fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2439 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2439 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

07. [SPOILERS for Iron Man 3]

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08. [SPOILERS for Naruto Shippuden - Road to Ninja]

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09. [SPOILERS for Psycho Pass]

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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

10. [WARNING for suicide]

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11. [WARNING for rape? i think]

[orange is the new black]

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12. [WARNING for rape]

[Sherlock Holmes 2009]

Notes:

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There actually WAS a lot of flak about Bruce 'playing doctor' when the movie came out, but most of it boiled down to people criticizing the "white savior of poor brown people" joke, to which people pointed out that, even discounting the fact Bruce's M.O. was to go deep into underdeveloped urban areas to hide from the government forces chasing him, he was never actually depicted as a 'savior', but merely - as he even said - someone trying to do some good and help people. And, regardless of what people like to say about the movie negatively portraying India as some kind of slum, I can tell you that as of my last visit to the city less than two years ago, there are DEFINITELY parts of Kolkata that look like the movie...especially the Old Town portions which won't have much in the way of digital security that Bruce would probably be the most afraid of. Half the streets there don't even have street signs, let alone face-detecting security cameras. (Even my mother, who grew up there, had trouble finding her way around! I nearly got lost just trying to get to a snack stand down the street to buy a Coke...)

As for the whole "playing doctor for destitute people" thing...I live in America. In Los Angeles, to be exact. And while it's not nearly to the extent depicted in the movie, I sometimes end up playing "closest thing to a medical authority" for my friends, either because they have problems which they can't afford to have handled professionally until it gets dire, or (in some cases more commonly) it's something which they cannot use the family's medical healthcare, however meager it may be, handled because of fears of backlash from the family. I'm a social sciences student with no medical background beyond a few extra bio-science classes than most non-bio-science majors, an old medical textbook, and judicious use of multiple medical websites. Again, not nearly to the extent it was implied Bruce was doing in the movie, but I that's my limited background living in one of the wealthiest cities in the world. I can tell you with absolute certainty that most of my friends here have at least some measure of more wealth than the average lower-working-class Kolkata resident.

Bruce, while likely being primarily a physicist, was involved in a project closely studying the human body and physiology (and he was dating a biologist). He definitely would have had to study the human body for the supersoldier project that led to him getting Hulkified, and may have even gotten some post-first-aid medical training as part of his education. Have you heard of interdisciplinary education? I'm quintuple-majoring at school right now, believe me, it's not easy but it's certain possible to study multiple fields at once, or to study a small portion of multiple fields in the pursuit of one central goal.

So honestly, I firmly believe that if he got to Kolkata and saw someone there was sick, he would do everything to help them. And after years on the run, he would probably have a relatively decent understanding of the human body, and/or the black market and how to use it to get medical supplies (another huge facet of healthcare - anyone ever seen the MASH episode where antibiotics were called "White Gold"? There's a reason for that). Bruce would have helped someone, and word would have spread (gossip is very much a part of Bengali culture, much to my own personal misery), and Bruce would have become 'a doctor' in India by virtue of being able to help people to the best of his ability, often for much cheaper or much less waiting time than other channels. He wouldn't have been a savior, but he would have saved some people, and for some people, that would have been enough.

...that got away from me a bit.

different anon

That was a very interesting perspective, thanks for writing all that!

Coming in late but...

Regarding "playing doctor", every single person I know who works in medical or in a scientific field with any biological knowledge gets asked these things. Hell, I get a lot of it too from friends because I have had to learn how to parse medical-ese, look up studies, keep up on medical research, because if I don't, my doctors damned well won't (I have fibromyalgia, among other things; this is not an infrequent problem).

So half the time, I get questions from friends whose doctors didn't adequately explain the medication they were prescribed, about a quarter it's "I think I have fibro/RA/Lupus/EDS/Lyme, WHAT DO I DO?" (and frankly, with any of those, if you don't walk in knowing what basic labs should be run, you can be screwed... my RA was undiagnosed for THREE YEARS minimum because the specialist I saw didn't run the right tests), and another quarter it's "oh gods this thing happened and I have no insurance and what can I do and do I need to go to the ER but I can't pay for it help".

And I'm sure as shit no doctor, but WTF do you say, really. And like you've said, that's in the US. And frankly, I would ask the criticizers if they tell their friends to just go to the doctor anytime they have a medical question that they have a reasonable knowledge about (since it is not like basic medical knowledge is rocket surgery here).

Reminds me of a...disagreement I once had with a teacher in high school. If you absent due to illness, you needed some kind of doctor's note to go with it. The school's administration took parents' phone calls just as well and most teachers accepted that. This one - the administrator for my dance class, though not strictly the teacher - still expected a doctor's note for illness, or else it was a detention. I remember missing a few classes due to a cold and then coming in, going up to her and saying something to the effect of, "I was sick, how much detention am I getting?" She asked me why I didn't have a doctor's note if I was sick enough to miss class and I said something like "Because a detention just means spending the first half of lunch in the detention hall, but a doctor's note would be around $50."

I remember she looked very befuddled by that, and I was feeling very confused about why the hell she would be confused. So I guess people like that - who really insist on real doctors all the time no matter what the illness or medical issue is - exist, including in America where medical care is sort of infamously expensive.

Random anecdote aside, whenever someone says something to that affect, I have to wonder if they really never had some minor medical condition that they just looked up online or asked their friends and family about rather than deal with a doctor.

Granted, for me most of the calls I get are "oh shit this and this and this happened, am I pregnant now?!" (though now that my social circles have actual pre-med and other more biological or body-related majors/students, I don't get this as much as I used to). I usually help people with this not because they can't afford healthcare but because they can't let their families know what's happening. (In fact, I've seen prompts about Bruce on the kinkmeme asking for something similar, i.e. helping a girl who was raped when he was in a country where the victim could be punished for it.) Hell, the ones that were able to seek care from places like Planned Parenthood or something, I often hold onto the paperwork because they can't be sure such a thing would go un-discovered in their own homes. -_-

There are a LOT of reasons to want or need medical care from someone other than a doctor. Up until the wank about Bruce came out, I always thought this was obvious and a given. I could understand people getting upset with that bit of the movie because it hits some sore spots relating to the whole "white doctor/savior for helpless brown people" trope (though I disagree with that assessment on many, many levels). But getting upset that he's giving out medical care without proper training or a license? That confused the hell out of me and kind of still does.

[ SECRET POST #2439 ]

Kolkata/Calcutta descendent (who also "plays doctor" in America) chiming in, here

Re: Kolkata/Calcutta descendent (who also "plays doctor" in America) chiming in, here

Re: Kolkata/Calcutta descendent (who also "plays doctor" in America) chiming in, here

Re: Kolkata/Calcutta descendent (who also "plays doctor" in America) chiming in, here