Using supersize as a basis, identify the ways in which American Society is presented, both positively and negatively.

In doing so, analyse the ways in which the producer utilises stylistics devices in order to create meaning for the audience. American society is portrayed in many ways by the stylistic conventions of the producer and narrator in Supersize Me. American Society is presented both positively and negatively through a variety of devices such as voxpops, Montage shots and a variety of visual aids which help emphasise the problem that is obesity and fast food within America. With fast food being very affordable and attainable the documentary is aimed at full time workers who dont have too much spare time and who are of a social class of C2-D. Also for age range Id say it was aimed at people of around the age of 24-30. We know its aimed at people of this age as when the narrator Morgan is in a voxpop he interviews people of that age group. The mise en scene at the voxpops adds verisimilitude of the point they are trying to get across. With the majority of the voxpops there is some sort of fast food restaurant in the background. With the documentary style being both educational and factual it represents American society in a negative way. The idea of the documentary is to show how bad fast food is for you and to impose on the American culture how badly their personal diet needs to change. A constant use of visual aids for the viewer emphasises the point the topic area they are discussing to show you how bad the problem is rather than telling you as a viewer will find it more believable to see something than to hear something. With the documentary being factual it constantly uses stats and facts visually on the screen as for example a fact from the ducmentary is 60% of US adults are overweight or obese. The use of low production values gives the documentary a more believable voice when Morgan is trying to emphasise the destructiveness Macdonalds and the fast food industry is having on the health of the US nation. It shows the message that is trying to be delivered and the actual experiment that Morgan is under taking is extremely belivable and the results should have an impact on people who watch. This again represents the American culture in a negative way as the Supresize Me documentary is an extreme attempt to get the message across to the US public how unhealthy Macdonalds food is. It shows that the current anti-fast food campaign that was going on was not working. An example of the documentary having low production values is the use of vox pops used in a natural setting of the streets with random passers by. American society is continued to be portrayed in a negative way when interviews are done with young children. The camera is used as an over the shoulder shot to keep the situation informal due to talking to young children. More importantly it was found that when two pictures were given to young people that Ronald Macdonald was more well known than Jesus. There was a transition of cutaways in the editing procedure as is showed the response of multiple childrens reviews on the topic. On the other hand there are some positives represented in the Supersize Me documentary as it is noticed in the long shots of the pre recorded footage that America are aware of the problem and are doing what they can to solve the problem. Most importantly they are in schools and have introduced a variety of healthy eating plans and more regular exercise patterns.With interviews with sports exercise teachers classic convetntions of documentary interviews are used as firstly the mise en scene is in an environment which is fitting to the character of the interviewee. For example a sports

teacher is interviewed in a sports hall. Another Documentary convention used was when interviewing someone like in the Supersize Me documentary they placed the interviewee in the left hand postion of the viewers and got them to look across the dead space. The sound that was used in the documentary was mainly music which related to the topic of American obesity. Diagetic music of Queen Fat Bottom Girls was used which created to the impression the viewer would get on the problem of obesity in American and also added a comedy element to make the situation seem a little more light hearted. In conclusion there was a variety of documentary conventions used into exposing the truth about Macdonalds in the factual and educational documentary Supersize Me. A variety of visual aids are used to empahsise important points being made and to make them more believable. Supersize me mainly represents American society in a negative way in a attempt to combat and expose the problem that is fast food. The combination of the narrative style with the occassional use of the fly on the wall style helps the viewer see the perspective of the problem and see the seriousness the health problems the narrator Morgan is suffering.