The film documentary Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock brings to light some intriguing insight
into the absolute absurdity behind the fast-food industry. Also watching this documentary with Werner Herzog’s speech
On the Absolute, the Sublime, and
Ecstatic Truth in mind, it causes me to try to identify what exactly is the ‘ecstatic
truth’ or deeper truth behind this film. Herzog says that only through a state of sublimity does a deeper truth become
possible. He actually calls this type of truth, “the
enemy of the merely factual. Ecstatic truth, I call it” (1). Herzog also speaks of how virtual reality and digital effects have
effected the ‘truth’ to the point where we cannot trust ‘reality’. In other
words, reality has become a mystery.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Herzog, McDonalds, and the Truth
Now to conceptualize the reality and the immensity
(which is no mystery) of the McDonald’s corporation, here are some facts about
McDonalds from an article published by the business insider (link on bottom) in
2012: McDonald's' daily customer traffic
(62 million) is more than the population of Great Britain, McDonald's sells
more than 75 hamburgers every second, McDonald's feeds 68 million people per
day (1% of the World’s population), and McDonald's' $27 billion in revenue
makes it the 90th-largest economy in the world.
I personally believe the film reveals a truth in
which frequent McDonald’s customers (like myself) didn’t really want to
believe. I think many like myself knew McDonalds was unhealthy, but we did not
fully understand how unhealthy it actually is. Morgan’s McExperience provides
for us an actual account of how detrimental eating McDonalds everymeal/everyday
is to our bodies.
But besides the fact that this film gives us an
actual, informative look into the damaging effects of fast-food on a healthy
human being, I really do not think this film tell us anything we don’t actually
already know about McDonalds and fast food. Instead, I think what causes the
film to be more startling is the realization of how many people in America are
suffering from physical illnesses as a result of eating poorly. What makes it more
surprising is how McDonald’s is growing in popularity throughout the world in countries
(like in Europe and Asia) which are known to be healthier than America.
Consequently, I think the greatest revelation this
film brings to light is about the human person, not McDonald’s. I’m not sure if
Herzog would call this the ‘Ecstatic Truth’, but this truth about the human
person from Super Size Me is what intrigues
me most about the film. This revelation is that human beings make really bad
choices (repeatedly) and our post-modern culture seemingly encourages people to
make bad choices and continue on a path of poor decision-making. I don’t
believe it is any great revelation that human beings make poor decisions
frequently. However, if we couple the inherently horrid, decision-making human
beings have with the post-modern consumeristic/materialistic culture, you have
a ‘supersized’ recipe for disaster. I believe this film provides a truly,
fascinating look into how more and more people are becoming victims of our
consumeristic culture; a culture in which many seemingly pride themselves on
comfort and easy living at the expense of their well-being.
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I liked that you brought in the fact that other countries are beginning to eat McDonald's more. My parents live in Germany and I was actually talking to them yesterday and they mentioned that order McDonald's the other day. They deliver there and with ordering three meals it costs less than one meal would cost here. It amazes me that we eat it all of the the time because it is so cheap but there its even cheaper and people still don't choose to eat it as much.
ReplyDeleteI also visited Paris a few summers ago and a mall we were at used to have a McDonald's. When we asked someone why it was closed, they explained to us that the food was disgusting so no one would ever eat there. But it was the same food that millions of people eat every day. Culturally, there is something very different about the U.S. and Europe's understanding and desire for healthy, good food.
I really like how you mention that the ecstatic truth that is revealed in Super Size Me has nothing to do with McDonald's but instead focuses on the human condition, in that human beings continue to make bad choices regardless of their knowledge of the risks involved. When first watching this film, I tended to focus only on the fact that the situation Spurlock places himself in is extremely far fetched and in no way expresses reality. Also, I found it very pointless to have a documentary on how terrible McDonald's food is, as most everyone already knows that. However, I think you hit it right on the nose in saying that the "true" lesson of the film is that, despite the knowledge we all possess of the dangers of McDonald's food, we continue to eat it. Even Spurlock went into the challenge most likely knowing and understanding that his health would greatly diminish by the end of the challenge. In looking at the theme of the film from this perspective, the fact that the challenge was extremely unrealistic becomes irrelevant, as the movie speaks out to all people to let them know to listen to their head and to stop eating fast food!
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