Dillon Montana Green

Film & Culture Tuesday

04/26/2015
Question: 9.) Explain in detail what your
favorite class session was and why.

This semester has been an array of eventful Tuesday evenings that has pushed many of
my own personal buttons but at the same time has explored many areas of personal development
that had recently been untapped in my own arena of life. Though every class offered something
unique each time, I felt like the class that was my favorite was when we watched Super Size
Me & Super High Me. These two films were a perfect compliment when watching them back
too back and offered everyone including myself an insight on over indulgence and the dangers of
it.
We had started off the class with an open discussion on thought and theories with the
benefits of medical marijuana and the cost effectiveness of making our food source cheaper but
with the price of making it unhealthy. As with any of our classes, this discussion raged on with so
many different thoughts and feelings. This topic in particular I felt really touched some buttons
with members of our class and I loved seeing the reactions that came out of everyone. For
myself, I eat fast food I would say at least once every three weeks. I will eat out though mostly,
and I feel even other restaurants are doing the same thing of just serving you massive portions
and adding on heavily to our nations obesity. We watched in the film as our science experiment
was offered to supersize 12 times. This just goes to show what the norm is now and that is to eat
a lot of food! We can only do this we if are getting this amount of food at a reasonable price and
that is because the price of living is so high to live. We are now spending more money on
frivolous stuff then actually treating us our bodies to high quality nutrition. Fast Food is a plague
thats here to stay though.
Though I do see the money saving aspects of it, I think its crucial to remember the status
of which these fast food items are being made out of; point in case, chicken nuggets. According

to the Matador Network, some fast food's chicken nuggets contain a chemical preservative called
tertiary butyl hydroquinone, which is derived from petroleum. (

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/961233/top-10-reasons-not-to-eatfast-food (Links to an external site. )

When you are sticking this type of garbage into your body, you are bound to have some
medical repercussions due to the low quality of food going into you body. Eating all of this 'junk
food' can certainly have a harmful effect on your health and even eating fast food once in a while
can still put you risk of a cardiac arrest due to its high trans fat content. "According to a study by
Dr. Gary Plotnick, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, within three to
five hours after eating a high-fat meal, the blood vessels function abnormally."
(http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/fast-food-affects-negatively-1728.html) Those with any type of
cardiac condition have a much higher chance of having a heart attack.
When the film really started to dive into that matter, I immediately started having regret
on many of my eating decisions and wished I were living a healthier lifestyle. But also at the
same time, I work out a lot and I saw in the movie Super Size Me that people were eating an
immense about fast food and staying relatively fit. There were two African Americans in the film
from Brooklyn, NY that claimed to eat fast food at least once a day and seemed to be in the
healthiest states of their lives. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed this class session so much, a
constant revolving wheel around is this actually good or is the filmmaker just presenting it in that
way so that a mass amount of audience will associate with the message.
As we took a break to grab some dinner, I got the opportunity to go about looking for
food to eat at our own schools cafeteria and I was thinking so critically about my food selection

that I couldnt help but notice how absolutely correct the film Super Size Me was. I came into the
school cafeteria and was met with absolutely poor for you food. High sodium fat burgers and
GMO Chinese food was what I was immediately met with. And for a side; Potato chips and a
large Pepsi of course! The film really and discussion we had in the first part of the class made for
a tough dinner. I went with a side salad and went light on the dressing yet I was still consuming
around 800 calories and left with a hungry stomach.
After our short recess to grab some dinner, we all came back into the class for our next
flick and that was the ever popular film from the comedian; Doug Benson. For 30 days, worldrenowned pothead Doug Benson will smoke an insanely high amount of marijuana and be tested
along with the way with all sorts of health and mental recordings in order to see the effects of the
drug. Doug was inspired and by the film Super Size Me and wanted to see if the same would be
applied to something that is thought to be bad for you.
The film made me think back to how marijuana has been around since the birth of this
nation and the many purposes for it. We can even go back to the beginning of our nation and see
that our country was pretty much funded by the hemp plant (marijuana) and was used as the 'cash
crop' for the nation. Hemp was easy to grow because it required little water or fertilizer and did
not need replanting year after year. The root structure was essential to creating rich soil with lots
of aeration. Because it grew quickly, and took hold, it was used for stabilizing soil, which made
it ideal for growing all kinds of other plants
(Source:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/16/did-george-washington-use-medicalmarijuana.html)
I could not help but really think about the other side of this and look for some negatives
in it because the film I felt did that in an unsurpassed motive. The constantly stoner jokes made

me articulate this movie in a different way. I thought, Doug, you are being an absolute idiot.
Please stop making a certain group of people look a certain way. A large amount of Americans
still see Marijuana as a harsh drug, and for good reason. Marijuana has been harming people for
years under the influence of people that are addicted to the drug and are blinding all to the light
with their 'medical benefits' label. "There is no scientific evidence that marijuana, which contains
over 450 chemicals, many with harmful effects, is safe or effective for any medical condition." (
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000230
Its easy to like it at like any other drug that causes euphoria. Marijuana can lead
to anxiety and can cause dependence if introduced at an early age and hence is referred to as a
gateway drug. Individuals who used cannabis by age 17 years had odds of other drug use,
alcohol dependence, and drug abuse/dependence that were 2.1 to 5.2 times higher than those of
their co-twin, who did not use cannabis before age 17 years....
(http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000247)
I would say that for myself, I hold a pretty firm stance on marijuana though. I enjoy
marijuana. For years I have used it as a way to highlight experiences and release certain
endorphins in an easier way. I lived through a tragic car accident about 4 years ago and was in
the hospital for about a month and then bed ridden for the next 5. I found that the 'prescribed'
drug I was given was putting me into depression and I was losing drastic weight. I lived in
Montana at the time was prescribed marijuana. I smoked it three to five times daily and
immediately quit taking my prescribed painkillers and started gaining back my weight and my
mood returned to normal. I 'highly' recommend it, but you must understand that it effects
everyone differently and to do in a safe place with comfortable people.

I was surprised to find out after doing a little bit of research into it when my head injury
occurred that According to theproscons.com "An advantage of consuming cannabis is that it has
the ability to increase appetite. Scientists in various ways to conclude that cannabis does cause an
increase in appetite have tested cannabis. Clinical studies and survey data have found that
cannabis increases ones food enjoyment and interest. ". (http://theproscons.com/pros-cons-ofcannabis-marijuana/) Something else that you might find very interesting tied back to marijuana
is that no deaths have ever been reported in association to overdosing. The British Journal of
Psychiatry in February 2001 stated, No deaths directly due to acute cannabis use have ever been
reported. Medical experts have been challenged in finding fatalities directly related to the use of
cannabis, as the rare fatalities recorded with the use of cannabis have been the result of other
drugs and toxins in the decease. (http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/178/2/101)
As the end of Super High Me neared, you could tell; this was a great class. We were all
relatively young in this class and I felt as if both movie were the most relevant ones to what is
actually happening foremost in the united states right now. The war on poor supplemented food
and the legalization of Marijuana are both topics that are constantly being discussed in our dayto-day lives. What a better way to capitalize and teach us students then to show two
argumentative flicks back to back. I certainly walked away from this class with a lot on my mind
and I believe that is the sign of a job well done by the teacher and the makers of the films. For
the weeks following up to this from the time in which we watched the film until now, I have
severely cut back my fast food intake and have completely cut marijuana out of my routine (at
least for the time being). Not that I think marijuana is bad, I just think its always good to step
back and not let anything control the way you live your life. In a sense, thats what the fast food

industries want you to do as well. I had a grand time this semester and I am very appreciative for
the great work you have done in challenging me to think outside of the box.