Size Matters - Kevin and I went to see Supersize Me on Friday, the documentary that follows filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's month-long McDonalds binge. The rules: 1) he must eat three meals a day at McDonalds for 30 days, 2) he has to eat everything on the menu at least once, 3) he must eat every single bite of what he orders, 4) if asked to supersize, he must say yes and 5) he can't exercise. In the end, Spurlock's health suffers even more than his doctors anticipate, with his triglycerides shooting way up and body having gained twenty-five pounds.

Of course, the way these rules were constructed, without the ability to control personal portions, Spurlock was bound to gain weight. But the movie raises questions about the confluence of personal responsibility and corporate responsibility. He doesn't let McDonalds off the hook for their role in targeting supersized meals to "heavy users." But at the same time it seems clear that he believes people do have a choice about what and how much they eat. As Roger Ebert noted in his review/Pritikin advertisement, you've got to exercise portion control!

Salon illutrates the filmmaker's ambivalence on this point: "Spurlock isn't at all amused by the way McDonald's markets to children, effectively barinwashing them into brand loyatly from a very young age -- even though he understands, and doesn't preach against, the fact that kids do enjoy going to McDonald's. It's part of American life." The way I saw it, Spurlock was saying that McDonalds may not be guilty of a conspiracy, but they probably should have taken a more proactive stance about nutrition even sooner, given the popularity of their product. I don't believe that lawsuits against McDonalds are an appropriate or effective way to fight the epidemic of obesity. But it does make me think about the circumstances that make fast food such an attractive choice as their main source of food each day. It made me think about an anecdote from Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America illustrating why McDonalds and other fast food is the only option many minimum wage earners consider at meal time.