Film Summary And Film Analysis: Obesity In America

This movie, though targeted for Australians, really opened my eyes to the reality that Americans as a whole are huge culprits in “blowing” their diet. As I sat down in class on the last day of this film, cheerios in hand, I was tempted to look up calorie and sugar content, even though it was a cereal recommended for people with heart problems. I felt repulsed at the thought that most foods in the American diet, regardless of advertising and promises of being healthier, are potentially causing damage to my body. This film has caused me to look into what I put in my body, and I believe the same was true for everyone else who watched it. I do not believe that the culprits are the big companies hiding information from us, but Americans ourselves

We value this as more than just a need, but a want. In America, this common occurrence is said to be the reason for its obesity epidemic. Americans eat when they are sad, happy, mad, bored, or all of the above. As a fellow American, I can determine that this is the reason why this film is so hurtful to us, yet we remain captured in its terrible facts about what we eat every day. A specific example is when the documentary talked about the fact that the supposed fat free foods we eat are not actually healthy, as they only have sugar as their compensation (Gameau, 2014). This could come as a shock to those that don’t feel the need to read the nutritional facts on the back of their packaged food. I think this struck a cord, so to speak, with the viewers. Several kids who usually eat in that class either put their food away or slowed down on the eating. I found this remarkably funny, but at the same time sad. This documentary was definitely able to get into the minds of people, getting them to think about the food they ate every day. One can only hope that this film will actually apply to them in real life

Perhaps the man in the film was not as healthy in the beginning as he claimed to be, so it led to a faster decline in his health than it normally would have for any other person. The credibility to this film can be found in the doctors and nutritionists represented in this film. The people who were interviewed in Kentucky can also serve as an example as to how real this infestation of sugar really is (Gameau, 2014). The man in the film who served as a test subject had body statistics that were above normal; he had eaten close to organic food for the last three years, enabling him to stay lean and strong. However, after his one month diet, his liver was failing, his heart was not as healthy as it had once been, and his skin looked worn and ragged from the lack of sleep he had been getting (Gameau, 2014). This is not something a person can pretend to have, not without hours of makeup and weights in their pockets. I believe the credibility comes from this man’s rapid decline, as it is apparent that other than his diet, nothing had changed in his routine, and that much of a decline was present (Gameau,