Syllabi: Images of the Medical Profession in Popular Film

INSTITUTION: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine

PRESENTER: Donald E. Guenther, Doctoral Candidate and Instructor, Kent State University, has professional and personal interest in the cultural foundations of American education. His doctoral dissertation subject is the depiction of the public schoolteacher in popular film.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Martin Kohn, Ph.D., Director of the Human Values in Medicine Program (email: mfk@neoucom.EDU)

ENROLLMENT: BS/MD; selective; limit: 25

SEMESTER: Fall 1999, Spring 2000
Session I: October 7, 14, 21, 28 (Thursday evenings 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.)
Session II: April 20, 27, May 4, 11 (Thursday evenings 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.)

LEARNING GOALS: Participants will (1) focus on the human and professional values expressed in these films, (2) become aware of the recurring motifs, codes, and symbols common to films about the medical profession, and (3) develop critical readings of the films based in part on triangulation efforts relating film sources, film critiques, and audience reaction.

METHOD OF INSTRUCTION: Screening followed by discussion.

OUTLINE:

Week 1: People Will Talk (1951), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. This highly acclaimed film is from a play by Carl Goetz. Cary Grant portrays an unconventional doctor who is as worried about the souls of his patients as he is about their bodies. He must defend his unorthodox methods before an academic tribunal at the medical school where he teaches. With Jeanne Crain.

Week 2: The Hospital (1971), directed by Robert Altman. Screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky's Oscar-winning screenplay is a fatalistic, black comedy taking place in a large, urban hospital. George C. Scott turns in an Oscar-winning performance as the doctor central to events spiraling ever-downward. With Diana Rigg.

Week 3: Gross Anatomy (1989), directed by Thom Eberhart. Matthew Modine plays a medical student who starts off being in it for the money only to have both his intellect and his values be challenged by one of his instructors (played by Christine Lahti). One synopsis claims this movie would be best appreciated by medical students.

Week 4: Doc Hollywood (1991), directed by Michael Caton-Jones. The young doctor in this film has his personal and professional crisis after medical school but before he can get a taste of the good life in a practice in southern California. He ends up in a place like nowhere else. With Michael J. Fox.

REQUIREMENTS: Attendance at all screenings, participation in discussions, and 2-3 page written responses to the first three films.

READING LIST: Short readings and handouts will be provided at the sessions.

HVM CREDITS: 3.00