WASHINGTON — While Morgan Spurlock, the man behind the brand
new documentary Super Size Me, ordered Big Macs with a
super-sized Coke and a side of large fries, Soso Whaley, filmmaker
and adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was
ordering Chicken Caesar Salads with a side of common sense.
Spurlock and Whaley embarked on similar documentary projects.
Both vowed to eat only at McDonald’s for three meals a day for 30
days. Now the results are in: Spurlock, who went on his McDonald’s
diet last year, wound up 25 pounds heavier, depressed, and
blotchy-faced, with high-cholesterol, memories of vomiting
profusely, chest pains, a libido that sags like hours-old fries,
and a liver that doctors said resembled pâté. Whaley,
who completed her 30 day McDonald’s diet last Friday, lost ten
pounds, dropped her cholesterol from 237 to 197, and claims she
feels great.
Of course, the dose makes the poison: Spurlock decided that he
would eat everything on the menu at least once and abide by rules
that he decided characterize the typical McDonald’s customer. He
would super-size the meal if an employee gave him the choice, he
would finish everything on his tray, and he would avoid ordering
à la carte when possible, preferring Extra Value
meals.
As a result, Spurlock often consumed some 5,000 calories a day.
He also decided to cut back on his exercise, even limiting the
number of steps he took each day. It’s no surprise that Spurlock’s
liver didn’t fare well, given that he stuffed himself on a daily
basis as though he might serve himself up as pâté
de foie gras.
This difference is judgment. Whaley disagreed with Spurlock’s
premise that consumers are unable to make responsible decisions
about their own health when basking in the warm fluorescent glow of
the golden arches. She calls Spurlock’s efforts “typical MTV
gross-out fare which seems on the surface to have some sort of
message but falls way short of any real substance,” not unlike
Jackass, or the short-lived MTV show I Bet You
Will, created and hosted by… Morgan Spurlock
himself.
So Whaley set out to tweak his film by making her own. Like
Spurlock she tried everything on the menu at least once. But she
injected some personal responsibility into her project, limiting
her intake to roughly 1,800 calories a day rather than “scarfing
down double Quarter Pounders with Cheese,” as she put it in her
daily online diary.
Personal responsibility, suggests Whaley, includes having to
think about one’s choices. “I think the majority of the American
public will be a bit offended by Mr. Spurlock’s contention that we
have no choice, and [have to] eat like some sort of automaton,” she
told me. On day five of her project, Whaley ate a Big ‘N Tasty for
lunch and a hamburger for dinner — “perhaps not the most
nutritious of days. But, I can make wiser choices tomorrow,” she
wrote.
Her daily diary emphasized the decision-making process, a theme
that will carry over into the film. “I want it to be a critical
thinking piece which explores different food issues such as Biotech
food, chemicals, and sustainable development,” she says, in
addition to the personal responsibility aspect. (Though there will
be no vomiting on film, which is certain to “disappoint the MTV
set,” she says).
Spurlock claims that Super Size Me “is a film about
corporate responsibility and personal responsibility,” though both
claims are tendentious.
“I think Mr. Spurlock’s real agenda was to create a documentary
bashing both the fast food industry and the American public. Using
phrases like corporate responsibility and personal responsibility
are mere smoke screens hiding the real messages of the movie,” says
Whaley.
Those messages, she says, include “corporate bashing, messages
that McDonald’s or fast food in general is somehow different or bad
compared to other foods, mere assumptions about the way Americans
comport themselves every day, blatant targeting of a younger
audience, and a negative view of eating meat.”
Though Whaley doesn’t aspire to be a health guru, she has some
advice for McDonald’s customers who think of two burgers for a buck
is a challenge rather than a way for two people to save some money:
“It is not my place to judge. I would, however, like to remind
people that the best idea for cutting down is to order one
sandwich, chew each bite well, wash it down with a preferred drink
— you might be surprised to find that one sandwich does the trick.
Remember you can always order more.”
