Supersize Me documentary

1. Task 4
Unit 4,5,24,31

2. Approach, Expository, Observational, Participatory.
The documentary ‘Supersize Me’ features Morgan Spurlock
as the central character in this documentary. The approach in
this documentary is participatory as the audience as well as
the documentary follows Spurlock and his journey throughout
the 30 days. This is participatory as Spurlock is the central
character in this challenge of only eating McDonald’s for the
next 30 days. The documentary begins with Spurlock giving
an introduction to what he is going to be doing over the next
30 days, he then shows the audience his health records
which look to be healthy. This is monitored by health
specialists and doctors who have tested and will be testing
him over the due course.

3. Approach, Expository, Observational, Participatory
This whole process allows the audience to empathise with Spurlock
as the documentary follows him through eating the McDonald’s for
breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for the month span but then
experiencing health issues which begin to worsen and his regular
health updates which show that his health has changed, plus
advice given by from doctors to stop this challenge for the sake of
his health. This would make the audience feel the same pain that
he is currently going through, and this would continue until the 30
days are complete where he would be freed from his battles with
the challenge (and so would the audience) and therefore be free to
eat what he likes from then on. This also showed the audience the
end results from the journey and showed them the effects that fast
foods such as McDonald’s could have on you.

4. Narrative themes
Supersize me could be considered both open and closed
ended. The documentary is closed in the sense that we find
out the ending of Spurlock’s investigation being that
McDonald's has a severely negative impact on Spurlock’s
health. However it may be considered open because we
don’t find out how McDonald's intend to do something or if in
fact they do intend to change their menu/health implications.
The documentary is single stranded as it follows round one
man’s journey of eating nothing but McDonald's for a month.
Finally the documentary is linear as it begins from day one
right up until the end of the month documenting the days with
on screen text.

5. Camera Techniques; Movement, shots
The establishing shot shows a group of children of different
ethnicities. The sound of them singing a song about fast
food “Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a
Pizza Hut” can be heard. Spurlock’s decision to open the
documentary with this footage represents the nation’s
youth as infatuated with fast food. Some of the children
shown within the opening sequence are significantly fatter
than others, and the mix of different ethnicities and ages
shows that to these big corporations (i.e McDonald’s) it
doesn’t matter what age, weight or ethnicity the customer
is because they only care about selling their product – they
don’t care for the customer.

6. Camera Techniques; Movement, shots
There was a use of the rule of thirds in showing obese
people from the neck down in order to discretely hide
their identities. The act of hiding their identities could
pertain to the idea that these people are undesirable and
a shame to the country as it ruins the powerful image
that America projects, it could be stating that they are
unworthy of proper representation in the camera and as
such inferior to more traditionally healthy people. The
camera shots were used throughout many times. using
the right shot when relevant. For example, a wide shot
was used when the mise-en-scene needed to be shown
to understand the point being made.

7. Sound
Appropriate music is used as non-diegetic sound to help set the scene,
for example “rock and roll McDonalds” is played when children are
shown playing on a McDonald's play area. The documentary opens with
a group of children singing the “Fast food song”, this was used to
illustrate the fast food culture and how early its onset into children is.
The documentary is fully narrated, using voiceovers to talk through any
images shown during the documentary. One way in which Spurlock uses
the music to his advantage is by playing songs that belong to
McDonalds or have something to do with the fast food industry. For
example when Spurlock is talking about the play areas in McDonalds the
song ‘rock and roll McDonalds’ is played in the background which almost
humours the company and makes the viewers see that McDonald's is
actually not at all a good thing for children

8. Editing, Continuity, Pace,
FXThe editing in Supersize Me is significant in order to show the journey.
An example of things is a particular series of scenes illustrating how ill
Spurlock becomes off his first supersize meal. The use of fade ins and
fade outs allow the story to be sped up be still have the desired effect of
showing time was passing. Jump cuts are used in the documentary, to
make this less harsh and difficult to follow for the audience the scene will
often jump cut to an image with voice over narrative to make the transition
less noticeable. If this didn’t happen the audience may feel as though the
documentary is jumping around too much.Another type of editing that is
used in the documentary is swipe. This is most commonly used when
graphics come up on the screen. The use of a swipe to graphics makes a
smooth transition to what Spurlock is talking about. For example at the
beginning of the documentary Spurlock talks about the accessibility of
fast food restaurants and to prove this point a swipe allows a graphic of a
worldwide map come up on the screen with pin-pointed McDonald's
stores on it.

9. Mise en scene, location, lighting.
We understand this is a medical centre through the mise-en-scene.
In clothing we see that one doctor is wearing a typical lab coat
which we stereotypically associate with doctors. Furthermore we
see Spurlock wearing a medical gown something we further
associate with patients at a hospital. Also the use of equipment
further illustrates the setting, we see a machine being used to take
blood pressure and we can see Spurlock hooked up to medical
equipment/machines. McDonald's Restaurant Through a variety of
different shots we understand that Spurlock is in a fast food
restaurant. For example the menu’s on the wall combined with the
food leaflets and neon lighting all suggest he is not in a home or
work area. Furthermore the branded wrappers and containers
show the symbol of the fast food restaurant he is in. Typical items
such as little sauce pots help create a sense of a fast food
restaurant.

10. Mise en scene, location, lighting
Also, we expect to see advertisements such as “go large” in
order to make the customer buy more food. Also we do not see
many different lighting throughout the documentary we only see
bright colors as he spends most of the time outside, we also see
him at the doctors with the white walls and different posters
showing the human body and health advice. In the documentary
the use of props and the idea of annotation of costume enables
the viewers to see professionals are the knowledgeable ones in
the situation. During Spurlock’s doctor's check ups the doctors
are often shown sitting in an office chair, wearing a lab coat or
having a prop such as a stethoscope around their necks. This
almost puts an official seal on the experiment as the viewer sees
that professionals are involved.

11. Mise en scene, location, lighting
By using specific props or costume
Spurlock has allowed the viewers to take on the information being
given to them as more official and therefore makes the shock factor
of the documentary a whole lot higher. This occurs in particular
when Spurlock returns to the doctor's office after continuing the
McDonald's diet for a while and getting his blood test re-done. Here
we see the affects that the diet is having on his health and as these
are being delivered by a professional voice they seem more valid
which makes the contrast of the two blood tests seem more vast.
There are other technicalities of realism within the documentary such
as, natural lighting throughout, and the use of natural sounds like
traffic and other outdoor noises that were naturally there.

12. Mise en scene, location, lighting
Another example of realism in the documentary is when
Spurlock regularly visits the doctors to see how it is
affecting his body. The doctors explain to him that
continuing to eat the food will result in the loss of his life.
When this is said it gives the documentary even more of
a sense of realism, and the audience are shocked as
they then realise the effects and consequences which
are evident in front of their eyes, they can see the
changes in his body

13. Theories Uses & gratification (Blumler Katz)
Uses and Gratification Theory is a widely accepted
approach to understanding mass communication. The
theory places more focus on the consumer or audience,
instead of the message itself by asking "what people do
with media" rather than "what media does to people"
(Katz, 1959). It suggests that the general public are not
passive, but instead take an active role in interpreting
and integrating media into their own lives. This theory
also states that the people are responsible for choosing
media to meet their needs, and to fulfil specific
gratifications. This theory would then imply that the
media compete against other information sources for
viewers' gratification.

14. Theories Uses & gratification (Blumler Katz)
Katz and Blumler identified four main uses for Media:
-Diversion the need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. People can use
several types of TV programmes to wind down, as it is a very subjective process.
-Surveillance this relates to our need to know what is going on in the world. This
can be accessed by reading newspapers, articles on the internet, News
broadcastings etc.
-Personal Identity our need to define one's self, and to identify with ourselves. This
is usually achieved by experiencing something in the media that we can have an
opinion on. The choice of music we like, our taste in movies, our favourite TV
shows- all define us as people and we create a great sense of identity to ourselves
-Personal Relationships the need to interact with other people. This usually refers
to when we create bonds with people we see in the media, typically fictional
characters, as the sense of relationship is a need.

15. Theories Uses & gratification (Blumler Katz)
With ‘Supersize Me’ they mainly focus on diversion, this is the need for escape, entertainment and
relaxation. People can use several types of TV programmes to wind down, as it is a very subjective
process. Diversion is focused on as the documentary doesn't have a fully formal theme which will allow
people to relax and allow them to escape.
Another thing that is focused on is personal Identity; this is our need to define one's self, and to identify
with ourselves. This is usually achieved by experiencing something in the media that we can have an
opinion on. This applies to ‘Supersize Me’ as as people will have a variety of opinions on the
documentary, this then may lead to some people changing certain areas of their lives e.g. diet or routine.

16. Theories Uses & gratification (Blumler Katz)
The theory follows a basic model of which in an
audience centred approach. It is understood that
audiences use the media to gratify a certain need, for
example knowledge and information on recent news
topics to bring up socially. People seek out media to fill
the need of being informed. Social situations and
psychological characteristics create the need for media,
and as a result a certain expectation of the media is
therefore created. This then leads a person to being
exposed to seemingly fitting media, in which leads to
ultimate gratification.

17. Theories Uses & gratification (Blumler Katz)
A slight variation of the uses and gratifications theory is the "Media
Dependence Theory", however there is a small difference between
the two. Dependency on media suggests a person is needing to
reach a certain goal with media, however the uses and gratification
theory states only a basic need for media, without chasing a certain
goal. The more that some becomes dependant on media, the more
significant media becomes to that person. It is thought that if the
person has limited outlets to reach the media, the more dependant
they become. However if they have many alternatives to reaching
media forms, the less dependent they will be. The "hypodermic
needle model" states that consumers have no say in how the media
affects them. This goes against the Uses and Gratification theory as
the main idea is that people are not controlled by the media, but
instead seek out media for their own personal needs/desires.

18. Narrative structure (Todorov’s theory)
Todorov’s Theory of narrative structure consists of five stages:
- An equilibrium
- A problem within the storyline
- Problem detected by the character(s)
- Attempt to fix/ restore the equilibrium
- New or equilibrium restored
Stage 1: With “Supersize Me,” the film starts of with the character
giving statistics and facts on the overweight problems that are
increasing in the America. The main character (Morgan Spurlock)
performs an experiment to see what would happen if he was to eat
nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days and see what impact this will
have on his body

19. Narrative structure (Todorov’s theory)
Stage 2: The audience knows that the issue with
this project is that a lot of fast food is not good for
anyone, especially eating nothing but McDonald's
for the next 30 days as it is extremely harmful.
Stage 3: Although aware of the risks, the real
problem for Spurlock came a few days into the
challenge when he started experiencing pain from
the amount of food he ate. This worsened
throughout the 30 days as his health would get
worse.

20. Narrative structure (Todorov’s theory)
Stage 4:Filmwise, this film/ documentary is unconventional according to
Todorov’s theory as stage 4 (the stage where there is an attempt to fix the
problem) is hardly shown as Morgan Spurlock is suffering from this project and
rather than stopping and listening to the doctor(s) who have tested and advised
him to stop (which would’ve helped the situation) Spurlock continued his project
which did not help him during the situation
Stage 5: The film ends with the 30 days being over and Spurlock revealing the
statistics of his health resulting from the 30 days and advice and notes given by
the doctors in the film. Many may not say this counts as a new equilibrium as no
attempt made to fix or restore the equal balance in stage 4 and that there was
nothing new, different, replaced or repaired in the end for a new equilibrium in
stage 5 therefore leaving people to also believe that this is another
unconventional element of the film according to Todorov’s Theory of Narrative
Structure

21. Encoding and Decoding (Stuart hall)
Encoding is the way in which the producers try to portray the content
to the audience. In his Encoding / Decoding theory, Hall suggested
that media texts are read in three main ways. A dominant or
preferred reading of the text is the way that its creators want an
audience to understand and respond to it. An oppositional reading of
the text is when an audience completely rejects the message. A
negotiated reading is when the audience interprets the text in their
own unique way, which might not be the way its producer intended.
Supersize me is a dominant style of encoding as the creators want
the audience to understand the message that they are trying to
portray and get across to them.

22. Encoding and Decoding (Stuart hall)
They also want the audience to respond to it by making
changes in their lives. This is why the documentary gives the
viewers a lot of facts about obesity such as ‘Over 100 million
people are overweight or obese’. The way the audience can
decode the content depends on the type of viewer, some
people may have an oppositional view which means that is
when an audience completely rejects the message, this may
happen due to the fact that people may want to ignore what
information is being given to them. On the other hand some
people may take a negotiated approach which means the
audience interprets the text in their own unique way. This is the
most likely response as different people will have different ways
of dealing with things.

23. Moral Panics
Theorist Stanley Cohen suggested in his book Folk Devils and Moral
Panics, 1972, that a moral panic occurs when a “ condition, episode,
person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to
societal values and interests. According to Cohen, the media overreact
to an aspect of behaviour which may be seen as a challenge to existing
social norms. However, the media response and representation of that
behaviour actually helps to define it, communicate it and portrays it as a
model for outsiders to observe and adopt. The moral panic in supersize
me is the fact that it is not the norm to eat McDonalds everyday for a
month which is a challenge to the existing norms. The response to this
documentary was massive as people were shocked about the effects
that eating McDonalds can have on your body. People were mainly
shocked about the facts and statistics that were given on the
documentary; such as “There is 400,000 deaths due to obesity” and
“America is the fattest nation in the world.