-
Chronic Illness in Film: Steel Magnolias
by Briana Livelsberger
Note: This review contains spoilers of the film’s plot.
Whenever I watch a film that focuses on chronic illness, I often wonder if the film will be accurate or if I will be seething by the film’s poor portrayal. However, Steel Magnolias is a film that takes its representation of diabetes seriously.
Steel Magnolias (1989 version) follows six women in a small town in Louisiana as they live their lives. One of these women, Shelby, has diabetes. Diabetes is a disease caused by high blood sugar. High blood sugar can occur if one’s body doesn’t produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar) or if one’s body doesn’t effectively use the insulin it makes (NIDDK). In Type 1 diabetes, insulin producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed and thus keep the body from making its own insulin (Basina). In Type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t make enough insulin or use it effectively in combination with other dietary problems (NIDDK). The movie never states which kind of diabetes Shelby has but I’m guessing it’s Type 1, due to the fact that while diet and exercise are helpful, Shelby’s diabetes requires more to be controlled. Over time, diabetes can result in kidney failure, nerve damage, blindness, etc. Pregnancy can be difficult for someone who has diabetes because of the strain it causes on the body, sometimes speeding up organ damage (Mayo Clinic).
Steel Magnolias shows the effects of Shelby’s diabetes in a matter-of-fact sort of way due to most of the women knowing about her disease already. The first time we see any sign of Shelby’s diabetes is at Truvy’s hair salon before her wedding. Shelby starts reaching for her neck a couple times, her face showing signs of anxiety. Suddenly, her body erupts into tremors, and she starts fighting her mother (M’Lynn) – as M’Lyn tries to get her to eat a piece of candy and drink orange juice. Shelby isn’t thinking clearly, all she wants to do is leave but, with the tremors, is unable to move. After M’Lynn is able to force Shelby to drink some orange juice, Shelby’s tremors calm down and she’s able to think clearly again. This scene accurately depicts what is called diabetic hypoglycemia. According to the Mayo Clinic, this occurs when one’s blood sugar drops (such as when someone skips meals or receives too much insulin) and can cause symptoms such as anxiety, tremors, and confusion. Due to wedding stress, it is possible that Shelby forgot to eat something, causing her blood sugar to drop.
Shelby is warned by doctors that she shouldn’t have kids as it would be extremely dangerous for her, even life threatening. In Shelby’s case, this is true. After having her son, we find out that her kidneys are not working properly and ends up on dialysis. The dialysis causes awful bruises on her right arm. Since she is getting treatment through blood vessels, she is undergoing blood dialysis where blood is removed from the body, filtered through a machine, and returned back to the body (NHS).
Luckily for Shelby, M’Lynn gives her one of her kidneys and Shelby has a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, the transplant does not last long. Towards the end of the movie, Shelby struggles to stand or walk and becomes shaky at times. It’s clear she can tell that something is off, but she doesn’t say or do anything about it. Most likely, her body rejected the kidney since she recently had the transplant and one of the symptoms of rejection is fatigue (Kidney Fund). Shelby ends up in a coma on life support. However, after a certain period of time, all hope of her getting better is lost. Immediately after being taken off of life support, she dies.
The scene before Shelby ends up in a coma is a little hard to believe because she’s a nurse. These symptoms started while she was finishing her shift at the hospital so she could have easily gone to the ER, possibly preventing her symptoms from worsening to the point of being in a coma. Or she probably would’ve called 911 earlier. Either way, as a nurse she probably would have figured out that these symptoms were problematic a lot earlier. However, these things do happen in real life so I can’t judge this choice too harshly.
By the end of the film, I was in tears. Steel Magnolias captures the wins and struggles of those who have diseases and the effects on those around them. It captures the fears people have about the future and how rewarding it can be to do something despite those fears. Shelby’s life was meaningful and the meaning in her life wasn’t brushed away when she died (like how some people do when individuals with chronic illness die). She was always Shelby.
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/type-1-diabetes-causes-symtoms-treatments
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-1-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20353011
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-hypoglycemia/symptoms-causes/syc-20371525
-
Disability in Comedy
by Briana Livelsberger
Note: I have often watched these movies and found them funny. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve recognized that these movies also have problems with their representations and jokes.
It is common for comedies to rely on physical humor. Many movies feature someone tripping down stairs or falling into a pool or accidentally getting a hand slammed in a drawer for comedic purposes. Even other genres use physical humor when the plot may not have room for funny dialogue. It’s easy to add it in a scene without taking away from the actual story. However, another common way to add humor into a movie is by adding in someone with a disability. Let me show you some examples.
50 First Dates
It may not be a surprise that this film is on this list since it’s a comedy whose female lead, Lucy, is unable to remember new things. However, while Lucy’s syndrome does create many funny scenarios, Lucy isn’t put into the movie solely to be funny. 10 second Tom, on the other hand, has no other real purpose but to provide humor. Only able to remember something for 10 seconds, Tom creates a way for people to laugh.
Tom is first introduced after Lucy learns about her brain damage. Tom has enough time to introduce himself to four of the characters plus a little more discussion before he forgets and then re-introduces himself again. During this, Henry (the male lead), tells Tom that Doug (Lucy’s brother) gets wet dreams. Tom says, “Don’t you think you’re a little old to wet the bed.” Afterward, he forgets and re-introduces himself to Doug, creating an opportunity for viewers to laugh.
Another example of Tom’s creation of humor is shown when Henry goes to Lucy. While rushing up some stairs, Henry runs into Tom and Tom says, “Hi! I’m Tom.” Henry asks Tom a long question that takes up the rest of the 10 seconds, making Tom’s response, “Hi! I’m Tom.” His disability becomes a running punch-line.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban isn’t considered a comedy but there are funny parts that break up the tension being built in the plot. One such moment is when Harry boards the night bus when running away from home. The bus speeds through traffic but stops when an older woman with a walker is in the process of crossing the street. The bus’s sudden stop throws Harry into the front window. However, the humor doesn’t end there. The shrunken head hanging from the bus’s rearview mirror does a countdown from ten as the woman crosses the street. However, after it says 3, it begins using measurements of time such as 3½ and 1¾. Then the bus drives off after she’s out of the way. This moment plays off the idea of elderly individuals, especially those with mobility aids, are slow. Since most people feel similarly, this makes a joke off of a shared experience.
Robin Hood Men in Tights
This film was interesting to analyze because Blinkin (Robin’s blind servant) creates humor by both going against stereotypes about blind individuals and playing into the stereotypes. For example, there is a scene in which Robin is almost killed by an arrow shot by a man in a tower. However, Blinkin catches the arrow, saying, “I heard it from a mile away.” Right after, Robin says something, but Blinkin suddenly isn’t able to tell who is talking. This scene starts with the idea that, since Blinkin is blind, he can hear better than those around him. Then, by making it that he can’t tell that Robin is talking, it creates humor. Blinkin is also put into a lot of situations where he fights the air or an inanimate object during a battle sequence or he’ll face a different direction from everyone else when reacting to something.
Despicable Me 1 + 2
Despicable Me 1 and 2 both rely on humor (especially physical humor) to tell the story of Gru’s antics. One source of humor comes from the older scientist known as Dr. Nefario. In Despicable Me, Dr. Nefario’s difficulty with hearing becomes the basis of many jokes, such as a fart gun instead of a dart gun or boogie robots instead of cookie robots. Another joke comes during the scene where Dr. Nefario realizes that the shrink ray doesn’t work long term and has no way of telling Gru. Dr. Nefario says, “We need to warn him, quick!” He revs his scooter and moves forward. However, the scooter moves slowly, counteracting the urgency of the situation.
In Despicable Me 2, Dr. Nefario leaves Gru’s workplace and decides to work for someone else. When leaving, rockets on the bottom of his scooter send him up into the air…slowly. Both of these movies play off of common disabilities that come with age (deafness and difficulty walking). Anyone who has seen a scooter can understand that it is slow – which is why it is funny when it is slow in the films during crucial moments.
9 Months
9 Months is classified as a romantic comedy and features many humorous characters such as Dr. Kosevich (played by Robin Williams) and Gail (played by Joan Cusack). However, there is one moment in the movie where humor was created that ultimately didn’t add anything to the film. Samuel (the male lead) rushes to take his wife, Rebecca, to the hospital once she’s in labor. In a mad dash from the car to the entrance, Samuel is stopped by an older woman exiting the hospital while using a walker. Not wanting to wait, Samuel rushes to pick up the woman and move her away from the doors so that he can get Rebecca through. I believe this is meant to play off of the shared experience of older women with walkers taking time to move and might show what many wish they could do in such a situation, providing a place for humor. However, in my opinion, this further establishes how much of a jerk Samuel is.
16 Candles
16 Candles is a cult classic of teen movies, full of teenage hijinks, romantic entanglements, and crazy circumstances that make many viewers laugh. However, one part of this film that creates humor is the character only known as Geek Girl #1 (played by Joan Cusack). Geek Girl #1’s only memorable feature is that she has a neck/back brace and the awkwardness caused by it. The only time she says anything is towards the beginning and all she says is “uh-huh” and “yeah.” However, despite the fact that she doesn’t say much, we see Geek Girl #1 at random times. At the school dance, we see her dancing awkwardly with a friend (though less awkwardly than Farmer Ted). We also see her try to drink from a water fountain with the neck brace on. Struggling to do so, she ends up getting water all over her face and wipes it off with her shirt. At the party, we see her trying to drink a beer (without a straw) in her brace. She leans back, holding the beer can as straight up and down as she can without spilling it on herself. Leaning back too far, she falls backwards onto the floor. Geek Girl #1 is made to be a source of comedy through the awkwardness that comes from having a brace.
Personally, I relate to Geek Girl #1 as I have a neck brace. She shows the struggles that can come with a brace that many others may never experience. In this way, Geek Girl #1 sort of spreads awareness about these issues. However, the intention behind her inclusion in the film was most likely for comedic purposes only. In addition, most people just look at her and her awkwardness and laugh.
Johnny English
This film relies a lot on physical humor and irony as the protagonist, Johnny English, is often physically unaware of his surroundings or what he’s doing. In one scene Johnny English is talking with his boss’s secretary when he notices a pen on the desk. Examining the pen, he accidentally sends a dart out and hits the secretary. Because of whatever substance the dart was coated in, the secretary is rushed to a hospital all-the-while, Johnny English’s boss doesn’t notice anything that’s happening. When the secretary returns to work, Johnny English is in his boss’s office. She rolls by the windows of her boss’s office in a wheelchair, staring angrily at Johnny English.
There’s Something About Mary
While Tucker’s existence is more than for a laugh, the movie uses his disability to make a joke much like how other films do. He drops his keys and goes to pick them up. However, Tucker’s forearm crutches make it difficult for him to grab his keys without struggling to keep his balance and get close enough to the ground to grab them. He refuses Mary’s offer to grab the keys for him and insists on grabbing them himself. Eventually, Mary hands him the keys and he says, “See, I knew I could do it myself.” He then drops the keys not long after and has to struggle again. This scene shows the awkwardness and humor from struggling to pick up keys.
What is the significance of these images of disabled individuals used for comedy? When movies have a disabled character or random person in the scene that only contributes something to laugh at, it perpetuates the idea that people with disabilities are an object for entertainment. I’m not saying that humor can’t be used where people with disabilities are concerned. There are funny situations that occur in life with disabilities and I don’t think it’s wrong to show that in a movie. However, when a movie only shows a disabled individual in order to provide humor, it becomes more than just being funny. It becomes okay to laugh at disabled individuals.
Additional Reading:
Originally Posted on Necessary Behavior: https://www.necessarybehavior.com/blogs/news/disability-in-comedy?_pos=11&_sid=7f3693f5c&_ss=r Edited 2/18/22
-
Chronic Illness in Film: Ode to Joy
by Briana Livelsberger
Note: This review contains spoilers of the film’s plot.
There are many diseases out in the world, making it that there are endless possibilities for films about chronic illness. The fact that movies are created about diseases is, in my opinion, a positive thing when the movies are done right. If one uses a lesser-known disease as the focus of the movie, it increases awareness of the disease and makes it easier to believe it’s real. However, when a film is about a disease that is relatively unknown to the public, it can leave one wondering whether the disease is real considering that there are movies in which a disease is made up. However, Ode to Joy is not one such film about an imaginary disease.
Ode to Joy follows Charlie, a man who has cataplexy. At first, I wasn’t sure if this disease was real, mostly because I hadn’t heard of it before. Cataplexy is a disease that can cause muscle weakness/paralysis when one feels a strong emotion. These episodes of muscle weakness can be minor (face drooping) to severe (full body weakness followed by fainting). Cataplexy is caused by low levels of hypocretin (a chemical in the brain important in regulating the sleep-wake cycle) and often goes along with narcolepsy (Lee). As a result, an individual with cataplexy can end up in REM sleep (dream stage where the body is paralyzed) at any time (Sleep Foundation).
For Charlie, his cataplexy is triggered mainly by happiness. As a result, he lives his life trying to keep himself from being happy. The film opens with his sister’s wedding. Standing next to his brother (Cooper), Charlie tries to think of depressing, horrific things to keep himself from losing control and falling during the ceremony. However, he can’t help but feel happy for his sister, so he inevitably loses control of his muscles and crashes into many objects and people before passing out. In reality, Charlie would actually have been seated for the ceremony (as no one would want him to risk an injury) but having him stand creates a dramatic way for the movie to introduce cataplexy.
Cataplexy affects his day-to-day life, and the movie does a good job at showing these effects in a matter-of-fact way after the wedding scene. Charlie works in a library where things are usually tame and quiet. If he reads to kids, he reads them books such as The Velveteen Rabbit or Where Did My Sweet Grandma Go? When walking around New York City, Charlie makes sure to have depressing music (such as a funeral march) playing in his headphones so that he can distract himself from any heartwarming sights he may come across. When he takes Francesca (the female lead) out on a date, he takes her to a play called The Great Depression to keep himself from feeling giddy around her. After leaving the play, the first topic of conversation he brings up is about Francesca’s aunt (who is fighting cancer). For the sake of keeping himself from being happy, he ends up not dating Francesca and instead sets her up with Cooper. In that way, he can be around her without losing control and passing out since seeing her with Cooper makes him sad enough to negate the happiness he feels with her.
There is a lot more that Charlie does throughout the movie as a result of cataplexy but, even with describing a portion of what he does, it is clear that Charlie takes managing his condition seriously. However, Charlie’s management causes him to avoid most of what could make him happy, partially because he is afraid to be happy. He pushes Francesca away out of this fear and makes his brother worry. This is refreshing because movies don’t often show the fears that can go along with the diseases and how the fear can have a bigger impact on life than the disease. The movie also shows that Charlie pushes against that fear and decides to have happiness in his life. Charlie deciding to find happiness in a way that won’t be dangerous also does something that a lot of movies don’t do. Some movies show happiness being found when a disease is “cured” or when it’s found out to be fake. Either way, it is often through a rejection of the disease that one finds happiness. In Charlie’s case, he embraces his disease and figures out a way to be happy that works for him.
In terms of accuracy, Ode to Joy seems to get a lot right. When explaining the disease, all the information used was information I was able to confirm on multiple medical websites. Ode to Joy also discusses actual treatments used for cataplexy rather than just having Charlie use some medication without any explanation like some movies do. Based on research I’ve done; Charlie’s cataplexy is severe in comparison to how the disease plays out for most people. While people can lose control of all muscles in their body and pass out afterward, usually specific muscles are affected and may not cause someone to pass out all the time. However, I think this was done both to deepen the risks that Charlie faces when trying to go after what he wants and to provide more dramatic scenes. In addition, since cataplexy is supposed to be triggered by strong emotions, small heartwarming acts causing him to nearly fall seems slightly exaggerated. Now, it is possible that, due to his inability to allow himself to feel happiness, his joy is stronger whenever he feels it than if he could feel joy without worry. However, it seems more likely that it is done to show that cataplexic attacks could happen anywhere, anytime.
Since the film provides accurate information on cataplexy and does a good job portraying it, there ends up being a lot of humor in the situations Charlie finds himself in. While having a disease isn’t funny, the movie is able to show how funny things can happen because of a disease rather than using the disease as a punchline.
Overall, Ode to Joy provides an insight into cataplexy and what it could be like for someone who has it. The film shows both how a disease can rule one’s life and how one can live their lives with their disease in a way that doesn’t take away from their happiness.
Edited: 1/27/2022
Originally Posted on Necessary Behavior: https://www.necessarybehavior.com/blogs/news/chronic-illness-in-film-ode-to-joy?_pos=3&_sid=390f90c57&_ss=r
Sources:
Narcolepsy Symptoms
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Briana Livelsberger 