Movies and asthma

[Willow7733]

I am cleaning the house and have a movie called Knight and Day with Tom Cruise on tv for background noise. I walked by, and they have this super genius high school kid, who developed a technically advanced battery that the bad guys want. He is kidnapped and witnesses a murder and to show his “ nerdy” side, he pulls out his puffer. 🤷‍♀️ What is up with movies and how they portray asthma? I am not a nerd, nor do I have anxiety issues. Every time I face stress, I don’t grab my rescue. This is why people see asthma as no big deal, and think that if people would just deal with situations better, they wouldn’t have it. So frustrating. 🤷‍♀️

[AxKlein89]

Very true. And it is even worse because most movies show asthmatics puffing on Ventolin every two minutes, which in real life is a clear sign that the asthma is poorly controlled.

[Logo132]

Totally agree! Ifelt something similar when I watched Sleepless in Seattle. The undesirable love interest has very bad allergies which is treated like a joke throughout the film. Give us allergic folks a break!

[hilary39 in reply to Logo132]

Ha yes! I was just going to list this one in my reply too

[hilary39]

Haha we recently watched that (absurd) movie too and I couldn't agree more! In Goonies I the kid's asthma is revealed to be psychological and I think it was in the movie Hitch, too. And who could forget the bond villain Le Chiffre with his platinum inhaler 😆

His attacks in The Motorcycle Diaries are frighteningly real--I thought that was a good portrayal.

I also find movies make fun of people with allergies (totally agree about the Sleepless in Seattle guy!) But apparently, the makers of the recent Peter and the Rabbit apologized for when a rabbit gets bullied for having a blackberry allergy.

[Singinglouder]

They do it with other conditions, too. There’s an episode of NCIS when Jimmy has pear drop breath, and announces he has ‘mild diabetes’ (never mentioned before or since that I know of - it just fitted that week’s storyline) and has missed an insulin shot. 1. There is no such thing as mild diabetes.

2. If you’re insulin dependent, it can’t possibly be described as mild.

3. If you’ve got pear drop breath, you’re heading for diabetic ketoacidosis, which is potentially fatal, and means you’re a lot more out of control than missing one shot!

It’s no wonder some people think our asthma/diabetes/whatever can’t really be a problem, when they see how it’s depicted on screen…