The documentary featured several people implicated, in one way or another, with the fast food business
or with the so-called obesity epidemic in America. The documentary channeled its materials through
several frameworks (Goffman), which were employed in various ways from the beginning to end.
Your assignment for this week is to (1) identify at least two frameworks through which the documentary
filtered its materials, objectively laying out how the documentary’s message was crafted into a cohesive
and unitary whole. Please do not editorialize or make evaluative statements. I simply want you to identify
what the frameworks are. Then, once you have objectively described two frameworks, I want you to (2)
utilize “radical doubt,” which means you do not accept what is communicated at face value, that you
assume the documentarian and the interviewees in the documentary have concealed information or they
are providing a faulty representation of social reality. In other words, I want you to assume there is strong
incentive to lie, mislead and evade.
It should be mentioned that practicing radical doubt is absolutely necessary for the growth of knowledge,
in the generic sense, and for your own sociological growth, in the more specific sense. There are good
reasons to practice radical doubt. For this assignment, your task is to show me what those reasons are.
What is the value added of maintaining a cynical, doubting stance toward an author, authority, professor,
expert, etc? Are there limits to the practice of radical doubt, of framing social reality through radical
doubt?
Radical Doubt
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This paper seeks to evaluate the “Fast Food, Fat Profits” documentary that features
people and corporations that are implicated in the prevalence of obesity in America. These
people have been seen to fund and develop a new fast food culture that has seen the development
of cheaper foods in place of the traditional home made food. Their actions have resulted in the
development of the fast profit fast food industry that has led to the obesity epidemic in America.
The paper will analyze the documentary in terms of its structured frameworks that were
employed in the development of the documentary from start to end. Radical doubt will be
utilized in the content of the documentary to conclude that the documentary has strong incentive
to mislead and lie to the public about the obesity pandemic and eating habits of the American
people.
Two frameworks that were identified within the documentary that objectively laid out
how the documentary’s message was crafted included the inability for access to real foods and
the lack of nutritional education about the food and eating habits of most American people. The
paper seeks to defy the claims made by the documentary by stating that it simply communicated
the issues at face value and the participants of the documentary were individuals providing faulty
representation of the actual social and health situation of America.
The inability for access to real foods has been regarded as a prominent factor that has led
to the obesity pandemic. However, this is just in relation to city dwellers. It has been noted that
many fast food restaurants are usually located in and around cities in place of grocery stores that
once existed in the same location. In the suburbs and rural towns in America, the situation is
howeverdifferent. People did not lose their traditional eating habits and as a result, still conform
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to a regular home cooked meal; and a trip to the many grocery stores around town. These towns
have minimal fast food establishments as many dwellers do not consume fast foods. As much as
the people in the urban centers insist that fast foods are the cheapest form of food available, this
is considered untrue. Many researchers have come to the conclusion that raw food bought from
the grocery stores is sometimes cheaper than the ready meals bought in supermarket stores.
It has also been shown through studies that the lack of nutritional education has about the
food and eating habits of most American people to alarming rates. Food culture has changed and
people do not eat to live but live to eat. Sauce and soups in modern day foods are made of fats
and oils which make them fatty. The availability of television advertising and easy access to
cheaper fast foods has caused the change in food culture. People eat more and yet they rarely
cook natural food in their own kitchens. The death of real food outlets and the prevalence of the
middleman fast food corporations have resulted in the lack of sound nutritional education.
These corporations spend billions of dollars in food advertising budgets that brainwash
the public on new eating habits that are not necessarily cheaper or even good for their health. The
corporations have been acting as middle men between the farmers and the American public by
getting the real food from the farmers at very cheap rates, in a concept termed as adding value to
the food through processing it and selling it to the public thereafter. The argument being that the
fast food corporations have brought food closer to their customers and have made eliminated the
need of shopping from the farmer and preparation of this food for the client.
The second framework that was discussed in the development of the documentary was
Nutritional education to the American masses. Nutritional education has been focused on clinical
interventions, population studies and obesity regulation. These programs are aimed at educating
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health care providers who take care of patients with weight problems. The prevalence of the
importance of nutrition in weight management has been a way of increasing revenue for
nutritional and health care experts. Even though they claim that weight management and
nutritional management can lead to safe and effective interventions to reduce and eliminate the
obesity pandemic. They claim that it will help us more effectively deal with this most pervasive
health problems relating to food and nutritional issues.
Nutritional education is at its peak in America. Many working professionals have joined
the health and fitness bandwagon. These individuals have also been seen to be dieting and
exercising on a daily basis which reduces their chances of getting obese. The American media
has also been instrumental in using fit and light weight actors and models in their programmers
and advertisements to ensure that people aspire to live their lifestyles and live as healthy and fit
as possible as thee celebrities. All in all, this paper will conclude that the responsibility of
nutritional development and education should not be left entirely to these fast food
establishments. Parents are advised to ensure that their children eat healthier. They should also
ensure that they increase their physical activities.
Works Cited
