The film authentically portrayed how the stigma of a disease can so quickly isolate the affected. It wasn’t just the concern of contagiousness – it was that “I don’t even want to look at you” sort of hostility. Specifically showing this stigma was the scene of them in the pool, where the lady came and asked them to put on a shirt so others do not see their back. While the lady had the kindness to share the presumably private pool with them, she still had to enforce this constricting ‘bubble’ onto them due to the pressure of societal judgements. Even if the disease had not yet reached the point of declining Mark’s physical health, it seemed that the immediate isolation by societal judgements would have already made the reality of death seemingly hovering over his shoulders.
It reminded me of my dad refusing to get a medical check-up, despite being in his early 60s. He’d rather die from a disease with a possible treatment and suffer only when his physical health truly begins to deteriorate, rather than ‘prematurely’ suffering mentally at the moment of diagnosis. At the time, I didn’t get his reason – after all, why not try to identify the illness and have higher chance of treating it? This film documentary, however, truly puts into perspective the degree to which societal judgement has an effect on healthcare.
This parallel is seen during the COVID19 pandemic too – how certain stigmas caused this rift regarding vaccination: Vaccinate, or not vaccinate? Vaccinate Moderna, or Pfizer? Booster, or no booster? Those were the ‘hot topics’ blazing on all media platforms. Healthcare was no longer simply ‘to create a vaccine and provide access’ but rather became an endless wrestling with miscommunication, societal judgements, public opinions, and so forth. From this perspective, society seems to be working against the momentum of healthcare. For example, stigmas in society causes divisions regarding masking, school policies, quarantine policies, social distancing guidance, etc. I wonder what it would take for society to intertwine itself with healthcare, and vice versa, and for both to summate constructively towards battling diseases.
Hi Quyen! I really appreciated your post, specifically what you mentioned about people not even wanting to look at someone living with HIV. I grew up in California and have spent a lot of time in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, both cities with large populations of unhoused people. I have seen very similar attitudes my whole life with unhoused populations: a lot of people don’t really care that it’s happening, but they don’t want to see it because it makes them uncomfortable, perhaps because it reminds them of their own inaction or apathy. It seems to be a common theme with public health issues like HIV, COVID, unhoused populations – it’s such a specific kind of hostility, like you mentioned, because it denies them of being seen, of their personhood. I really appreciated your post!
Hey Quyen,
I think in a weird way, I posted something similar.
People don’t just like to be associated with disease. It’s this weird, semi-logical effect. Sometimes it’s heavy and hard to watch, like what people with HIV face. Sometimes it’s silly, like someone you know strolling around coughing and sneezing, cartoonishly sure they’re not sick. You mention some of the other stigmas, vaccinated or not vaccinated, and the always entertaining did-you-get-the-cool-brand-vaccine-or-the-lame-one? I was hopeful that a little effort could go a long way toward fixing it, in terms of preventing people with Covid from strolling around. But, seeing it from this angle, maybe we’re touching on something deeper.
Quyen, I really liked this post. I especially liked the point that you made about the stigma toward those who are unvaccinated–I remember President Joe Biden using the rhetoric that Covid turned into a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Although I understand why this was said, it’s frustrating to see our political leaders add further stigma to a group who are already significantly under fire–ostracizing a group of people has almost never made people do what you want them to do. What do you think that it would take for society to intertwine itself with healthcare, so opposed to the two being seemingly at odds with each other?