Charming Eli (”Sloppy science in a TV serial! Imagine that!”)
February 11, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
It’s the charm that matters most, at least according to New York Magazine in a review of Eli Stone, the new ABC legal drama that got off to a controversial start with its first episode about lawyer Stone winning a $5.2 million verdict for a mother who claimed that her son became autistic due to a mercury-based substance in a flu vaccine. New York Magazine says “tsk tsk” to the New York Times for feeling it “necessary to deplore this plot point in a February 2 editorial about mercury preservatives. (Sloppy science in a TV serial! Imagine that.).” Who cares about the science or the George Michael musical moments in the show when, as New York Magazine notes, the show has a “high and churning tide of charm” with its “buoyant cast of talented actors.” Who needs science when you’ve got good entertainment (in a season of screenwriters’ strike and “mean-minded reality shows”)?
New York Magazine has a point: Who knows but maybe some of us have been a bit too serious, and certainly not endowed with “tide of charm,” in pointing out that any suggestion—even in a TV show—that mercury or something in vaccines can be linked to autism, increases public confusion and misconceptions about what causes autism and what autism is. But the problem with Eli Stone, if you will, is precisely what New York Magazine pinpoints: The show and the characters have charm, and are funny, and the main character is nicely positioned as fighting for the little guy-underdog-persecuted-long suffering. A link between vaccines or something in vaccines and autism is a hypothesis, but it does not take much—not always, or exactly, science—-for proponents of this view to keep believing, and having this hypothesis packaged so pleasantly and with “charm” simply breathes more life into an urban myth about autism, and distracts attention from the needs of autistic persons today, for education, services, and real understanding.
The more autism is in the news the more it will be seen in shows, in a positive or negative light.
I was watching Reno 911! There was a clip where they were having an autism fundraiser. The police were jumping over what looked like a pajama shark in a baby pool. They raised a mere $68 and of course caused a big mess when an electrical wire fell down and electrocuted one of the cops. What did this clip say about Autism? I have no idea but I laughed a lot.
I have not watched this Eli show. There are quite a few other shows that keep me entertained despite the strike.
My husband and I have our own very pretend theory of what causes autism which I may blog about in a few days. Of course it is totally tongue and cheek. But, would people then take clips from my post which is supposed to be a joke and actually believe some of it? Ugh! That is the main reason I have put off writing this particular post I have in mind. Granted, it would be really funny and lots of people would enjoy it. Educated people would know it was totally ridiculous. What would be the benefit of writing it and would it do harm? It is hard to say. Sometimes things are thought about too much leaving us without the ambition to do anything that challenges us. It is the fear of the uneducated people that keeps me from writing certain things. I doubt Hollywood really cares what people take from the shows they create. It is all about getting attention and autism is an easy attention grabbing theme right now. You know?
I get the impre$$ion that Hollowood is mainly about Adverti$ing, Rating$, and Box Office Take$.
Is it fair to poke fun at people? Well, it’s been going on for eons. But I truly believe that choice of subject matter in the parody should be well thought out.
While we may argue, and even get comedic, snide, insulting and ridiculous here in the blogs, dissecting questionable science and alleged cures, can we really blame the writer of a peice of fiction for grabbing on to something they see as sensational and using it? I think not. But I would hope that the controversy that this has brought up will be considered again before that team of folks go far enough to end up causing more problems.
“…can we really blame the writer of a peice of fiction for grabbing on to something they see as sensational and using it?”
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Yeah, I think I can in this case, because after seeing the show, I thought that not only was it inaccurate, that at the end the verdict and award made no sense and was based on secret document-corporate cynicism-all you need is faith kind of thinking, and that the real involvement of that autism angle was so small that it kind of diminished and trivialized autism as a plot device. Ostensibly Eli’s court case could have been anything given the amount of focus, but autism is “timely”. As TV programs go, “House” did a better job of representing reality and at least the portrayed child was placed somewhere center stage. Eli Stone was pretty wishy-washy with its “controversy”.
As far as the medical establishment and researchers finally making strong public statements about research and public health,
–hear, hear!, even if it took a silly TV show to do it.
Extensive reviews of scientific and medical evidence have concluded that recommended childhood vaccines do not cause autism or autism spectrum disorders. For more information from the CDC on vaccine safety, visit http://www.cdc.gov. For information specific to influenza and the flu vaccine, visit CDC’s http://www.myFluNews.com
I HAVE NOT SEEN THE SHOW. I DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME TO WATCH TV…MY SON WAS DIAGNOSED AS “AUTISTIC” BEFORE AGE TWO.
NOT ONLY HAS HE TAKEN MY TIME AWAY FROM TV….. HE HAS TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT LIFE THAN I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO TEACH HIM.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT EACH THEORY OR IDEA HAS SOME TRUTH TO IT? AS HUMAN BEINGS WE TEND TO VIEW OR PERCIEVE LIFE FROM “OUR OWN” PERSPECTIVE DON’T WE? EACH OF US WILL HAVE OUR OWN OPINION OR IDEA OF WHAT “CAUSES” AUTISM AND AT TIMES WE MAY EVEN SOMEWHAT AGREE WITH OTHERS. NOTHING IN THE WORLD/UNIVERSE EVER HAPPENS IN ISOLATION…..WE ARE ALL INTRINSICALLY INTERCONNECTED. IT APPEARS THAT THIS “TRUTH” IS IMPERCEPTIBLE TO MOST OF US, WHICH IS MADE OBVIOUS BY THE “ABUNDANCE ” OF WAR,HATRED,PREJUDICE,POVERTY,GREED ETC.
THOSE WITH AUTISM ARE GIFTED WITH “UNBEARABLE” PERCEPTIBILITY AND SENSITIVITY. COULD OUR COLLECTIVE IMPERCEPTIBILITY BE ANOTHER CAUSE FOR AUTISM, CREATING PERCEPTIBLE DISTURBANCES FOR THE AUTISTIC POPULATION?
I BELIEVE IT MAY BE BETTER TO PUT IT THIS WAY:
THOSE WITH AUTISM ARE GIFTED WITH UNBEARABLE PERCEPTUAL ABILITY AND SENSITIVITY. COULD OUR COLLECTIVE PERCEPTUAL INABILITIES BE ANOTHER CAUSE FOR AUTISM, CREATING PERCEPTUAL DISTURBANCES FOR THE AUTISTIC POPULATION?
Am with you about how my son has “taught me more about life than I will ever be able to teach him”—-a truism, but he’s me better, and everything better!