…about 50 years ago.
It was 50 years ago that Hollywood produced optimistic, thoughtful, and dare I say pro-life shows. In the past week of non-stop Terri Schiavo news I have been reminded of one of my favorites from the Golden Age of Television: “Breakdown” starring Joseph Cotten.
Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed the story of a car-accident victim whose body is paralyzed but is completely cognizant of his post-crash situation: the road workers, the police, and the doctors at the scene and in the morgue say he’s dead. The paralyzed man desperately tries to communicate the fact that he’s still alive but in a diminished capacity to all involved, but nothing changes their minds…
…until the paralyzed man sheds a tear in his sadness of being written off by everyone around him. A low-level worker at the morgue notices and the paralyzed man’s life is miraculously saved at the last minute. That was compassionate and caring Hollywood in 1955.
In 2005, compassionate and caring Hollywood would end the episode with the mortician saying: “You didn’t see a tear and you have no legal standing as a low-level employee of this organization to prescribe a course of treatment outside this dead man’s insurance. Now, let’s allow him to die with dignity. Besides, Halliburton is paying us top dollar for his internal organs!”
Oh, and the TV drama would end with 3 minutes of Union-mandated credits…
UPDATE: In 1985, Hollywood remade the “Breakdown” TV drama for a (pardon the pun) revival of 1955’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In a nod to what my pals at The Michael Medved Show are calling Hollywood’s increasing promotion of the culture of death, the 1985 remake has the paralyzed accident victim eviscerated alive by the mortician whose business just happens to have been ruined by the actions of the paralyzed man.
I remember that episode very well. It was truly disturbing. But not as disturbing as the fact that you right on the money about what would happen today. The whole thing is so sad that it makes me want to cry.
Truly a sad day indeed. I have decided, however that since the NY Times has deemed starvation “Painless & Humane” that I NEVER again want to hear about the problem of world hunger from anyone from the the left…EVER…!!!
Amen Littl Stevie. Let me ask a couple of rhetorical questions: Isn’t the aclu supposed to ‘defend’ people like her? And why are the bleedin’heart-treehuggin’hippies (who would be up-in-arms protesting the execution of a convicted murderer) applauding this woman’s death sentence?
bloody hippies.
Not to start a flame war on the Schiavo story, but if she were as aware as the protagonist in Hitchcock’s movie, a simple EEG should indicate such. Not having investigated (because I don’t really care) I don’t know if that’s been done, but I’d be surprised if it hadn’t at some point in the past 15 years.
They applaud her death sentence because Michael Schiavo has been fathering children by another woman out of wedlock instead of, say, either honoring his marriage vows “Till death do us part” (how dare he honor those vows), or just divorcing her, looking like a jerk for a while, and getting on with his life while people who love her take over her care. We cant have anyone in this country supporting true marriage – that would be an endorsement of any religion over self-interest.
BLOODY HIPPIES indeed.
Seems to me that there are too many unknowns here for us to be able to take the “husband”‘s opinion on what’s best for Terri at face value.
If we really knew for sure what her wishes were, I’d support letting her “go”. — but she’s incapacitated, NOT dying. The only reason she may die soon is from lack of food & water.
This is barbarism, nothing less.
If nothing else is achieved, I hope that attention is drawn to what happens to similar patients all over the country.
I fully agree with the concept that a simliar degree of protection under the 14th. Amendment should apply to patients as we routinely give to vicious murderers and child molesters. (And the House version was much broader than the Senate one that passed a few days ago).
I would wonder what the Left, Democrats, and pundits would have to say if we were to simply transfer this same scenario to a different set of circumstances?
Let us hypothesize here:
In Iraq, several Ba’athist terrorists are injured in battle with American soldiers. The wounded are medivaced & treated. All are found to have sustained injuries that place them into the same state that Terri Schiavo is now said to be in.
They’re hospitalized with feeding tubes & given no additional treatment or therapy.
Their families petition to have them released into their custody, so that they can be cared for & comforted, but the US government tells them they have no standing. They’re wards of the Army, and that’s where they’ll stay.
Later the Army suddenly decides that they somehow have expressed a prior opinion that they wouldn’t want to be kept alive under these conditions, and remove the feeding tubes.
The Army says that this is a “natural” death, and disagrees with opponents who say that the patients could possibly get better. Pleas from international organizations, even the Pope are denied.
After several weeks, all the patients have died, after painful siezures, multiple organ failures, and finally cardiac failure. The Army announces that the bodies will niether be autopsied or repatriated, but immediately cremated (so that no embarrassing forensics could prove their diagnoses wrong).
Mary Mapes “breaks” this story of “unspeakable atrocity, barbarity and inhumanity that would make Hitler vomit…”.
The MSM, TV and papers around the world denounce the Army for “perpetrating war crimes so cruel and heartless, they differ only in scale from Auschwitz & Birkenau”.
Senators Byrd, Boxer, Kennedy & Pelosi denounce the administration for abetting “this cruel, inhuman torture surpassing in sheer evil anything seen on Earth since Joseoph Mengele”.
Congress calls for the impeachment of the President, and the resignation and criminal prosecution of all involved, especially “Terror-Master” Rumsfeld.
In an attempt to assuage the worldwide disgust and revulsion that breaks out acros the globe against the cruelty and depravity of treating hospitalized captives this way, we agree to hand over the Administration officials and all parties involved, from the ward orderly to the President for war crimes prosecution in the Hague.
At least I think that’s what would happen… but this is after all, only a helpless woman in a hospice who’s husband only wants her wishes obeyed.
Attempts to intercede are characterized as “shameless meddling”, “interference in a private, family matter” or “trampling of States’ Rights by the Religous Right”.
I’m ashamed that our society can’t do better than this.
Just saw this (real-life) similar story off RWN: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.html?id=7a3750cf-1b0c-4599-adca-877023a40c7f
JohnW, I am impressed.Your hypothesis was insightful and extremely well thought out.I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to have to borrow it.
Other movie: People will Talk, with Jeanne Crain and Cary Grant. She’s pregnant and unmarried (the boyfriend died in the war), and it’s understood (although not directly stated — they also don’t mention the word “pregnant” until she gets married — dang codes!) that abortion’s an option. It’s Gynecologist Cary Grant who’s pro-life, extremely, and tells her she’s not pregnant (so she won’t harm herself or the baby), then eventually marries her (to make the motherhood ok).
JohnW Couln’t agree with you more…wonder why Pelosi, Biden and “Herself” are always on the side of death? Truly a sad day hopefully people will remember…I know I will…and morons like Chris Matthews prattle on about legal issues while she starves to death…
this post is dumb, it’s not funny. If I wanted to listen to humorless, boring political discussion, I can just turn on Sean Hannity. Give me a break. or another in my world post.
There is nothing more important to a society or a culture than how we treat the least able amongst us.
I’ve recently had to deal with the painful, difficult death of my own mother who had been debilitated, incapacitated & handicapped…. but who had been able to ask to “be let go”, as Terri hasn’t.
What we need to do —- is make sure that we don’t allow the STATE to make these decisions….
And, perhaps, allow LIFE to be the default choice, rather than DEATH.
My mother wanted to pass on….. and she could tell me & her doctors in no unambigous terms.. But can Terri?
Why is it liberals have no problem stopping a human heartbeat (baby, oldster, retarded), unless it’s a murderer or terrorist. THEN they pull out the stops.
Evil is real.
Adrienne brings up an excellent point about the movie industry’s flip-flop on the sanctity of life:
How would Hollywood handle the People Will Talk remake? Unwed pregnancy is perfectly okay to today’s Hollywood… Hmmm.
I guess the 2005 version (directed by John Singleton) stars Taye Diggs as a young and successful doctor who meets a sassy and sexy young single mom (played by Regina King) with a psycho baby daddy (Snoop Dogg–who also contributes three original tracks for the movie’s soundtrack) and a secret: she is HIV-positive.
Wacky hijinks ensue. White people (except for her funny gay white male friend played by Hal Sparks) are portrayed as bigoted racist homo-haters. In the end, the doc overcomes all of unwarranted fears about people with AIDS, he marries his HIV-positive sweetie, and Snoop Dogg’s character gets his comeuppance in a contrived public set piece.
Ah, Hollywood!
Scott McCollum you are a gentleman and a scholar. Your humor is witty and urbane…. So why the heck are you on IMAO????
This is like putting Mark Russell on Saturday Night Live.
Speaking of Saturday Night, why can’t we abbreviate saturnite, sunite, monite, tuesnite, wednesnite, thursnite, and frinite??? I mean are those already elements or something?
Thank you, David.
Frank and the rest are great people; I’m glad to be a part of IMAO.