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50:169 Doctors in Film

Film Notes

Gross Anatomy

There is little literature about this film, which was released in 1989. As Peter Dans notes in his book, Doctors in the Movies, many of the scenes seem to resonate well with medical school experience in the 1980s, while others are simply absurd. The question, as usual with popular movies about medical school and doctors is -- what might non-medical or even non-college educated viewers taken away from the show to add to the broader cultural perceptions of medicine?

We might particularly want to consider:

• What are the similarities and differences between the medical students and schools shown in "Arrowsmith," "The Interns" (not students, but consider it anyway) and "Gross Anatomy"?
• The film tries to highlight the subtle (or not so subtle) issues of socio-economic discrimination/tensions among medical students. What are these?
• Does the film play on gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes? which? how so?
• What does the film stress as the values and characteristics of the "good" doctor?

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