Obesity Epidemic in America
The motivation for Spurlock to make the movie documentary was to get to the root cause of the obesity epidemic in America. In countries that fast food restaurants have not overtaken, there are no epidemics of obesity which led him to believe the problem might be super-sized happy meals. The theme is developed throughout the film, which presents hard medical evidence and knowledge gained from watching the deterioration of Spurlock's health as he eats more fast food. The question of calorie consumption, over-eating, and super-sized portions that lead to super-sized People is developed throughout but remains the primary theme and the springboard for the rest of the film.
Food Addiction
One of the themes of the film is food addiction; the premise is that fast food is addictive because after eating it for a little while, going without it creates cravings and physical responses much like those side-effects created in people addicted to nicotine who feel terrible between cigarettes. The theme is developed by tracing Spurlock's feelings of pain, lethargy and headaches and showing that hear feelings and symptoms are directly related to his addiction to fast food.
Misleading Marketing
The theme of misleading marketing is raised in the film when it becomes apparent that fast food corporations know perfectly well that they are damaging the health of their consumers but are desperate to hide this fact and obfuscate the consequences of eating fast food every day. The movie shows the marketing shifts that occur whenever more nutritional statistics are released to the public and how fast food is marketed as something that can be incorporated into a healthful lifestyle.
