The above is my vented response and facial expression on this topic right now, and below is its continuation through the medium of a stream of consciousness, several forward slashes and some graphics...
So Hi. If you like people watching as much as I do, as well as absorbing all the humorous and rubbish things people do in 21st century society, you will appreciate this post. There is intentionally no conclusion, just more a rant about how this whole phenomenon is slightly odd when you really think hard about it. I mean there is no denying McDonalds is a recreational treat you hop in the car to get when you're a kid up until teen age, and all your siblings squeal in delight when mum says 'Yes OK we can go, it's the weekend'/ even now as a young adult with a hangover and there's opportunity for a scruffy drive-thru moment, snap chatting all your mates during the ride. But seriously, anymore than that I just have to scrutinise. There should be no real love affair.
There is something endearing about the internal social environments and human behaviours within McDonalds/heart attack parlours, because as an objective onlooker, you realise people are literally enjoying their little plastic meals in delight with friends and family, they are talking and smiling, they are gathering, they are indulging in a selection of sugary dips that strip your insides as you digest them, and people actually ventured out the house, using fuel, to get there. The media is rife with McDonalds' exotic and unfathomable ingredient rumours, yet, people.still.eat.this.food (!) It's a strange phenomenon and slightly saddening....
I picture it like an enlarged version of a petridish filled with ants and demonstrating the food craving and strategising affair of 'picnic leftover collection.' In both scenarios, the living organisms swarm to the food, lapping it up as swiftly as possible before it can be taken from them, but through the human lens it is formalised by fast food production, delivery and consumption processes, built on vehicular transportation and without much of the physical moving of the body (except for chewing). The reality of McDonalds is less poetic than the ant version; people do not work together to the same extent, ants are tiny and remain tiny- you don't get overweight ants- and ants gather, save, store and share...they are 'bros4lyf'....pretty self-explanatory with that last point- human's aren't. Moreover, human beings are PAYING (monetarily) to be less well-off than they were before the meal...sigh.
Happiness is sold to people through the fabulously-fun, vibrant adverts on TV and in the papers, featuring crunchy salads being tossed around, fortified by quirky, little slogans on bill boards and bus stops. And not to forget the freakin' happy meal!? Poor children don't have a chance- who doesn't want to be happy with a meal at 7 years old?!? I know I did. Anyway my point is, it is so easy to give into and want 'Maccy Ds'- and for one, it is cheap! You can't deny it beats spending £5 at M&S on that 'healthy cous cous snack, including 1 of your 5-a-day' when you leave the school gates after 3pm at fourteen, debating the use of your pocket money that can only stretch so far, and you have to save some for the weekend when everyone's going to that house party and you need WKD. [AAand breathe] Yeah it's inevitable. However, I am saying when you get old enough, STAY AWAY and just lol at what goes on and who chills inside and why it's not as rosey as it once was.
To wrap this up I guess my point is, the 'McDonalds life' is depicted to us so happily and the people going are so happy and love the experience, yet in reality it is quite sad that: the food probably won't add to your long-term health bill, you never truly know if pig jizz is in your burger dressing or not, it is claiming your lovely cash for bad things and feeding the global phenomenon even more, allowing them to make bigger, better adverts and keep Ronald McDonald bouncing away on top of those huts surrounded by stuffed-full carparks. :( OH WORLD.
As a finishing statement, and with reference to the above image, I would like to contextualise my initial inspiration for this post. It was triggered a few months back by the shot of city 'Romanticism' pictured and narrated through a McDonalds outlet feature, in Patrick Keiller's London, 1994. This was extended through my course focused on urban concerns and personal curiosity for making cities healthier, happier, using less energy and consuming less 'STUFF'. Such themes are prevalent in the books Happy City, Charles Montgomery (2013) and The Energy Glut, Ian Roberts (2010).
This graphics work below is from a comprehensive and entertaining visual article on BoredPanda, about the everyday truths of the Western world...oh how applicable and fortunate that I found this entry on time.
