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Current Issue: Artvoice v7n48, week of Thursday November 27 » back issues

Bigger Stronger Faster

Bigger, Stronger, Faster: The Side Effects of Being an American

I passed on seeing Bigger Stronger Faster when it opened the Hot Docs festival in Toronto some weeks ago because the subject didn’t sound interesting to me. A documentary about the horrors of steroid abuse and their corruption of professional sports? Yeah, whatever. But debuting filmmaker Chris Bell has created something considerably more noteworthy than another cautionary film.

First off, he is more qualified than most to investigate the subject. Bell and his brothers grew up in the 1980s when, he notes, “There was an explosion of ass kicking in America.” Ronald Reagan’s simple-minded jingoism inspired an era of brainless beefcake heroes like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, “the ultimate ass kicker.” They became role models for Bell and his brothers, born to a family inclined to plus sizes. All became involved in wrestling and weight lifting, and all dabbled in steroids as a way of keeping up with changing standards. While Chris Bell stopped after a few jabs of the needle, his brothers continue to use steroids to this day, and their family discussions are some of the most poignant moments in the film.

But just as you assume that you know where Bell, who has clearly studied the audience-friendly documentaries of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, is headed, he heads for different and deeper territory.

The real subject of his interest is the underlying currents that make steroids so popular, and maybe even inevitable to American culture—and do these are deep waters indeed. While Bell didn’t like using steroids himself, he’s not able to condemn his brothers for using them. He lets pro-steroid experts testify that claims of abuse are based more on media and politician-induced hysteria than actual facts. And he explores the ubiquity of “performance enhancers” of all kinds, not just in sports but in just about every aspect of American life. Did Tiger Woods’ Lasik eye surgery, which gave him better than “perfect” eyesight of 20-15, give him an unfair advantage in a sport where depth perception is crucial? Should classical musicians be allowed to use beta blockers to combat stage fright? Is it sensible to act otherwise when, as George C. Scott barks in a clip from Patton, “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser”? More interested in provoking questions in his viewers than in ramming his opinions down their throats (the film appropriately ends with a metal version of the old Genesis song “Land of Confusion”), Bell has made a compelling and provocative movie that only pretends to be limited to sports.



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Reader Comments


Rosie
02 Jul 2008, 18:28
Glad to read you liked the movie so much. It's been a long road but many great things have transpired in our family as a result of Christopher's relentless dogged determination to discover was all the hype true in the media about performance enhancements. Certainly many parents should take their teens to see this non judgmental film, which not only examines steroid use but so much more, Stastically our boys should not have even tried performance enhancements, as parents we went beyond the call of parenthood, there at every game of sport they chose to be in, cheering them on in school, being Sunday school teachers, ministers in children's church, coach of little league, you name it, it was done. So if a parent or a child thinks it won't happen in their home, when kids are trying things more and more, they could be very wrong. There is no open dialog for teens and parents today. This guys didn't try these things until they were grown men, but today kids as young as 12 on taking steroids and other performance enhancers. It's in limited theaters, and it's pretty much by word of mouth, so I pray, now that's it's been critically acclaimed and in some cases on some of the top ten movies for 1/2 yr 2008, that it will spread. It needs more backing in advertising, other than the internet. I appreciate your honesty the family parents being plus sized, in America were size matters, big or small, I'm happy to see you looked beyond it to hear the message. There are many "heros" that people look up to, not just in sports, so it's important to see that because we're being sold a bill of "false advertising" that we can all just relax and be who we were intended to be.

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Artvoice Blog Headlines

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posted November 28, 3:44 pm on Artvoice Daily

As promised in this article, the membership list for West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is right here. Highlighted in yellow are city employees who report to the mayor or their relatives; highlighted in pink are other city employees. Most of the highlighted names (though not all) are new members, who joined just in time to vote at last Thursday’s annual members meeting, when Harvey Garrett was voted off WSNHS’s board... (more)

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posted November 26, 2:00 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 26, 12:46 pm on Chew on This

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posted November 26, 11:34 am on Chew on This

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posted November 26, 10:11 am on Artvoice Daily

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Who Goes Where When Hillary Goes to State?

posted November 19, 12:04 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 14, 5:05 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 14, 2:41 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 14, 12:51 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 14, 11:06 am on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 13, 1:58 pm on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 12, 9:37 am on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 11, 3:28 pm on Artvoice Daily

Always in the vanguard, researchers of the University at Buffalo’s Center of Human Capital have reached a bold conclusion, according to a statement disseminated this afternoon: Although no official determination has been made about whether New York State or the U... (more)

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posted November 11, 11:17 am on Artvoice Daily

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posted November 29, 1:44 pm on channel Music

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posted November 29, 1:16 pm on channel Art

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posted November 28, 08:47 am on channel Local Interest

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posted November 27, 5:57 pm on channel Events

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posted November 26, 5:46 pm on channel Health

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posted November 23, 3:48 pm on channel Music

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posted November 23, 2:33 pm on channel Art

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posted November 23, 12:24 am on channel Movie Trailers

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posted November 23, 11:53 am on channel Movie Trailers

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posted November 23, 11:39 am on channel Movie Trailers

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posted November 23, 09:49 am on channel Music

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posted November 23, 08:04 am on channel Music

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posted November 21, 4:50 pm on channel Health

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