Starrman
7th October 2003, 09:11 AM
Saw the tail-end of "Man in the Moon" (biographical movie about Andy Kaufman) the other night. The reason I bring this up here is because of some rather relevant scenes at the end, where Andy (played by Jim Carrey) tries various alternative remedies to treat his lung cancer.
What really got to me, was the scene where he visits a psychic surgeon. He watches a patient before him have a tumor removed, and smiles with great anticipation and hope as the 'doctor' pulls chunks of stuff out of the patient. When he lays down for his turn, he peeks to his right and sees the 'tumor' already in the surgeon's hand, before he has even started the supposedly invasive part of the procedure. It seemed to me that this was the point in the movie (not sure how true to life this is) where Andy realized that he was indeed going to die.
I know this is just a movie, and a Jim Carrey movie at that. But I found this scene to be a very compelling illustration of the harm that this kind of deception can cause.
In so far as my memory serves, this is the only dramatization of quackery and its emotional effects that I have ever seen.
What really got to me, was the scene where he visits a psychic surgeon. He watches a patient before him have a tumor removed, and smiles with great anticipation and hope as the 'doctor' pulls chunks of stuff out of the patient. When he lays down for his turn, he peeks to his right and sees the 'tumor' already in the surgeon's hand, before he has even started the supposedly invasive part of the procedure. It seemed to me that this was the point in the movie (not sure how true to life this is) where Andy realized that he was indeed going to die.
I know this is just a movie, and a Jim Carrey movie at that. But I found this scene to be a very compelling illustration of the harm that this kind of deception can cause.
In so far as my memory serves, this is the only dramatization of quackery and its emotional effects that I have ever seen.