Epinephrine in the movies
All of your hard work in Bio 9G will make you a better movie critic! This indie science magazine Litmus takes a look at the movie "Crank," and compares its science to that from "Batman Begins." Read the article and be amazed at how much you understand now (warning - R-rated language in the article)
7 comments:
Bryan 4270
The best feeling I got when I read this article was when he wrote, "This seems like a good time to take a pause [...] in order to talk about the sympathetic nervous system and its control of heart function," because I already understood what was going on thanks to class. After reading more of this article, I am amazed at how in depth he goes to nit-pick all of the medical workings of the movie. I am also amazed as to how helpful this entry is to my understanding of what we went over in class.
I honestly do not really care how accurate a TV or movie is because as far as I am concerned the only person diagnosing me is my doctor. I suppose there should be some kind of disclaimer at the end of the movie because there are some people out there who lack the common sense to not believe everything they see, but hoenestly people should be smart enough not to need a disclaimer. It's interesting that people go through a lot of trouble to prove or disprove the medical accuracy of shows and movies.
I really began to think about what the medical accuracy of other movies and shows out there. One show specifically came to my mind, HOUSE. That show is built on the use of medical terms. I got really curious as to how accurate the show so I looked online and found this great link: http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html. He reviews the medical accuracy of each episode of House.
Dennis
2475
This article just jumped out at me when I looked at it. I had a feeling that I had to read it because I've always wondered if science in general was even remotely true at all in movies. Everything from poisons to superpowers, it seems to intrigue many of us.
Though it doesn't matter if a spider with certain radiation can bite someone and give them super powers, it's still interesting to know if its even remotely possible. Maybe thats why this article was so interesting. So I started to search for other things that may show a bit more accuracy in medicine and I found an interesting article online about how the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has something to do with a sense of reality at least on medical TV shows as well as a few others that deal with poisons and diseases.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18233164/
After reading the article, I know that when I'm watching 24 or CSI, that its not all a well written story, but has a bit of accuracy to it and possibly I can learn a thing or two.
Michael Chon 3702
This article really caught my attention. I was already a big fan of the movie Crank and was a little pleased when we learned about epinephrine in class. I agree with the author, movies as well as TV shows are really giving the viewers more credit intellectually lately. With shows like E.R., Grey's Anatomy, and C.S.I., pharmacology and medicine are more and more in the public eye. It's amazing to see how much popular culture is being infused with medical jargon and phrases. This article praises medically plausible scenarios in movies. I praise the fact that people can find this kind of stuff interesting.
In the movie Casino Royale, Bond(Daniel Craig) is poisoned with an actual pathogen known as "digitalis." In order to stop himself from dying, he injects himself with Lidocaine and uses a defibrillator on himself. This just shows how much movies have progressed since the days of cure-all potions and elixers.
This link gives some information on digitalis and it's history: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4537
Andrew 3840
I also like how the author took time in his article to review everything we had learned in class for the past week. It was a good idea to read this right before our midterm. This author definitly knows what he is talking about. His knowledge of illegal drugs, however, makes the mind wonder about what kind of past he has. I find it hard to believe a movie like CRANK was more medically correct then BATMAN BEGINS. When you see a film like CRANK you automatically think that its all action and makes no sense. I guess that is wrong. I think the funny thing is a lot of people get really urked for seeing movies completely screw something up. Well then again, half the fun is to talk about how much a movie sucked.
This kind of article makes me wonder about those doctor shows. I read an article a while back that said everything that happens in Grey's Anatomy is false. Its definitly safe to say that Hollywood doesn't care about the facts. Its also kind of weird that these shows make people want to go into the medical practice. I wonder how many in people can tell the difference of the SNS and PNS? Its cool now because I'm in a class where I learn things and then watch a movie and go "What are they thinking?"
If anyone is having trouble with PNS and SNS, I found a website that breaks them down like we learned in class. http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PNS.html
Davidson 8776
This article brings up a lot of good points. I think that it is important that movies portray accurate science. Not to the point where it ruins fantasies, but to the point that it teaches the audiences it is reaching. 'Crank' is a very good example of this. This article tells us that it gives us an accurate depiction of the drugs within our system and gives us a basic lesson in neurotransmission.
These accuracies make me like this movie even more. It's not just an empty 'action' shell, but actually proves it's scientific value. This movie kind of plays on the idea that science is fun and isn't just for lab nerds.
Here's a site that explains a lot about neurotransmitters:
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_heroine.html
This is pretty impressive that movie makers like these went through the trouble and hardship to come up with this scenario that could actually take place. This whole thing is pretty much based entirely upon all the things that we just learned in class about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and the role they play on the body. It also talked alot about agonists and antagonists which we discussed as well. It's kind of funny however that they wrote in the script that ephedrine was a natural substance when everybody knows about ephedrine and its presence in diet pills along with its illegalization and then coming back. This sounds like a pretty cool movie, and now i want to go rent it.
Stephen 2068
http://www.answers.com/topic/epinephrine
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