I rented Super-Size Me, and am currently watching it. Wow.
If you’re not familiar with the movie, it’s a documentary in which the film maker undertakes to eat nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days. I don’t mean to be self-righteous—I used to eat a ton of fast food, and I don’t anymore. It wasn’t really a conscious decision. I stopped when I moved to upstate New York because fast food was no longer around the corner; I had to drive about half an hour to get to the nearest fast food. Within about a month, I dropped twenty-five pounds, from 185 when I left Ann Arbor, to 160, where I’ve stayed ever since.
Anyway, it’s a very well-put-together documentary, taking on a serious subject, but keeping a good sense of humor. And as I was just commenting to a friend of mine, the “what you can do” section at the end is handled very well (that usually being the worst part of documentaries such as this one).
The main question here is how much responsibility the fast food industry shares for the obesity epidemic in the US. The film starts off with the story of lawsuits filed by overweight people which acuse the industry of causing their weight problems. I have major problems with such claims—although there are people who are genetically predisposed to being overweight, the majority just eat too much crap and don’t get enough exercise. On the other hand, though, it can’t help anyone to constantly be swimming against tidal waves of marketing. Frankly, if I have to decide between a giant corporation with nearly infinite resources and a vested interest in selling it product, and an individual just trying to go about the business of living her/his life, I’m probably going to give the benefit of the doubt to the individual…