Notebooks Esteve Foundation 42
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NOTEBOOKS Esteve Foundation 42 Television fiction viewed from the perspective Medicine in Television Series of medical professionals House and Medical Diagnosis. Lisa Sanders Editor: Toni de la Torre The Knick and Surgical Techniques. Leire Losa The Sopranos and Psychoanalysis. Oriol Estrada Rangil The Big Bang Theory and Asperger’s Syndrome. Ramon Cererols Breaking Bad and Methamphetamine Addiction. Patricia Robledo Mad Men and Tobacco Addiction. Joan R. Villalbí The Walking Dead and Epidemics in the Collective Imagination. Josep M. Comelles and Enrique Perdiguero Gil Angels in America, The Normal Heart and Positius: HIV and AIDS in Television Series. Aina Clotet and Marc Clotet, under the supervision of Bonaventura Clotet Nip/Tuck, Grey’s Anatomy and Plastic Surgery. María del Mar Vaquero Pérez Masters of Sex and Sexology. Helena Boadas CSI and Forensic Medicine. Adriana Farré, Marta Torrens, Josep-Eladi Baños and Magí Farré Homeland and the Emotional Sphere. Liana Vehil and Luis Lalucat Series Medicine in Television Olive Kitteridge and Depression. Oriol Estrada Rangil True Detective and the Attraction of Evil. Luis Lalucat and Liana Vehil Polseres vermelles and Cancer. Pere Gascón i Vilaplana ISBN: 978-84-945061-9-2 9 788494 506192 42 NOTEBOOKS OF THE ESTEVE Foundation Nº 42 Nip/Tuck, Grey’s Anatomy and Plastic Surgery María del Mar Vaquero Pérez Both productions could be considered to be the launching pad for two meteoric careers: producers Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes. Today they are two television industry heavyweights. The former sprang to fame in 2003 with Nip/Tuck, a polemical vision of plastic surgery, shown through the lives of its two con- troversial protagonists. Along with The Shield, this program brought the cable channel FX into the orbit of series addicts. Years later, he would again work for this channel on American Horror Story. Shonda Rhimes’s career took off in 2005 with Grey’s Anatomy, which still keeps audiences in their millions glued to the screens of free-to-air channel ABC. Its success has enabled the channel to open a production company for TV series (Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder), now dubbed Shondaland. It might seem obvious to begin this chapter profession, meaning they share the suffering and dedicated to plastic surgery in TV series by men- recovery of the sick. There are stories of interpret- tioning the fascination that doctors’ private and ing the patient’s death as a personal failure, or as professional lives have always held for viewers. proof of the uselessness or insufficiency of their Every aspect relating to medicine, to the work knowledge. And even –why not?– stories of the and coexistence of health professionals in that doctor who acquires more of a human dimen- independent city that a large hospital constitutes sion when he or she switches roles and becomes are fertile content. Such aspects include the dra- a patient. This is a fascinating viewpoint, which matic change of lifestyle a disease’s appearance portrays how difficult it is to take (as the saying brings about, but also the analysis of symptoms, goes) one’s own medicine. like clues in a mystery movie, that lead to uncov- Medicine in film has given us marvelous stor- ering the diagnosis of an illness. Witnessing the ies in every imaginable genre and setting. We progressive deterioration of a character suffering have seen doctors starring in romantic mov- from a degenerative disease, or –let us say it– the ies and who, prompted by love, seek a cure for moment of death itself, all of these are excellent their loved one. Or else they end up falling in love storylines for thousands of scripts. They contain with the patient they cure. In war movies of any enough elements of tragedy, drama, anecdote period, doctors often battle with few resources and human overcoming of challenges to attract but enormous inventiveness. In natural disasters viewers. or epidemics, they lead the survivors toward a The permanent contact of doctors with life, new dawn. In crime films, they reveal the best suffering and death make them the ideal heroes of a little-known specialization such as forensic in many stories. These include both their own medicine. There are innumerable stories more. It and those resulting from their professional voca- is tricky to find a medical specialization that has tion, which sometimes leads them to sacrifice not been dealt with on the silver screen. personal or family life. Similar are the stories of As if this were not enough, as series devel- their involvement with family members and pa- oped, TV let viewers get to know the doctor tients, stories of the empathy inherent in their starring in a storyline, and to share his or her de- -75- Nip/Tuck, Grey’s Anatomy and Plastic Surgery velopment and dénouement. Furthermore, view- understands what a plastic surgeon may do in ers could partake of the professional’s daily life his practice, he focuses on his facet as a creator in each episode, experience the adventures that or recoverer of beauty as the sole thing that holds so attracted them one after another. With every interest in fiction? Or is it that plastic surgeons weekly broadcast of her or his work, they shared ourselves have not known, been able or wished his or her achievements, failures and affections, to demystify that image that portrays us as the against a backdrop of recovery, loss, overcom- most enviable of stars? ing odds, frustration, life, and even death. Medi- The answer is surely a combination of all of cal television series have encouraged more than this. Though there are few, if barely any, posi- a few professional vocations, increasing student tive examples we can point to of this special- numbers in medical faculties, attracted by the ization on-screen, we will at least aim to reflect daily adventure of this profession. real knowledge of the specialization and try, by I think this reminder is apt so as to be aware demystifying the stereotype, to reveal the true of the scant treatment of equal depth and con- importance of what plastic surgery and its practi- tent the specialization to which we dedicate this tioners offer patients and the other medical spe- chapter –plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic cializations. surgery– has received in film and TV. I know some people would say that this is not so. We A little etymology and history are used to seeing stars undergo changes in ap- pearance. It could be so an actor can replace a Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. This colleague in a long-running series without altering is a long name for a broad medical specializa- the storyline or the central characters in the plot. tion which is nevertheless most often abbrevi- Or maybe the character has a serious accident, ated to plastic surgery. It is, furthermore, wrongly or survives an assassination attempt that disfig- associated with just half of its content: aesthetic ures him or her, and must return with a fresh face surgery. This would be understandable in the to take revenge. These are recurring themes on- context of the broader public. However, it is un- screen. This is undeniably true, and is no doubt fortunately also the case among many medical the first notion that pops into our mind regarding professionals, who remain ignorant of everything plastic surgery. Yet outside of this easy script re- this specialization encompasses and the services source –a rather surreal concept reflecting none it can offer. Let us look more closely at them. of the reality of the specialization– what does the Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery broader public know about what plastic surgery is the medical and surgical specialization con- consists of when given its full name: plastic, re- cerned with correcting any congenital, acquired, constructive and aesthetic surgery? How has tumorous, or simply regressive process requiring TV fiction portrayed this specialization in series repair or repositioning, or which affects bodily on medical themes? Have the fictional charac- form or function. Its techniques are based on ters approached the plastic surgeon’s image as transplanting and mobilizing tissues using grafts a doctor with the same dimension as a health and flaps, or even implanting inert material. In its professional as has been fomented for other spe- most recent advances, it also employs complete cialists? units of donor tissue, such as limbs (arms, hands, Frequently, plastic surgery and its professional legs) and the covering of the face. practitioners only inspire frivolous plotlines or em- The full content of plastic surgery encompass- body characters lacking the basic ethical prin- es two fields of action. The first is reparative or ciples that govern the doctor-patient relationship. reconstructive plastic surgery. It seeks to restore Is this the fault of scriptwriters who are ignorant of or improve the function and physical appearance the specialization’s content or the fields of inter- of injuries caused by accidents and burns, in skin est it comprises? Or is it a deviation from reality diseases and tumors, along with the tissues be- that means that, though the scriptwriter perfectly neath the skin. It may correct congenital anoma- -76- NOTEBOOKS OF THE ESTEVE Foundation Nº 42 MEDICINE IN TELEVISION SERIES lies, mainly facial, or on the hands or genitals, or scribed to reconstruct the nose, which is known else anatomical defects caused after an onco- as an Indian flap. logical surgical resection. Then there is aesthetic Yet no doubt it was World War One (1914– or cosmetic plastic surgery, which treats gener- 1919) which caused plastic surgery to develop ally healthy and emotionally stable patients. Such as a specialization. A huge number of soldiers surgery makes alterations that, while not con- were wounded by shelling and burns, as a result stituting pathological processes in themselves, of which their bodies and faces were disfigured.