JediDefender.com Forums
Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: Rob on May 15, 2004, 02:14 PM
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Anyone see this movie last night? Anyone planning on seeing it?
I saw it, and while it didn't tell me too much I didn't already pretty much know, it was fascinating, very well done, and paints a terrifying picture of the way this country eats and the obesity epidemic:
(http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040506/capt.nyet47505061549.super_size_me_nyet475.jpg)
IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/
Thoughts?
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Haven't seen the film yet, but it does seem interesting.
I'm replying to this thread, though, so I can point out that I haven't eaten a McDonald's "hamburger" since an April, 2001 visit to a McDonald's-inside-a-Wal-Mart location in Renton, Washington.
I'm very proud of myself for that.
(Although I have had a few miscellaneous breakfast sandwiches of theirs since then--damn the McGriddle. . .)
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I eat at McDonalds very sparingly. I'd say about 2 to 3 times a year tops for the last 3 years.
And when I go, I only get McNuggets - I don't know that I've eaten more than one hamburger from them in my life (I'm not too big on hamburgers).
It is definitely worth seeing - and I hope as many Americans as possible do.
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I read an article on this guy in the paper. I guess around day 21 or so he started having breathing problems and chest pains and thought he was going to die.
He came to the conclusion that because the food has little to no nutritional content that he was always hungry and always wanting more
That McGriddle is damn good though
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I suppose that I should admit that I have this big hang-up with watching people eat, so maybe watching this guy chow down on horse-meat and corn-flake by-products for an hour-and-a-half may not exactly be my cup of tea. . .
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Hey KBZ (and anyone else interested) have you ever read Fast Food Nation (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060938455/qid=1084649479/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-0991193-5192962?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)? If you have not I cannot recommend it highly enough. Very much damning of the whole Fast Food industry and the disgusting thing is, is that it really doesn't need to be that way. Its just what the Western World accepts and eats without much thought
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I suppose that I should admit that I have this big hang-up with watching people eat, so maybe watching this guy chow down on horse-meat and corn-flake by-products for an hour-and-a-half may not exactly be my cup of tea. . .
Horse-meat patties with corn flake by-products taste good with special sauce!
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Horse-meat patties with corn flake by-products taste good with special sauce!
Famine seconds that. Eat up. :-*
Kevin
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I want to see this - is it making a filmfest circuit or anything? I like anything about fast food.
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I am not a fan of this movie for one simple reason:
I believe in personal responsibility.
If you really are stupid enough to go out to McDonald's to eat three times a day and ingest upwards and above 6000 calories a day while doing nothing else to mitigate those effects (i.e. exercise), of course you're going to feel like crap. Should the fast food industry be blamed for your lack of self control? I don't think so. Is the population of North America stupid enough to believe that fast food is good for you, has much nutritional value? Gawd, I hope not. If it is, I hardly blame the fast food industry for stupidity.
The point is that "we" have become so incredibly lazy that we think we can eat there with no net effect and that is just plain wrong. I don't believe we need the government to restrict fast food any more than we need to restrict sugar or alcohol or anything else. Mind you, I really find all the smoking bans to be rather humorous after you distill down the actual real epidemiological statistics behind those 'damning' studies. Still, I benefit from the bans, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite anyway.
What should be the take away message from this movie? If you eat nothing but McDonald's for 30 straight days you'll feel like crap and your health will suffer. That deserves anything more than a Well, Duh? I sure hope not.
While I'm at it, and admitting I have not poured through all of Fast Food Nation, there are distinct parts I disagree with in FFN. Schlosser may well have some accurate points but he often disregards a great many things that are approved of by the FDA. Notably in the initial review that Scott linked, there is an all too typical 'scare' statement about feces literally being in your food. It's scary only in the sense that the public is so literally disconnected with food production as to find it scary. There are tolerances for just about everything in food production, from sh!t to bugs to pesticides that are allowed. If you think food can be grown absolutely in a pristine environment, I would suggest you get your ass out of town and onto a farm real quickly. Also take the time to consider how much you're willing to pay for food. While you're at it, contemplate that organic food is not pesticide free and is not nearly so well regulated as conventional farming. Also consider the notion of factory farm/corporate farm versus family farm and tell me what the dividing line is. You can thank the litigenous folks in the good old US of A for creating corporate farms, often one way to avoid that litigation or at least be able to protect yourself from it.
There are valid points in FFN and food production can be done better. But in many respect Schlosser misses the point. The factory line food production in McD's often results in the least likelihood of transferring harmful bacteris (Salmonella, E. Coli, etc.) to your food. Remember, reducing pathogens is a bad thing. Right?
There's a guy I used to work with that refers to modern urbanites as 'the worried well'. He's right, we fear what we don't know. Here's a tidbit for ya, the allowable percentage limit for insect parts in processed vegetables is greater than 5%. Enjoy your supper. ;D
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I saw it. I don't think it really hit you from the point of view that the lawsuits were justified, just that the food is unhealthy. No one should eat fast food every day, most people know that. I think it partly answered the question of why obesity is more and more common.
I don't eat fast food (other than the occasional pizza, but I order ours from an Italian restaurant instead of Domino's or Pizza Hut or whatever). So, this film didn't really change my habits about eating, but I used to drink Coca-Cola fairly frequently. I may not ever drink a Coke again. I knew there was a ton of sugar in Cokes, but I had no idea. You couldn't eat that many teaspoons of sugar at one time if you sat down with a bag of sugar and a scoop. And that's just in the small size.
I thought the humor was sort of dark and funny, too. Good flick. It at least offers up information alot of people wouldn't have had unless they actively sought it.
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I believe in personal responsibility.
I saw an interview with Morgan Spurlock on CNBC last night - and the main point that he made was that his entire movie, from top to bottom, is all about personal responsibility.