I feel as though I should write a disclaimer here, so I will. I spent most of my life in hospitals. When I was growing up, my brother was constantly inpatient. When I was fourteen, my father suffered a major stroke and I practically lived in the hospital with my family from August to November. I, myself, have spent my fair amount of time in hospital. I am a chronically ill/disabled adult with autoimmune disorders.
Now, with that being said;
This show has absolutely baffled me. Not because I am confused by the dynamics of hospitals, how patients live together, or how nurses function. I am baffled by the basis of the show itself. Not only does it paint a false representation of hospital dynamics, it paints a false representation of ill people. On purpose. But, I will get back to that in a second. Or maybe a few minutes. I am going to break this up into parts. And maybe, that will make this literal shit show of a television show easier to digest for those who haven’t seen it so you do not need to witness it. Also, I have done my research and I am well aware the lead writer/director was inspired to write this show because her brother spent his youth in a coma. Which only baffles me further as so much erasure goes on for someone who witnessed this first hand.
Romanticizing a Hospital
Yes, that’s right. A show has successfully made a hospital look like a livable, workable, healthy place to live! The teenagers on the pediatric floor are allowed to excessively decorate their rooms. Now, I am not just talking a framed picture or two. I am talking sofas, record players, paint on windowed doors (that you know, are important in case SOMETHING HAPPENS AND MEDICAL STAFF NEEDS TO SEE), you name it, these kids have it.
Not only do they have overly-decorated rooms.
They have a school.
If you’re like me and have spent any time in hospitals, you will know a few things.
1) You cannot hang things in your room, especially around or near emergency equipment.
2) Hospitals and patients alone struggle to even get tutors to attend. It took my brother three months in a hospital to get home schooling. By the time they cleared it, he was already home.
Basically, what they did was remove the hospitalization from… a hospital. They deleted the “ugly” parts of hospitalization (gowns, IV poles, all the lovely bodily functions, greasy hair and frowns) and replaced it with. Well. Nothing. I say nothing because the only indication that these children are in a hospital are the nurses that walk and work with them and sometimes the spare mention of their illnesses. The girls have perfect hair, perfect clothing, makeup. The boys can leave the floor at will, apparently smoke weed in a closet, etc.
Instead of showing a hospital as a place of healing, battles, arguments with ignorant doctors, pain, frustration, they showed what they imagined a hospital is for children.
Not a hospital.
It’s All Bubble Gum and Rainbows If You Squint Hard Enough
Well, since we’ve removed the hospital from the hospital, why not add some quirky characters to soften the blow of the true reality of any illness? We have, of course, our “silent” voice over hero, Charlie. He is a child in a coma. Yes, even a child in a coma is romanticized in this show you have been warned. We then have our “wise elder”, aka a rich man who is mentally ill (hypchondriactism) and is taken advantage of (they mention they let him live in the hospital because when he dies he is giving them all his money) who also smokes pot and has a rather spacious apartment. In a hospital. Let me say that again.
A spacious apartment.
In a hospital.
Why do we need these characters in a show about sick children, you might ask? Why are they objectifying true and terrifying conditions with heaven like hallucinations where Charlie can communicate with the others? Why are they ignoring simple parts of hospitalization? Still, why do we need these characters? Well. We don’t. At least not spoonies, the terminally ill, or disabled.
But able bodied people need reminders that it’s not so bad. That living a life in a hospital is the equivalent of a five star extended stay hotel holiday. That if people with personalities thrive in a critical environment, maybe they don’t need to be so scared of becoming ill themselves. It gives them more comfort when they scoff at someone, especially a young someone, using a mobility aid. None of this was for the ill. It was for the abled.
Apples and Oranges
Now, I am going to compare this to House MD. This show did have it’s own (sometimes maor) failures, however, they did not remove the hospital care from a hospital. When we see the patients enter the ER on House, we see they are put in gowns, hooked to IV’s, and House decides whether to take on the patient or pass them on to another department. Far more like the reality that many of us sick folk face.
Now, we see the ugly parts of a hospital on House. We not only see the bodily fluids (exploding colons, anyone?), but we see each patients (and sometimes the doctors themselves) struggle with the idea of death, permanent pain, entering emotional turmoil when death is probably the end game. The show is led by a doctor who solves medical mysteries because he is afraid his pain will not end. Not only a disabled doctor, but a doctor with a chronic pain disorder, mental illness, and addiction.
Spoiler alert if you have not seen the series finale of House, we also have a secondary lead character, Wilson, who is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. And from there, we are left watching them work through the inevitable questions of “Will this end?” and “I am scared.”, “Please tell me you love me”.
We’re shown true emotion, we are shown what it’s like to be terrified by your own body.
In this show, children also die. Because at the bottom of it all, children do die. Teenagers, Young adults, adults, do die because of their illnesses. And that is the raw and scary truth that Red Band Society seems to want to erase. Simply because it is not an easy pill to swallow.
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It’s All Inspiration Porn And You Don’t Even Need to Open Your Eyes
What we see in this show is primarily what we are shown on major news networks when sick children and teenagers are made into editorials. The happy, blissfully content children (or so they seem) are so often celebrated because seeing a sick child/teenager happy and “thriving” is more socially taken because, again, abled people want that reminder that it isn’t so bad. These children are seen as fighters (and they are, don’t get me wrong!). Though, in it all, we so easily forgo mentioning those children and teenagers who cry day and night wondering if it will get better. If they are a burden. If this is all that was meant to be for them while they hate their bodies and yet still fight on, just like the happy kids. We aren’t show any of this because these kids are just “harder” to look at. To know about. Simply on the basis that it is honest. A reality for many.
Riding on The Coattails
I don’t find it ironic at all that the first look I had at this show was during a screening of The Fault in Our Stars. It was intended to ride on the success of romanticizing sick children. Now I know many people, including myself, have qualms about John Green and his writing, but at least John Green worked in a childrens hospital. He actively engaged in conversations about life and death and pain with a terminally ill fan of his, Esther Grace Earl. He shared his struggles openly about questioning life and death and how it isn’t fair for children and young adults to have to go through this. And, to be fair, in his book and the film that followed, we’re shown a hospital. We’re shown pain. We’re shown emotion.
Red Band Society lacks any true or seemingly authentic emotion at all. It thrived to be in relation to TFiOS, yet failed miserably as the watcher may feel close to nothing but the good old warm and fuzzies instead of uneasiness or even terror for these teenagers.
Final Words
Red Band Society has done nothing but romanticize the idea that illness is beautiful because it is “unique”. A problem we are now seeing grow within our media. It is basically a slap to the face for any of us who are ill. While these kids are climbing to the rooftop of the hospital for a party, many of us question whether we can even get up and down the stairs in our own homes. When our friends try on 24 different outfits, we are struggling to decide if we are even up for getting out of bed. If the pain and fatigue the next day will be worth it. We see the characters in this show drinking alcohol, we are stuck with the dilemma “can I drink on this medication or will my friends or family find me unconscious?”. We are not gifted the blissful ignorance of healthy children/teenagers/young adults.
Honestly, the best quote I can give is from the character Amy from In The Flesh, who says about her terminal cancer; " I'd been benched before I even got to play the game." I feel like this singular line in a series is far more relatable to anyone with an illness then what Red Band Society produced in a full episode.
We are different from able people, something many able people do not want to admit.
This show builds up healthy people, yet beats down the ill. None of this show was built on the intention of us watching, it wasn’t even a thought. What this show is built on is many ableistic rituals that many of us face daily.
And that’s the hardest pill to swallow.
