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Medical documentaries on conjoined twins van djick
- 1. MEDICAL DOCUMENTARY: CONJOINED TWINS AS A MEDIATED SPECTACLE José van Dijck Media Culture Society 2002
- 2. CONJOINED TWINS AS FREAKS „The freak is an object of simultaneous horror and fascination because . . .the freak is an ambiguous being whose existence imperils categories and oppositions dominant in social life‟ (Grosz, 1996: 56). Conjoined twins were seen as monsters during the Middle Ages, but during the 19th century, many congenital defects were medicalised. However, this did not free them from popular entertainment.
- 3. CONJOINED TWINS AS FREAKS Ousted from their families, these individuals had little choice but to put themselves on display, and be exploited (Thomson, 1996: 2). Many “Freaks” were, thanks to their contracts, no better than slaves. Often, freaks would be imported from Asia or Africa and were marketed using their exotic otherness, defining physical abnormality against western normality(Lindfors, 1996; Vaughan, 1996).
- 4. THE ORIGINAL SIAMESE TWINS Chang and Eng Bunker(1811 - 1874) from Thailand (then known as Siam) were twins joined at the hip. They travelled with a freak show throughout America and Europe It could not be assessed as to whether they shared a liver, and the twins refused all attempts to separate them They retired in 1833 and married two sisters, with whom they had 22 children.
- 5. TRANSITION TO MEDICINAL FOCUS After 1900 the general public began to lose interest in freak shows Robert Bogdan (1988)attributed this to an increasing „medicalization‟ of society, where freaks were no longer regarded as monstrosities, but as disabled people that science could aid. However, van Djick argues that the freak show did not disappear, instead the focus shifted to the surgeon.
- 6. USE OF EARLY CINEMA Early filmmakers often filmed things which already fascinated audiences, such as freak shows. It was also experimented with for recording medical procedures and their results. Between 1950 and 1970 television became more dominant than film in this area.
- 7. USE OF OPERATION DOCUMENTARIES Four reasons To train specialists, especially in terms of rare operations. To showcase surgical skill to outsiders To inform and entertain an audience And to promote the medical establishment
- 8. TODAY Because of this, the separation of conjoined twins becomes a mediated event(van Djick, 2002) It is suggested that an element of the growing popularity of these programs is the convergence between medical and media technology. The camera and monitor are as indispensable to the surgical team as they are to the film crew.
- 9. TODAY Documentaries no longer aim to educate professionals, but to inform the public. Directors and editors focus on extending the narrative and drama of the event, as well as the human interest angle. The interests of the surgeon trying to gather interest in their work, and the broadcast companies attempts to reach wide audiences are now the same.
- 10. SIAMESE TWINS (1995) Dao and Duan Headly The twins surgical separation is a relatively small part of the program. Instead the focus is on the surgeons themselves as heroic saviours. Phrases such as “this is the point of no return” highlight the tension Also, lots of focus on the children and their parents as human beings, their personalities, hopes and fears.
- 11. IDEOLOGICAL RELATIONS The program pits the western ideal of advanced tech and social justice against the “backwards nature” of the third world. Compares the sisters to the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker and presents their lives as a fulfilment of the American Dream. Due to advance medicine, conjoined twins are seen as exotic once again.