said. It also makes the film more interesting instead of just having boring clips from everyday life to help keep them interested.
