{"id":2256251,"date":"2024-05-30T21:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T01:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/morgan-spurlock-1970-2024\/"},"modified":"2024-05-30T21:34:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T01:34:53","slug":"morgan-spurlock-1970-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/morgan-spurlock-1970-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Morgan Spurlock: 1970-2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">6<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmorgan-spurlock-1970-2024%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2256251&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Morgan Spurlock&#8217;s 2004 documentary &#8220;Super Size Me&#8221; captivated \u200baudiences, challenging his\u2063 physical\u200c and mental limits by consuming only McDonald&#8217;s for 30 days. The film sparked\u200b discussions on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amazon-wants-15-federal-minimum-wage-reports-small-businesses-would-be-hardest-hit\/\" title=\"Amazon Wants  Federal Minimum Wage; Reports: Small Businesses Would Be Hardest Hit\">fast food<\/a> and public health, leading to changes like \u2064McDonald&#8217;s discontinuing \u200csupersized portions. \u200cSpurlock&#8217;s\u200b work reshaped perspectives\u2062 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-pick-for-un-ambassador-confirmed-as-position-elevated-to-cabinet-level\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Pick For UN Ambassador Confirmed As Position Elevated To Cabinet-Level\">food culture<\/a> and health consciousness, leaving \u2064a lasting\u2062 impact\u200c on society.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cSomebody find me a carrot stick.\u201d So said millions of moviegoers upon exiting screenings of <em>Super Size Me<\/em>, documentarian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3016517\/supersize-me-director-morgan-spurlock-dies-53\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Morgan Spurlock<\/a>\u2019s gonzo 2004 sensation. Spurlock\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/film\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>film<\/a>, based on a stomach-churning conceit, tested the limits of the director\u2019s physical, psychological, and (not least) spiritual courage. For 30 days, with cameras capturing every greasy belch and sigh, the filmmaker consumed nothing but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mcdonalds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>McDonald\u2019s<\/a>. If the iconic movie poster of the 1970s was Roger Kastel\u2019s terrifying work for <em>Jaws<\/em>, the aughts equivalent may well have been Spurlock staring fearfully at passersby, his open mouth stuffed with fries. <\/p>\n<p>Born in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/west-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>West Virginia<\/a> in 1970, Spurlock studied film at New York University before signing on as a production assistant to Luc Besson\u2019s <em>Leon <\/em>(1994). From there followed modest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>television success<\/a> at the helm of the self-created (and later MTV-produced) reality series <em>I Bet You Will<\/em>. Spurlock\u2019s role on that program was to offer contestants sums of money in exchange for debasing behavior. In an episode that foreshadowed his interest in culinary adventurism, the young host forced one woman to eat her own hair clippings. <\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. (Evan Agostini\/Invision via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Spurlock\u2019s breakthrough idea came in 2002, during a period of nationally covered litigation against the hamburger giant. Teenagers Jazlyn Bradley and Ashley Pelman had sued McDonald\u2019s for \u201cdamages related to their obesity,\u201d as the <em>New York Times<\/em> tersely put it, and the moment seemed right for an anti-fast-food expos\u00e9. Spurlock, with his knack for self-promotion and food-related daring, raised $65,000, wrote a rudimentary script, and started filming. Rule one: Every purchased item had to be consumed in its entirety. Rule two: If asked by an employee to \u201csupersize\u201d his meal, Spurlock had to answer in the affirmative. <\/p>\n<p>The movie that resulted from this stunt grossed a startling $22 million and was nominated for an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/academy-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Academy Award<\/a> for best documentary feature. Yet its cultural impact was arguably more impressive. Shuffling sluggishly from theaters, having just watched a man attempt Big Mac-abetted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/suicide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>suicide<\/a>, moviegoers entertained as rarely before conversations about fast food and public health. Six weeks after the film\u2019s release, McDonald\u2019s did away with its supersized portions altogether. Even New York City\u2019s controversial \u201cBig Gulp\u201d ban (2012) seemed reasonably connectable to Spurlock\u2019s documentary. <em>Super Size Me<\/em> had been a signpost on the Left\u2019s road from Clinton-era libertinism to nannying. Having problematized our hamburgers, liberals took the logical next step and seized our sodas. <\/p>\n<p>This \u201cprogressive\u201d squeamishness was alive and well when, four years after his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/success-of-minions-the-rise-of-gru-puts-excuses-for-disneys-failed-woke-lightyear-to-bed\/\" title=\"Success Of \u2018Minions: The Rise of Gru\u2019 Puts Excuses For Disney\u2019s Failed, Woke \u2018Lightyear\u2019 To Bed\">debut movie<\/a>, Spurlock released <em>Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?<\/em>, a comically bad \u201cmanhunt\u201d picture featuring, among other gags, interviews with random men on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/middle-east\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Middle Eastern streets<\/a>. Unable to admit that they would just as soon abandon the hunt for the terrorist, leftist critics seized instead on the film\u2019s spuriousness and juvenility, writing, for example, that the production was \u201cinsulting to all the real reporters who\u2019ve died in the field looking for hard information\u201d (<em>Chicago Reader<\/em>). Overnight, a beloved artist had become a figure of fun if not an outright pariah. Making matters worse was the fact that Spurlock\u2019s time abroad had coincided with his wife\u2019s pregnancy. \u201cAs if this project couldn\u2019t wait for after his child\u2019s birth,\u201d a representative commentator complained. <\/p>\n<p>Other documentaries followed Spurlock\u2019s sophomore effort, among them <em>The Greatest Movie Ever Sold<\/em> (2011) and <em>Mansome<\/em> (2012), examinations of product placement and male grooming, respectively. None captured the magic of his first film. Yet even <em>Super Size Me<\/em>, a once-unassailable work of cultural protest, eventually gathered detractors. Hadn\u2019t the filmmaker\u2019s alcoholism, acknowledged in 2017 and indulged during his McDonald\u2019s binge, contributed to his poor health? If so, wasn\u2019t the movie\u2019s depiction of fast-food-engendered bloatedness, liver damage, and depression distinctly dishonest? <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For all intents and purposes, Spurlock\u2019s career ended 6 1\/2 years ago upon the documentarian\u2019s release of a self-incriminating \u201cMe Too\u201d mea culpa. Outlining a series of PG-13 offenses and misunderstandings, Spurlock sacrificed himself to the very idols that his most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/star-of-new-pro-life-movie-says-pro-choice-screen-actors-guild-attempted-to-crush-their-production\/\" title=\"Star Of New Pro-Life Movie Says Pro-Choice Screen Actors Guild Attempted To Crush Their Production\">famous film<\/a> had helped raise. Dead at 53 of complications from cancer, he is survived by three ex-wives, two sons, two brothers, and his parents. <\/p>\n<p>An originator and victim of the Left\u2019s new asceticism, Spurlock should be remembered as a man of unusual appetites. Some of them were unhealthy indeed. <\/p>\n<p><em>Graham Hillard is the editor at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and a <\/em>Washington Examiner<em> magazine contributing writer. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of moviegoers echoed, &#8220;Somebody find me a carrot stick,&#8221; after watching Morgan Spurlock&#8217;s groundbreaking 2004 film, &#8220;Super Size Me.&#8221; This documentary tested his physical, psychological, and spiritual boundaries as he embarked on a 30-day fast-food journey, captured every belch and sigh on camera, pushing the limits of his courage and endurance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":956,"featured_media":2256252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Obit-3.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2256251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Obit-3.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2256251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2256252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2256251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2256251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2256251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}