Comparative Article Essay

The two reviews on the movie “Super Size Me” starring Morgan Spurlock present contrasting views and feelings toward the subject. The New York Times presents the movie in a positive light, claiming it elaborates on and brings light to the current obesity “epidemic” and the causes of it. Although the movie is criticized for certain aspects, for example, being to critical of the effects of fast food, and that it can be part of a healthy diet, it is a generally favorable response. On the other hand, the TCS Daily gave “Super High Me” a very negative and derogative review, with the article being titled “A Supersized Distortion”. This review claims that the movie pointed at fast food as being the cause of Americas obesity, ignoring the other factors, for example a lack of exercise, or that any calorie dense food eaten in excess can lead to health problems.

While the movie did occasionally point to directly at fast food as being the cause of obesity, and neglecting facts like the lifestyle of Americans contributes greatly to what there weight is, TCS Daily can’t deny that only eating McDonalds bought about may detrimental effects to his health. The movie showed how McDonald’s is the nations largest fast food corporation, and how they try to influence people of all ages to eat there as much as possible. So while the article tries to take the blame of fast food for the cause of weight loss, when something consumed, advertised and even loved by some many people is shown to have such shocking health effects, it is clear that a huge amount of people are consuming something that perhaps should not be consumed by such a large percentage of the population. So even if Fast Food is not the cause of obesity, it still is clearly responsible for many health problems, and possibly an impairment of the quality of life for heavy consumers.

The New York Times seems to take the movie more seriously, and viewed as a more positive and truthful documentation. They state that the effects to his body were very detrimental, although who’s responsibility is it to eat responsibly, the corporations or the consumers?

Both articles seem to agree that fast food is bad for an individual is consumed excessively, although the effect of fast food on the nation is still contested. I believe that the New York Times review was the more correct of the two, and disregarding the effects on the nation, Fast Food does present a hugely greater health risk that people know, and I’m sure many of the constant consumers would want to change their diet if they knew of the potential consequence.