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Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!
2019 · Film · documentary · 93 min
Part of Super Size Me Collection
Directed by Morgan Spurlock
Muckraking filmmaker Morgan Spurlock reignites his battle with the food industry — this time from behind the register — as he opens his own fast food restaurant.
3 positive2 neutralfrom 5 commenters
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5 comments on Hacker News
Wow! I wondered about this article - US centric. I wondered because eggs are not expensive here. I just looked [1] [2]. I can get a dozen free range for about US$4 at the current conversion rate. They are a supermarket own brand, but even the "fancy" ones are something like that for 6, but some are actually still close to $4 for 12.
The US chicken market (not necessarily eggs specifically) was in the Morgan Spurlock documentary follow up to "Supersize me", and it looked like the chicken "mafia" controlled the business.[3]
[1] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=eggs&inputType=free+text [2] https://groceries.asda.com/search/eggs [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me_2:_Holy_Chicken!
Can't just dismiss his 17 films as a grift. Even accepting all the valid criticisms where he misled audiences, his shockumentaries did try to educate, somewhat, but also stretched facts and went for a personalized narrative, Michael-Moore-style. He did leave a legacy of nearly single-handedly reviving documentary as a film genre relevant to nutrition, one that mainstream audiences would watch.
His sequel "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" (2017) had fewer distortions and was pretty watchable and educational. Here's a review from https://www.agdaily.com/livestock/poultry/super-size-me-2-movie-review-fact-or-shockumentary/ which among other things covered in depth: "Many food labels, such as organic, natural, non-GMO, gluten-free, no added hormones, free range, green, artisan, antibiotic-free, are indeed quite misleading" and how those branding terms are misused in marketing to restaurant customers. I haven't seen any industry criticism of the segment with the two branding consultants.
As to the legacy of "Super Size Me", here's a review by an ag evangelist: https://www.eater.com/24173039/morgan-spurlock-legacy-super-size-me
Meat ag is terrible: pandemic microbe evolution, antibiotic overuse and resistance, climate change, pollution, and dangerous and abusive of undocumented workers who are killed and maimed without any safety net.
See also:
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7215262
The Trouble with Chicken (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
https://youtu.be/tIY7jxd7GAY
This is also part of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me 2. Which I didn't realise existed until last week. I found it and an enjoyable/uncomfortable watch although The Guardian were less keen.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me_2:_Holy_Chicken!
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/09/super-size-me-2-holy-chicken-review-toronto-film-festival-tiff
Edit: I've just discovered I probably didn't know about it because the distributor (youtube) pulled it just before release following Spurlock's #MeToo confession.
If you enjoyed Super Size Me, you should checkout the TV series the host Morgan created soon after, called 30 days [1]. He and others basically do something random for 30 days (gets locked up, goes on a fad diet, binge drinking, etc.)
The first episode where Morgan and his girlfriend try to live on minimum wage in Ohio for a month is some of the best TV I've ever seen.
All the episodes are good, the ones with Morgan are the best.
The recent Super Size Me 2 is also pretty good. Not quite the charm of the first one, but still really good.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Days_(TV_series)