This is Memorial Day, and it seems appropriate to use this time and space to mourn the death of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock last week. He was only 53.
I had brief appearances as a talking head in Super Size Me! (2004) and also Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (2017)—although so briefly that I did not get mentioned in the credits.
Super Size Me! was the first time I was interviewed for a major documentary and I wish I could remember more about its filming, which took place a year or so before the film’s release. By the time it came out, I had forgotten about it, but was invited to the premier—a thrilling experience.
The film was fun—enormously entertaining as well as educational. Morgan was a great storyteller, and one with a mission to improve the American diet. The first film focused on overeating fast food. The second focused more on food system issues; it too is well worth seeing.
In 2019, I wrote a blog post about the second film which, when released, was accompanied by a pop-up restaurant: “From my food politics point of view, the film is a must-see. It is a compelling, beautifully photographed, disturbing, cynical, utterly devastating account of industrial chicken production.”
Spurlock was a great filmmaker, and I view the end of his life as a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. He took a highly ethical position and wrote a confession about his poor behavior toward women. This destroyed his career and the film disappeared.
I hoped he would recover from that and did not know of his illness. His loss saddens me enormously. I hope his memory will be a blessing.
Addition, May 28: I’m quoted in an assessment of Spurlock’s work in the Times of London.
The post Rest in peace, Morgan Spurlock appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle.