Spurlock, You Rock

I once read a quote that went something like, one of the ways you make a difference is by impacting your society, your culture: get out there, write the music, make the movies, write the books, create the art.

Morgan Spurlock is certainly one of those people making that difference.

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Straits Times May 19, 2005
Maker of Super Size Me tackles religious bias
[Ed: Whole article here, since brilliant STI now charges for access]



NEW YORK - THE man who made a hit movie out of eating McDonald's fast food for a month has filmed a 'fundamentalist Christian' man living as a Muslim to find out what it is like to face the prejudice that many
Muslims in America deal with since Sept 11.

The experiment is part of Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock's new reality TV show 30 Days, which places people in a variety of unfamiliar circumstances for 30 days.

Spurlock made his name with the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me about the impact on his health of a month's diet of McDonald's burgers, shakes, chicken nuggets and soda.

In one episode of the new TV show, a conservative straight man tries living with a gay roommate. In another, a mother turns to binge-drinking to send a warning to her daughter. Spurlock puts himself to the test by living on the minimum wage.

'One of my favourite episodes is... what's it like to be a Muslim in
America...who is seen every day as a threat to our freedom simply because of their colour, their race, their religion,' Spurlock said in an interview on Monday.

'(It's) something we deal with every day in America, and we hear about
it with terrorism threats every day,' he said.

'We took a fundamentalist Christian from my home state of West
Virginia, somebody who is very pro-war, pro-'us versus them', that when
you hear Muslim the only thing he thinks of is a guy standing on a mountain with an AK-47.'

The man leaves his wife and children at home and goes to live with a
Muslim family in Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States.

'He dresses as a Muslim, eats as a Muslim, he prays five time a day, he studies the Quran daily, he learns to speak Arabic, he works with an imam, a Muslim cleric, to learn the history of Islam.

'And the transformation this guy goes through in 30 days is miraculous, it's incredible,' Spurlock said.

The documentary-maker says the show is driven by the desire to make people think about society's problems. – REUTERS


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