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Connor Morewood Media Studies HWK What are the main codes and conventions of the documentary genre used in ‘Super-Size Me?’ How is modern American society represented in the documentary? Director and presenter, Morgan Spurlock’s, Super-Size Me shot to popularity after daring to question the corporate fast food giants that rule the modern USA as well as the governments who cease to help the countries ever increasing obesity problem. Filmed in 2004, the documentary took a light- hearted but serious approach to the fat crisis that the country was facing and delved into records to discover who is really to blame for the issue. As well as this, the beloved presenter dives into a adolescent’s dream and indulges himself in a full month of eating nothing but McDonalds meals- 3 times a day, eventually purchasing every item on the menu. At the start of every chapter, a title overlay was placed over a piece of thoughtful artwork relating to the proceeding chapter. These titles give an intense, dramatic introduction to the chapters of the documentary as well as give context to the contents of the film. AS well as this, titles were used to indicate an interviewee’s job role and name (perhaps even title, if needed). This is done to create more professionality to the piece. The titles consisted of white text, with a translucent drop shadow while the typography appeared to be sans. Again, the simplicity of the text adds to a less overwhelming and playful feel, and instead a professional, formal item. For the expert interviews included within the documentary, the subject would always be shown in the furthest right third of the screen while looking to the left; this indicates to us that Spurlock utilised his understanding of the rule-of-thirds. This convention is commonplace for a genre such as documentary as it does DVD cover/poster for the documentary.

A2 Media Coursework: SuperSize Me Essay

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Page 1: A2 Media Coursework: SuperSize Me Essay

Connor Morewood Media Studies HWK

What are the main codes and conventions of the documentary genre used in ‘Super-Size Me?’ How is modern American society represented in the documentary?

Director and presenter, Morgan Spurlock’s, Super-Size Me shot to popularity after daring to question the corporate fast food giants that rule the modern USA as well as the governments who cease to help the countries ever increasing obesity problem. Filmed in 2004, the documentary took a light-hearted but serious approach to the fat crisis that the country was facing and delved into records to discover who is really to blame for the issue. As well as this, the beloved presenter dives into a adolescent’s dream and indulges himself in a full month of eating nothing but McDonalds meals- 3 times a day, eventually purchasing every item on the menu.

At the start of every chapter, a title overlay was placed over a piece of thoughtful artwork relating to the proceeding chapter. These titles give an intense, dramatic introduction to the chapters of the documentary as well as give context to the contents of the film. AS well as this, titles were used to indicate an interviewee’s job role and name (perhaps even title, if needed). This is done to create more professionality to the piece. The titles consisted of white text, with a translucent drop shadow while the typography appeared to be sans. Again, the simplicity of the text adds to a less overwhelming and playful feel, and instead a professional, formal item. For the expert interviews included within the documentary, the subject would always be shown in the furthest right third of the screen while looking to the left; this indicates to us that Spurlock utilised his understanding of the rule-of-thirds. This convention is commonplace for a genre such as documentary as it does not make the viewer feel awkward due to eye contact with the subject and also fits comfortable framing for the audience. As well as this, other codes and conventions of the interviews included relates to the lack of Morgan Spurlock on screen. Despite having Spurlock as an on-screen presenter throughout the duration of the film, he is absent from expert interviews as the documentary does not want to draw any attention away from the subject and what is being said. Additionally, mise-en-scene during these interviews is utilised to a significant extent; the background of the interview in a documentary should refer to the subject in some way- if they were a dietician, they would be found in a doctor’s office, etc. This code was adhered to throughout the film, adding a sense of legitimacy to the experts. However, the expert interviews varied hugely from the vox-pops included otherwise. Whereas the expert would be filmed usually with a stationary mid-shot, the random public interviewees would be filmed with any camera angle, usually a medium close-up filmed through Steadicam. Of course, this would give the appearance of these subjects of being at the viewer’s level and the idea that they are ‘the voice of the people’. As well as this, Spurlock in fact joined many of the vox-pops during their interviews on screen. On odd occasions too, small metaphors are implemented into the piece via footage. For example, on day 26, there was a

DVD cover/poster for the documentary.

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momentary short clip of a McDonald’s flagpole. The flag hoisted at the top of said pole was upside down, usually an action taken when a nation is in crisis. This could have been placed into the piece due to hinting towards the audience that Morgan was in crisis by this point.

The presenter, Morgan Spurlock, within the film was primarily on-screen- this is required for such a styled documentary. Due to the project following Spurlock undergoing his journey through the month, it is vital that we see him and, essentially, for the audience to bond with him. With on-screen presenters, the documentary usually takes more of a personal route, the presenter will give some brief background information or an explanation of what the subject means to him to make the entire film seem more personal to the audience. The benefits of having an on-screen presenter are that the viewers are able to bond with him and, through this, are more attracted to the subject and the film. However, many say that having them on-screen as an alternative to solely narrating makes the documentary slightly more bias due to perhaps the slow seep of opinions and beliefs of the presenter. Morgan Spurlock is shown to be very witty but likeable. He does not patronise any of his interviewers but instead lures them into a sense of security, hoping that they would slip up (as we saw during the interview of Gene Grobowski, am ex-large figure in the GMA, where he states that “we [the GMA] are the problem”). You can tell this by the calm, non-interrupting or provocative follow-up questions that he asks to them. With vox-pops, he tends to focus on slight elements of comedy such as the moment where the two males emphatically express their delight at McDonalds and their food. This was included to be funny but instead of laughing at his subjects, he seems to laugh with and be pleasant with them, not interrogative at all. Furthermore, to enhance the drive of the documentary, Spurlock is there to explore the topic and only knows a limited amount of information regarding the subject.

Background footage is a pinnacle part of any documentary as it strings the content points together seamlessly. Within Super-Size Me, one convention that was dwelled upon was the relation of the background footage to what point was being raised at that certain point. The footage would illustrate the point in an array of senses. For example, moderately comic-styled animations were made to accompany and to illustrate points being made. One in particular was during the small section in which Spurlock mentioned the international marketing campaign sizes for many businesses and operations. With this, conveyed a bank vault filled with four men, three very large (to suggest the effect of their products), and one scrawny. Slowly, they were unveiled to be McDonalds, Pepsi, Hershey and the 5-A-Day Fruit and Vegetable Campaign. They started to pour vast amounts of money out of their pockets. The larger business had huge stacks of money, indicating the $1.4bn, the $1bn and $200m they had spent on advertising internationally. The smaller gentlemen then pulled out a small coin to represent the mere $2m equivalent. This entire sketch was a caricature of the companies and the media-investment situation and was used to provoke an intriguing comic response. The point was reinforced via an animation and an ensemble of statistic overlays over the top. Other examples of less thoughtful background footage refers to the number of shots of McDonalds restaurants, customers, people eating fast food, overweight Americans, etc. Many of these may be items of archive footage. All of the shots are used in appropriate times but have no argumentative weight.

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Music is an interesting aspect in Super-Size Me as it is used to huge effect when particular pieces are used. For one example, a famous orchestral symphony, usually to connote beauty and elegance, was used over the top of archive footage from a gastric bypass operation. Of course, this is used ironically, and the irony to provoke comedy from the piece as oppose to drawing gross attention to itself. As well as this, sound is important during interviews. With expert interviews, sound levels would have to be minimal and strictly restricted to atmospheric noise but, if possible, solely the subjects dialogue. With vox-pops, the sound levels are less important, as long as the subject is still audible. An example is when students are being interviewed within the school that Spurlock visits. The background noise of this vox-pop would be totally unacceptable within any other styled interview but as the shot was being taken within a school, it is expected within an educational environment- also, if there was an absence of it, the interviews would seem moderately artificial.

Many make the unjust assumption that documentaries may be dull and boring due to the preference of information that entertainment. To combat this, it appears as though Super-Size Me maintains a consistently moderate to high paced editing to maintain attention to the piece and be entertaining to the viewers. One moment in which this is epitomised is during the small montage clip found such as the initial opening sequence in which Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girl played over a montage of clips indicating the faults in American society that Spurlock sees. This montage during the opening sequence sets a pace for the remainder of the documentary and allows the audience’s attention to be captured. This montage was included to poke fun at American society and their weight problem, therefor getting the audience to jump on Spurlock’s train of thought and continuing to watch the documentary. This is indicated particularly by the idea that the project is bias and needs a driving opinion by the filmmaker, as well as a passive audience not to question the arguments raised.

Overall, it is incredibly obvious that modern American society is being seriously questioned and slated by the documentary. The film makes strong, reinforced arguments against certain institutions that have an impact on the obesity crisis in the USA. I feel like the three most prolifically criticised are the government, the educational system and the marketing and advertising scheme.

In terms of governmental criticism, the blows arrived hard. One of the stats and elaborations that particularly stood out to me was the number of McDonalds restaurants found in one particular area; at the time of filming, 83 McDonald’s restaurants were found on the island of Manhattan alone. To me, this instantly illuminates what appears to be a lack of consideration by the government. The idea that other health programs are being introduced to the country but a small area such as Manhattan could have such a dense population of fast food restaurants. The frequency of stores suggests to me that the government had no retaliation to the additions. Spurlock states that McDonald’s stores are within short distance of workplaces, homes and even each other, which grants the residents of the most obese nation on earth, such ease of access to food not to aid their weight loss. Due to this example in particular, it appears as though the government is inconsiderate and moderately hypocritical/counter-productive to the issue at hand. We can tell this as Spurlock shows us an epitome of the government being thoughtless of such a huge cause of social obesity in

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the States and their ill attempts to prevent it. Spurlock presented this information through the use of a small animation while narrating. The animation consisted of a map of Manhattan being overwhelmed by McDonalds pinpoints indicating the locations of every store in the area. Spurlock utilises animations at several points within the documentary to great effect to entice the audience and allow them to support his beliefs being conveyed. As well as this, it was briefly mentioned that the Bush Literacy Campaign, introduced by the First Lady of the 43 rd President of the United States, Laura Bush, was incredibly flawed when considering the huge obesity crisis hitting the USA. The campaign consisted of child literacy rates to improve to combat the alarming lack of literary education in certain parts of the USA. To do so, Physical Education was removed or lessened from school timetables to make more room for literacy. The segment was included and the topic was mentioned as it was another assault to the government and their choices; once you come to think about it, the scheme was absurd and unhealthy to the American youth.

Secondly, the educational system was the victim of direct political aggression throughout its own dedicated segment within the film. Spurlock went into Madison Junior High School in Naperville Illinois. Within this school, he interviewed many students and members of staff ranging from teachers to cafeteria staff. The argument being made seemed to revolve around the idea that the norm for school meals is unhealthy and have no effect as opposed to the healthy equivalents. We can tell this as the cafeteria that he was in consisted of a normal school environment whereas the correctional school that he visited shortly after, the school in which you expect poor behaviour due to the students, had been subject to a healthy eating program. Footage from an average break was displayed. The first school was loud, rowdy and overwhelming while the second was well-behaved, civil and relaxing, despite the assumptions made. This comparison wasn’t emphasised to a huge extent but was more subliminal. The idea that healthy eating at breaks could be a huge influence on behaviour does convey a positive representation of the American society but, as it is not yet the norm, a negative interpretation is that the American educational system does not attempt to make the options it has healthy or not. Furthermore, the educational system is presented to be slightly manipulated by funding. For example, it was mentioned that organisations like Hershey and Pepsi make it known that they are funding the educational system but only for the price of selling their products. This indicates that many schools are placed under circumstances in which they are shaped by the funding that they receive for selling certain products that seem appealing to children.

Finally, another hugely criticised institute that is questioned throughout the duration of the film is the advertising and marketing system. It is made very known that certain organisations spend copious amounts of money on marketing campaigns to advertise their products- $1.4bn for McDonalds alone is spent internationally meaning that they can easily overrule the measly $2m spent by schemes such as the 5-A-Day Fruit and Vegetable Campaign. The comments made hint towards the same idea that is the proportion is unfair. The advertising moderation institution is under fire as they are able to moderate this statistic and balance out the percentage of ads the public can see- as for all; advertising is the most influential force a company can have. In addition another interpretation conveyed is that they are oblivious to the evident manipulative techniques of the businesses in question. You can tell this as their primary target demographic is shown to be the young and impressionable. The documentary specifically focuses on this as Spurlock conducts his own segment of primary research in which he interviews a handful of children. In this interview, he holds up images of historical figures, Biblical characters, fast food mascots, etc. The kids are of an incredibly young age and the test dictates how they have been impressioned by the marketing

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techniques of fast food companies. Almost all of them correctly identified the mascots for Wendy’s and McDonalds but couldn’t recognise the depiction of Jesus Christ. Along with the conclusion to this study, Spurlock provides a shocking statistic: in an average childhood, an adolescent has watched over 10,000 food advertisements. Once again, Spurlock has utilised many codes and conventions of documentaries in a way to make an impression on the audience and provoke them to support his argument.

Despite the majority of the representations in the film being negative about American society, there are glimpses of hope in Spurlock’s eyes. Particularly in the final segments of the films as the closing sequence consisted of title slides. On these title slides, information regarding the topics and people in the documentary is portrayed; the USA seems to be improving from its prior state. It is mentioned that “schools start the food fight” and that, since the documentary, McDonalds have dropped the supersize upgrade from its menu, and that premium salad options are now sold at the store. This is done to convince the audience that the documentary has had an effect on the society and therefor assures viewers that the documentary had solid arguments and good quality.

To conclude, Super-Size Me was a documentary littered with negative interpretations of American society due to the obesity crisis and blamed several institutions for the problem. This was done through the use of countless codes and conventions frequently seen in documentaries alike. According to Spurlock, American society is flawed hugely and needs to improve, and this was his attempt to provoke a change.