I love documentaries. When I was in 7th grade Ken Burns' Civil War was on PBS and I loved every second it. The same goes for Burns' Baseball series. During my glorious seven month stay in the Austria Vienna Mission Home I watch Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail at least once per week. A few months ago Netflix mistakenly sent us a documentary (I don't remember the name) in the sleeve of another movie. The documentary was about a kiddie fiddler (is that Dave Coulier?), a subject I generally try to avoid, but the story was still interesting.
My brother just finished making a documentary about Helper, Utah. That doesn't have much to do with what I want to talk about, but I figured this is the most advertising he is going to get, so I might as well throw it out there. Look for it on KUED sometime soon!
Back to the business at hand.
Documentaries have become mainstream in the last few years. I guess we can thank Michael Moore for most of the current buzz about documentaries. Michael Moore isn't a typical documentarian because he usually tries to make himself central to whatever story he is trying to tell. It worked for him for a long time. Roger & Me is a great film and Bowling for Columbine was pretty good too. I admit I haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 mostly because I think Moore went too far with it (not the story, because I haven't seen it, but the promotion). In fact, I don't know that anyone remembers much about that movie except that Michael Moore hates President Bush. You don't really need to make a documentary about that.
I think Moore has lost some relevence and will continue to do so as long as he makes his films about how liberal his views are and how messed up the current administration is. The only thing that is saving Moore from being the joke of the documentary world is Morgan Spurlock.
Spurlock is an idiot.
Supersize Me was a load of crap. Spurlock didn't really tell a story, he came up with a conclusion and then create an "experiment" to guarantee a result. If there is one thing I know, it is how to order at McDonald's. Spurlock went over the top with his menu choices to guarantee that he would get fat. No one ever orders an apple pie AND a sundae. Come on, Morgan. Because he went so over the top he really hurt his credibility. And it was probably unnecessarily over the top because he likely would have had similar results (although perhaps not as extreme) if he had just ordered like a regular person. I'm a fat man and the Number 2 supersized was all it took for me to get that way. Morgan also had other "side effects" from eating exclusively at McDonald's. He was lethargic, battled headaches and depression, and had a hard time "performing" for his girlfriend. Maybe "hard" is the wrong word? Morgan, who likely has not completed a lot of courses in scientific research, made a fundamental mistake with his conclusions in Supersize Me. He contributed most of the adverse health effects to McDonald's less-than-healthy food when I would argue, in my scientific opinion, that 75-80% of Morgan's problems stem from being a pussy, not from eating fatty foods.
Now Spurlock has a show on F/X called 30 Days. The idea is that someone lives a life other than the one they are used to. Morgan decided to live the life of a person on minimum wage. Then he went on Oprah to talk about it. During Morgan's 30 days as a minimum wage earner he got sick and had to go to a hospital. Since people who make minimum wage don't have insurance, he decided to not have insurance. Morgan makes some conclusions about why minimum wage laws are so bad, but I'm not exactly sure what he is arguing. On Oprah he said Americans need to write their representatives in Congress to ask them to address the issue. It isn't clear if he is talking about minimum wage laws, universal healthcare, poor people in general, or something else. I don't think he really thought that far ahead, and he probably doesn't care. I guess the conclusion is that capitalism sucks.
The worst part about Spurlock is that some people who might agree with some of his arguments (if they can figure out exactly what he is arguing) are turned off by him because he goes to extremes. But, then again, I guess a documentary that concludes with a rational discussion of pros and cons of fundamental social change is sort of boring.
The reason for this blog is to warn my loyal reader to watch out for Morgan Spurlock because he sucks.
Here is a list of documentaries you should check out if you want to be as smart as I am:
The Merchants of Cool (you can find it on Frontline's website on pbs.org along with a lot of other interesting stories)
Spellbound
Roger & Me
Murderball
Anything by Ken Burns
New York Doll
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Any I'm missing?
30 comments:
You lost me at "I love documentaries."
Except, I will admit Spellbound was awesome. But only because my mom was in the movie. BEE happy!
All I said was you forgot "Grizzly Man." The reason I like it is because it shows how people turn crazy when they move to Alaska. I mean, I think this guy was normal before he flew up there wasn't he? I wonder who was better tasting to the bears, him or his hippy girlfriend.
Grizzly Man was tough to watch because that guy was nuts. And also because animals and animal lovers both suck.
Alaska also sucks. So that's three sucks for "grizzly man."
You should check out Fog of War, a documentary on Vietname. It is just Robert MacNamara talking and real footage from the war. I guess the film maker did some innovative filming technique using mirrors so Macnamara is looking right at the camera, even though he was really looking at the camera man. Anyway, it's pretty good. Also Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room is pretty good. But it is about the same as Accounting for Lawyers so you've already had the course...twice.
I agree "supersize me" is a joke. He basically made a documentary about stating the obvious. It drives me crazy how some people blame the fast food industry for their fatty problems. I mean come on you've got to take responsibility for what you are doing. I know if I go down to MickyD's and get a quarter pounder every day I am going to have one huge ass. That's just common sense people!
It's like that stupid campaign that MTV is doing against the tobacco companies. Hello we all know tobacco is addicting/dangerous etc, so why is there not any blame on the stupid idiots who buy the damn cigarettes and then smoke them?? But no they are trying to take down the tobacco companies. I'm not a tobacco advocate or anything. But damn. Stupid idiots!
Sheesh I just went off there.
p.s. documentaries are cool, sometimes.
Way to be passionate about quarter pounders, Tara. There needs to be more people like you in the world.
You left out "The Best Crop: A History of Orchard Farming in Orem, Utah." One time I woke up in the middle of the night and it was on KBYU so I watched it. Later that week I bought a copy for my grandma. If you're from Orem it's a must see.
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You don't know anything. I have seen the movie "Super Size Me" twice and it is very relavent and not over the top with his choices from the Mac Donald menu.
You might be pro fast food and Mac Donalds and all the other Fast Food chains, however they are bad for you! I might go to Mac Donalds once a year, because I have no time for any other alternative to eat. Once doesn't hurt, on the other hand in this docementry it shows what long term use does to people when consuming Fast Food. Furthermore, what happend to his Liver, cholesteral rate and how he was feeling changed tremendiously . It could be argued that his system was not used to that kind of fatty and unhealthy diet, on the opposing view before he started the experiment he was living from a very healthy diet of organic bio produce of mainly fruits vegitables and some fish and meat? This is what keeps people healthy and Morgan Spurlock was a prime example of how people should eat.
In summary, i have tried to 'open your eyes' and show you that Morgan Spurlock's movie was completely relevant and was not over the top. additionaly, I would like to say that his movie should be respected, would you put yourself to such a rick being exposed to such an unhelathy diet for a month to show the world what Junk Food really is.
You've got no clue. He DID order a regular meal most of the time. He was only asked to Supersize 7 times. If you watched the whole movie you'd also realize that he leaves a disclaimer at the end saying he understands that there is really nobody that eats McDonald's 3 times a day, but that eating frequently at McDonald's will eventually lead to the problems that he encountered. Doing it in 30 days helps to reiterate his point that YOU CAN really get sick from continuously eating fast food. I use this film as a lead in to my nutrition unit that I teach to high school kids and they think the film is fantastic. Every time we finish the unit usually the kids have a better understanding as to how unhealthy it can be to eat fast food on a regular basis.
I would just like to say, that eating anything for 30 days straight, 3 times a day, will lead to adverse health problems. It doesn't have to be McDonalds, it can be something at healthy as an apple, or even tofu. The reason being? You're intentionally cutting out important nutrients and proteins that are necessary for normal function, but are not found in those foods. I don't advise doing so, but if you don't believe me, then try it. Pick a certain food you really like, healthy or unhealthy, and eat it 3 times a day, for a month straight. I'll guarantee you'll feel sick, or have some vital health problems. Not only does that confirm that this movie is a big "DUH!", but also that you have to eat diversely daily. The food pyramid is only a recommendation, but it is so for a reason. Stick to it for the most part, and you'll probably live a relatively healthy life.
Also, personal responsibility is dead in today's society. It's far easier to say "Fast Food made me fat!!!" than to actually admit "Damn, I f*cked up big time". The only thing fast food can do is contribute to your obesity, because in the end, it's your fat ass that is shoving 29 Double Quarter Pounders in your mouth in a 12 day period. The only cause is yourself... nothing else.
Gimme a break. He shows us things we might not ordinarily see on our own. You suck
Spurlock is just a dirty fatass. We all know Mc Donald's doesn't do much good for your health. So what is he trying to prove? Nobody knows.
The only thing I know is that Spurlock is just a dirty fatass, and I will just keep having my Big Mac every day of the week, without getting fat. How do I do it? Magic.
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I can't wait for the day when I will finally be able to afford a 20 terabyte hard drive, lol. But for now I guess I will be content with having a 16 gigabyte Micro SD in my R4i.
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I'm sorry you have such a small veiw on the opions of other people and their documentaries seriously I met him in an airport that I worked at, at the time and he was very friendly and my husband and I still keep in touch with him to this day so really you have no clue on reality in society today and I feel very sad for you!!!!!! Ya not really you fuckin suck grow up that is considered to be the nicest comment I could of possibly left you!!!!!!! Sorry about ur look on life!!!
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Please continue bashing this 5-time film school reject. He is an idiot and quite rude.
Dislike Jaynes comment. So what if he is a nice guy and you met him? He makes documentary's about things that people with a normal IQ, should already know. He definitely has a lot of charismatics about him and I'm sure he's a nice guy to talk to, but that's not what the discussion is about. You come across very defensively, the fact is he makes money off this stuff, because people like us go watch his movie and expect to be awakened and make change. The documentary "Bully" is coming soon, know that looks like it is an awakening documentary that could change lives. That is what we want in a good doco, a real heart felt, deep and meaningful enlightenment. Super size me and Greatest movie ever sold did not deliver anything but the obvious, and bleed the pockets of well meaning people in turn making him rich and in my personal opinion, a sellout.
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Total frickin' shill artist. :p
Has he EVER proven a point, or does he just aim to rile people up?
And, yet, he still keeps getting shows. :p
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