The Iron Man and the Cheeseburger

OK; yes I went to see Ironman...what can I say? I've always liked Robert Downey Jr. And all in all, he was pretty good in the movie... Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to particularly reflect on the only food centered moment in the film. It really struck me for what it represented and I was pretty surprised at even being surprised. Well, here goes:

It seems natural enough that a life threatening trauma would make one pretty hungry. After being abducted in a foreign land, imprisoned and forced to recreate the very weapons that got you into this mess in the first place...and of course then battling a whole slew of terrorists, and wandering through the desert, one would work up quite an appetite.

So what might be the first meal of the rest of your life? I'm still pondering that myself; there are just so many choices...but for Ironman/industrialist Tony Stark, the choice is clear. It is the quintessential American meal; the cheeseburger. After being delivered back to the bosom of his beloved LA, Stark, a boy genius and playboy weapons manufacturer, wants only two things; a press conference (to reveal to the world the profound humanitarian transformation that has occurred within him after seeing his weapons kill the very people he naively thought they would protect)...and a cheeseburger, which gets delivered to him immediately (almost magically) in a simple brown paper Burger King bag.

Ah, regular food for regular people...and how convenient that one can easily multi-task with this handy dandy finger food. Stark literally pauses a moment to take a satisfying bite out of this (most beautiful example of a fast food) burger as he shares his life altering journey, escaping from the evil other. This bite appears to be enough to provide the relief he so desperately sought after months of being confined to a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan, since it fades from the foreground into being a simple prop through the rest of the scene where he is causing an uproar with his major business announcement.

So why does any of this matter? This excellent, and painfully obvious example of product placement is more than just the pedaling of crap food for BK, it is an exemplar of American cuisine. Comforting yet convenient, fast and fun; the cheeseburger is everything a good (meat-eating) American needs. What better representation of of the American way of life and culture (or some would say, lack there of) of food than a product that was sourced from any number of environmentally degradating sources, assembled by poorly paid, unskilled labor, and can be eaten by the consumer with one hand while, say for example; driving a car, or working, or better yet, shopping. What can be more American than that?

Don't get me wrong, even I enjoy a really good cheeseburger from time to time (my graduate supervisor can now attest to that), but this bit of gratuitous marketing is upsetting on so many levels. Cinematically, it seems clumsily shoved in (I guess they couldn't have put it in the scene where he is saving the damsel in distress) just to connect the cross marketing, and is almost distracting from the main action of the scene. But I also am concerned with what this kind of food represents and the message it sends people, especially the millions of kids that will go see this movie and then by the evil, saturated fat laden children's meals that contain the little gimmicky toys that in turn advertise the film. I also think its a sad statement that the epitome of comfort has been represented by a poor quality, low nutrition fast food burger; and not just for the marketing aspect, but because I think in many ways it does accurately symbolize those things to the dominant culture. We, as a culture, are so detached from where our food comes from, and really taking the time to enjoy a meal, that we don't even know what good food tastes like and can't discern the difference between quality or crap when we eat it.