Unless you live in a cave, under a rock, or in an Afghanistan bunker, you’ve probably heard of the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me.” This riveting film follows director Morgan Spurlock as he embarks on 30 days of eating nothing but McDonald’s food while exploring America’s obesity problem. The humorous but thought-provoking documentary was praised by critics and audiences and deservedly earned an Academy Award nomination (unfortunately, it lost out to “Born into Burthels,” which I heard is a good movie, but not nearly as interesting or entertaining).
Morgan has built on his success on the big screen and created a documentary television series for FX. “30 Days” takes the “Super Size Me” concept with a broader scope: it examines what it’s like to live someone else’s life for 30 days. Each episode follows someone who suspends their daily routine for a month and puts themselves in the shoes of a different lifestyle. For example, in the first few episodes we’re given a glimpse of what it would be like to be a devout Christian living as a Muslim and a Midwestern homophobe living in the heart of gay culture in San Francisco’s Castro District (both sound like damn premises). interesting).
Always volunteering for human experiments, Morgan took up the challenge of the main episode and dragged his fiancée, Alexandra (Alex) Jamieson, along for the ride. The mission was to see what it would be like to live on minimum wages for 30 days. So after Morgan and Alex attended the 2005 Academy Awards, they left their comfortable New York City lifestyle and moved to Columbus, Ohio to live a (temporary) life of poverty. Ohio was selected because the state was a good representation of the difficulties facing America today, having lost 250,000 jobs in the last 4 years (yikes!).
In initiating this experiment, Morgan laid out three rules for them to follow: they would each have a minimum wage gig, all their credit cards and bank accounts would be frozen for the duration, and they would each start with cash equal to the value of a week of minimum wage work pay (that’s $206, but only $178.47 after taxes). I don’t know about you, but the very thought of slaving away a full-time job but still living below the poverty line is enough for this (relatively) spoiled child to avoid this little ordeal like the plague. Fortunately for us, Morgan and Alex are soldiers and sacrificed themselves to open some eyes.
The opening day of Morgan and Alex’s adventure was dedicated to finding a place to live. After a day of searching for expensive shacks, they settled in a dirty, ant-infested dump of an apartment situated above a crack den in an area called Bottoms (the name of the district alone should convey how bad the living arrangements were). ) . For $325 a month you get what you pay for I guess. They were lucky to find a sympathetic landlord who allowed them to pay just $200 up front and make payments on the remaining $125 of rent and $325 security deposit (something tells me the landlord isn’t usually that nice, but he made some concessions when saw the television cameras). The place is dirty, freezing cold and without furniture, but what the heck; it is a roof over their heads.
The second day brought with it the job search. Alex ended up with a job waiting tables and washing dishes at a diner (which is an improvement over the huge sacrifice this vegan chef would have had to make if she settled for one of the fast food jobs she applied for), and Morgan signed on and got a temp agency that would connect him with day labor assignments. In fact, it was nice to see how excited these two got when they got together at the end of the day and shared their (good?) job news.
Throughout the month, the daily routine of each of our subjects begins to wear them down. Alex is tired, cold, and grumpy, and Morgan is feeling a little down because he works 11 hour days and brings home only $45.26! After taxes he was making about $4.20 an hour, well below minimum wage even though he was “making” $7.00 an hour. To make matters worse, they each needed a trip to the ER (her: urinary tract infection; him: wrist injury from yard work) and take charges since neither has health insurance. Here’s where things got funny (a bit of sarcasm for you): Alex’s hospital bill of $438 included a $300 charge just for using the ER, while Morgan faced a bill of $779, including $551 for walking through the gate and $40 for medical care. supplies, which was a simple, average, everyday bandage… utterly ridiculous. One can only hope that an expo like this sheds some light on the travesty that is our health care system and that something is done about it (yeah right, and monkeys can fly out of my butt).
To further complicate this journey through poverty, Morgan takes a second job in an attempt to earn more dollars, but ends up straining his relationship with Alex because he’s gone 18 hours a day. Couples making $25,000 a year or less are twice as likely to divorce as those making more than $50,000, so it’s no wonder many people take on side jobs to make ends meet. The problem is, working the extra hours for the extra money means less time at home with the family… the ultimate Catch 22. Morgan and Alex even “borrowed” her niece and nephew for a couple of days during the experiment, and the added financial strain caused by the kids was mind-boggling. This single man and father of none (other than two cats and a plant) can’t imagine trying to survive under these circumstances (again, thanks Morgan and Alex for doing it for me and conveniently putting it on my TV so I can live vicariously).
Interspersed with the daily activities of their new lives, Morgan shared a few nuggets of information that were likely new and thought provoking to many in the audience. A couple of these facts really caught my attention. First, the federal minimum wage standard of $5.15 an hour hasn’t changed since 1997. The cost of living skyrocketed during that time period, even though the law that was designed to keep citizens out of poverty doesn’t change with he. Each year, Senator Ted Kennedy sends a bill to Congress seeking a minimum wage increase, and each year it is defeated because it is believed that the increase would force employers to cut jobs. As Congress continues to trample all over the little people, they have seen fit to pass $27,000 pay raises for themselves…absolutely ridiculous, once again.
Second, and on a more positive note, I learned that there are actually kind people in this world (watch the news every day and you’ll tend to think otherwise). When Morgan and Alex got tired of sitting on the ground eating with the ants, they looked for organizations that provide assistance to those in need. It turns out that Columbus has a network of charities that help the working poor with the basic necessities of life. Just a short walk from your slum… uh… I mean apartment, is the Westside Free Store, a church-run store where everything is totally free. Steve Rodgers is the founder of the Free Store and collects donations such as toys, clothing, dishes, furniture, food/snacks, etc. for those who cannot afford such basic pleasures on their meager wages. It’s truly inspiring to see good-hearted people treat citizens with the respect they deserve…something the government seems to know nothing about. If you find yourself inspired, you don’t have to live in Columbus, Ohio to help those in need. You can do this from the comfort of your own computer at websites like SwapThing.com, which has a donation program called ShareThing that allows users to donate to charity and receive a tax-deductible receipt in return – a situation where everyone they win. everyone.
In the end, Morgan and Alex survive their ordeal (I classify it as an ordeal when they reach the finish line) with their sanity and relationship intact. I won’t claim to be the most socially conscious person on this planet, but this series opened my eyes and I can only hope it has opened the eyes of many others; enough to demand some changes and put us on the right track to end poverty. Morgan and Alex, you are brave souls… thanks for taking one for the team, and I hope more comes out of that than an hour of TV entertainment.