Panic Room (2002)
Corrected entry: When Jodie Foster sets the propane alight, she tells her daughter to get under the fireproof blanket, and then gets under one herself. However, she only covers the lower half of her body, so if the propane had set fire to the rest of the room hiding under the blankets would have been pretty pointless. Corrected entry: In the scene where Forest Whitaker finally drills the lock on the safe. He slides the magnetic drill press out of the way with the magnet still on. The camera zooms in on the orange light that indicates that the magnet is on. Corrected entry: When the mother and daughter were in the panic room and the daughter was going through the containers you see M.R.E.'s (Meals Ready to Eat) in there. Later in the movie, the daughter needs sugar to keep up her sugar level but they couldn't find anything sweet. In an M.R.E. there is chocolate in each one. She would have known this because she opens one up which is laying on the ground as the mother is searching for something for her daughter. Correction: The spirit of the error is basically correct, but as an ex-Army man who ate my fair share of MREs, I had to question the statement "there is chocolate in each one". This statement is false, as can be seen from the menu information provided at It would be more correct to say there would be something sugary/sweet in each one, but there are caveats here too. The Corned Beef Hash menu (circa 1991) for example, contains freeze dried fruit cocktail and cocoa powder, both of which require some prep work to safely consume and are not ideal for someone in a hurry (a person having a fit is likely to choke on powder or unmoistened freeze dried material). Speaking in general nothing can be said conclusively on what might be found in the MREs, but if someone can re Continue reading >>
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Diabetes In Movies
While testing blood sugar, having lows, and shooting insulin might be daily life for you, it’s an action-escalating, drama-creating plot device for the writers and directors of Hollywood. You’ve probably caught at least one TV episode or movie scene about diabetes that got your eyes rolling, but you’ll be happy to know it isn’t all bad (okay, a lot of it is really bad though). You probably won’t be directing anyone to Netflix if diabetes education is your goal, but it’s still helpful to know what kind of info people are getting about your condition from their screens. The good Nothing seems to capture the true day-to-day struggle with diabetes, but some of the scripted portrayals at least hit some of the major points. The Godfather III (1972) might not be the best installment in the trilogy, but Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) does offer a pretty convincing portrayal of what living with diabetes is like. As the mobster weakens in his old age, he is diagnosed with diabetes and offers realistic symptoms like weakened eyesight and a moment where he has a low, has to sit down for a minute, and requests some orange juice or candy. Maybe you haven’t ever been a part of a crime family, but yeah, you’ve probably had to ask someone to bring you some juice before. He even explains at one point that stress affects his numbers. Maybe once Corleone left his life of crime he should have become a diabetes advocate? The portrayal is probably decently realistic because the late Godfather trilogy screenwriter, Mario Puzo, had diabetes. Diabetes doesn’t end well for every character on screen, which isn’t always the most uplifting thing for someone struggling with the disease, but at least the film Chocolat (2000) does show the dangers of ignoring a diabetes diagnosis. Yes Continue reading >>
The Story
The Human Trial is a feature-length documentary with unprecedented, real-time access to one of America’s top labs — ViaCyte in San Diego. This groundbreaking film follows the team’s triumphs and failures in the lab as they attempt to make medical history at a landmark clinical trial in 2015. More than 90 years after the discovery of insulin, ViaCyte has received FDA approval to launch the first ever-human trial of a stem-cell derived treatment that might cure type 1 diabetes. ViaCyte’s trial is only the third ever in the US, and the sixth ever in the world to use embryonic stem cell therapy to cure a disease. Only a decade ago America was torn apart by a political and religious debate about the ethics of using human embryos for stem cell research. Now, The Human Trial is filming the first six months of the first phase of the trial, to document every step of this remarkable moment in medical science. One donated human embryo might be the cure for millions of people suffering from diabetes. But, more than that, the film provides context for what it took to get here: the years of research, by scores of scientists working in other facilities around the world; and the extraordinary costs of getting a new drug to market — on average, $2.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Already four years in production, The Human Trial brings to life the human realities of diabetes, which causes a death every seven seconds and will be the leading cause of death in the US by 2030. With exclusive access to the patients who are the subjects of Phase I/II of the trial, the film illuminates the emotional, physical and financial costs of diabetes that is a $612 billion health expenditure worldwide. It’s a rare opportunity to capture how science, commerce and politics intersect, a Continue reading >>
“sugar Does Not Cause Diabetes”: Did The Film What The Health Get It Right?
The documentary What the Health is receiving a huge amount of attention and most of it is positive. Many reports of people attempting to eat better are filling social media. I discussed the film on a local TV station in Detroit after two reporters indicated that the movie had made a big impact on their diets. There have even been reports that restaurants serving healthier fare have seen an uptick in customers attributing the change to the film. I have seen this in my own plant-based restaurant and have a What The Health Happy Hour that has been very popular. Naturally, there have been critics of the movie defending their viewpoint that meat based diets are healthy, but most have rallied around a statement in the film by Neal Barnard, MD that “sugar does not cause diabetes”. As the answer to this question may be important to you, I have done some research and share it here but this is in NO way an endorsement to add back soda and candy bars to your diet. In a world stressed by growing obesity and its medical consequences, limiting sugar is a universal recommendation from all health experts. 1) Type 1 diabetes is not caused by sugar. All agree on this as type 1 diabetes is considered an autoimmune disease leading to destruction of the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. However, patients with type 1 diabetes can develop and reverse insulin resistance (IR) in their muscles and liver so understanding the origin of IR is important. 2) Who is Neal Barnard, MD? Dr. Barnard is a graduate of the George Washington University School of Medicine and an adjunct associate professor of medicine there. He has published over 70 scientific publications (including long term studies on diet and diabetes) and 18 books including several New York Times bestsellers on health and diabe Continue reading >>
10 Memorable Diabetic Movie Characters – In Honor Of World Diabetes Day
20 years ago, World Diabetes Day was introduced by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization “in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses.” It is held every November 14, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, one of the men credited with discovering insulin. 8.3% of the U.S. population has diabetes, and it’s the seventh leading cause of death here, with more than 200,000 people dying from complications of the disease each year. Many famous people suffer from some form of diabetes, including George Lucas, Halle Berry, Mary Tyler Moore and Wilford Brimley. And many others have died as a result, usually through its effects, such as James Cagney, Mae West, Johnny Cash, Syd Barrett and Thomas Edison. Even though this is a very serious matter and I primarily want us to remember those who’ve lost their life to diabetes, I also want to recognize some movie characters who suffered because they were diabetic, mostly those who succumbed to the disease. Films often get us to think about things we ignore in real life, so you might be more familiar with the following people, some fiction and some nonfiction, than any diabetics actually around you on a daily basis. The following list is just for fun, but don’t let that take away from the gravity of the cause or my greater sincerity towards it. Mario Puzo, who wrote the original “Godfather” novel and co-wrote the screenplays to all three of the films, was himself a diabetic. Perhaps this was the reason he had Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) suffer from the disease in the final installment. While he seems to ultimately die of natural causes, throughout this film he is seen with diabetic symptoms. He needs to have juice and cookies at one point, claim Continue reading >>
Movies, Type 1 Diabetes And Real Life Don’t Often Match Up
There are a lot of challenges we face living with Type 1 diabetes in a world addicted to simple answers and sensationalism. Living with the condition is mostly manageable, if challenging. Living with the image of the condition as portrayed in movies, books and T.V. adds to our daily challenges, as this is where the misleading, erroneous and dangerous public perceptions of us are formed and disseminated. Steel Magnolias, which was a popular movie and play in the late 1980s depicting relationships amongst a group of women in a small Louisiana town, contains a portrayal of a woman living with T1D that made a big contribution to the stigmatization and exclusion of people living with this medical condition, particularly women of childbearing age, on the basis that they could not possibly live normal lives and that it was reckless and irresponsible to try. The screenplay was written by the brother of a woman who had died from complications of diabetes. Nonetheless, it is riddled with inaccuracies and misinformation and perpetuates the myth that people with diabetes are weak, irresponsible and doomed to an early death if they try to do ‘normal’ things like having children. Quite simply, T1D is used in the story for its dramatic effect and it is exaggerated and vilified to increase the emotional impact of the narrative, in typical Hollywood style. This aspect of the narrative is milked for all its potential tear-jerking effect. In 1989, when the movie came out, I was working as a Bay St. lawyer and trying to get pregnant with my first child. I had been living with T1D for 16 years at that point, and had not let it stand in the way of moving away from my small hometown, getting an education and launching a successful legal career. I had been married for 3 years, and we decid Continue reading >>
Type 1: Diabetes In The Movies
Moviegoers spent more than $95 million to see an adolescent Kristen Stewart get locked inside a “panic room,” act out hypoglycemia-induced seizures and come disturbingly close to slipping into a coma and dying before receiving a life-saving glucagon shot. This image sticks in movie patrons’ minds almost as vividly as Julia Roberts’ 1989 Oscar-nominated depiction of a woman who succumbs to diabetes-related kidney failure in “Steel Magnolias.” An Underused and Inaccurately Portrayed Theme In the past 20 years, barely more than a dozen movies used the drama of diabetes to draw audiences into a story. Most references were minor. The disease played a more significant role in a few films, including “Steel Magnolias.” Nearly all of them left the impression that diabetes draws the people who suffer from it into an uncontrollable tailspin toward death. The popularity of “Panic Room” pushed several emotions and questions to the surface. While some decry Hollywood’s history of extreme or inaccurate portrayals of people with diabetes, others applaud “Panic Room” and other movies that put diabetes—albeit with a little misinformation or confusion—into mainstream dialogue. Some say such movies can be wake-up calls to the public, and possibly Washington, about how serious diabetes can be. “Isn’t that what the arts are? A portrayal at the edge of the limits?” asks Francine Kaufman, MD, an endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and current president of the American Diabetes Association. “I think the average reasonable person realizes they’re watching a movie. ‘Steel Magnolias’ showed that diabetes has a significant role in people’s lives and sometimes involves loss. It showed diabetes at its most tragic, and that’s good for Continue reading >>
4 Times Films And Television Shows Got Diabetes Wrong, And How It Could Have Been Avoided
Earlier this month, BBC show The Syndicate was criticised for its misleading portrayal of diabetes treatment, but it is not the first (or inevitably, last) example of dodgy diabetes representation. Be it in television or Hollywood blockbusters, there have been many occasions in which inaccurate diabetes research or poor explanations have added needless confusion to scenes. We’ve researched some of the more puzzling storylines and scenes that got diabetes wrong, and how they could have been improved. The Syndicate The most recent diabetes blunder comes courtesy of Kay Mellor’s popular drama, The Syndicate. In the last episode of series three, diabetic character Amy was suffering hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels). A chap called Spencer then administers her insulin, which is going to reduce her levels further and could bring on a coma. Naturally, following contact from leading diabetes charity JDRF, the BBC issued a statement: “We regret if we have given the impression to some viewers that low blood sugar should be treated with insulin.” It was Mellor’s explanation of the incident that provided the most perplexity, though. In a statement to Mirror TV, issued on behalf of Mellor and Rollem Productions, a bizarre amount of distance was put between Mellor and her duty to properly convey diabetes on screen. “First of all can I just say, although I researched and spoke to people who were diabetic, the drama is purely fictional. And like any dramatist I have to take dramatic license sometimes to make the story work. “Also we have no idea what the chemist said to Spencer or what he did as a consequence. We come up on him untying the yacht and sailing out to sea then administrating the insulin, but we have no idea how much time has passed.” What? So, instead Continue reading >>
“frozen,” And Other Stories: Relatable Characters For Kids With Diabetes
Many people identify with fictional characters in books, television, and film, often looking to them for an emotional connection. How many people have felt a bond with Elizabeth Bennet or felt the struggle of George Bailey? But for those living with diabetes, especially children and young adults, finding a character who shares their disease is easier said than done. Now the diabetes community can add one more to their list. This September, Disney’s creative director John Lasseter revealed the movie Frozen’s main character Elsa from Frozen was directly inspired by those with type 1 diabetes. ray ban 2132 In the ABC special The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, Lasseter explained that Elsa was originally conceived as a villainous queen complete with blue skin, spiky hair, and the ability to freeze hearts. But over the course of production, Lasseter started seeing Elsa in a different light. Elsa’s frosty curse reminded Lasseter of his son Sam, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 10. “This little guy was being poked with needle after needle after needle and he asked ‘why me?’” said Lasseter. “And I thought of Sam as I was thinking of Elsa. She was born with this. Why is she a villain?” Inspired, Lasster asked songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez to write a sympathetic song for Elsa about her isolation. The song Let it Go was born and the entire story was rewritten. Diabetes is not a visible disease, but it can have serious complications. It may not be apparent to others, except when doing certain self-care tasks like checking blood glucose, taking insulin or during an emergency like a severe hypoglycemic event. Fear of being different can affect how someone acts and what someone will share about their disease with oth Continue reading >>
32 Famous People With Type 1 Diabetes
Test strips, blood sugar monitors, and insulin pumps are all part of a day in the life of someone living with Diabetes. Several famous actors, musicians, and athletes have Type I Diabetes. Some of these celebrities were diagnosed with diabetes when they were children, while others developed the disease later on in life. Who is the most famous person with Type I Diabetes? Sharon Stone tops our list. The "Basic Instinct" star was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Mary Tyler Moore was diagnosed with Type I diabetes around the time she was filming "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." She is now an outspoken advocate who brings awareness to the disease. "American Idol" alum Crystal Bowersox has been hospitalized due to complications with Type I diabetes. Several famous men also have Type I diabetes. Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 2008. Poison front man Bret Michaels was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when he was 6 years old. Pop star Nick Jonas was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 2005. In 1957, Jackie Robinson was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. Are you surprised that so many celebrities have Type I diabetes? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Continue reading >>
List Of Films Featuring Diabetes
There is a body of films that include a character with diabetes as part of the plot. In the late twentieth century, most films' references to diabetes were minor. Characters with diabetes were developed in plots in which the disease "played a more significant role" in films such as Steel Magnolias and Panic Room.[1] Dr. Kevin L. Ferguson discussed such films in the Journal of Medical Humanities and reported, "Films that represent diabetes must work around the disease's banal invisibility, and images of diabetics in film are especially susceptible to metaphor and exaggeration."[2] Everyday Health reported, "Sometimes, filmmakers get it wrong: mixing up different types of diabetes, imagining symptoms or complications that aren't accurate, or unfairly portraying another aspect of the condition."[3] List of films[edit] Film Year Description 12 Feet Deep 2017 The American thriller film features twin sisters who are trapped in a swimming pool under a fiberglass pool cover. One of the sisters has diabetes and needs an insulin shot to avoid slipping into a coma.[4] 150 Milligrams 2017 The French drama film is based on the real-life French pulmonologist Irène Frachon who fought between 2009 and 2011 to reveal that a diabetes drug was life-threatening.[5] Alma 1999 A documentary film about Alma Thorpe, whose primary condition is schizophrenia, but she also has diabetes.[6] Ambulance, TheThe Ambulance 1990 A rogue doctor in an ambulance kidnaps people with diabetes for his experiment.[7] The Baby-Sitters Club 1995 A teenage girl deals with managing her type 1 diabetes.[8] Beats, Rhymes & Life 2011 A documentary film about the band A Tribe Called Quest, including Phife Dawg, who has diabetes.[6] Big Nothing 2006 In the black comedy film, criminals kill an FBI agent with diabetes b Continue reading >>
7 Times Tv And Movies Got Diabetes Wrong
WRITTEN BY: K. Thor Jensen One of the most frustrating things about living with diabetes is the massive amount of misinformation that’s floating around. It seems like almost every person you meet has some crazy idea about what causes it or how you treat it. Where does that misinformation come from? In many cases, the media. TV shows and movies have used diabetes either as a cheap way to ramp up drama or as a lousy, lazy punchline in comedies for years. Come with us as we spotlight seven of the absolute worst offenders. 1 – Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters This absurd action flick shows what happens when you try to apply logic to the fairy tale world. Hansel, played by Jeremy Renner, has grown into an adult “witch hunter” with a “sugar sickness” caused by eating too much candy as a child. In between fights, he needs to inject insulin to bring his blood sugar down. Instead of monitoring his blood glucose with a finger prick or a diabetic alert dog, Hansel instead takes regular insulin injections when his watch alerts him, no matter his carb count or level of physical activity. We’re not saying that we needed him to explain his IC ratio on camera, but they could have handled it a little better. 2 – Do No Harm This short-lived NBC drama told the tale of a high-powered neurosurgeon afflicted with an evil split personality that took over from 8:25 PM to 8:25 AM. While T1Ds who go low can often seem like completely different people, that’s not what put Do No Harm into the hall of shame. The protagonist explained his inability to be on call in the evenings by saying he has diabetes, and despite working in a hospital, nobody calls him on how ludicrous that excuse is. Everything about the way the show handled T1D was insane, from the massive blood glucose reader Continue reading >>
Diabetes In The Movies
The only movie I’ve ever seen in which diabetes plays a prominent role is Christopher Nolan’s 2000 thriller Memento. The protagonist of this film, Leonard, looses his short-term memory, but his diabetic wife thinks he’s faking. To force him to stop “pretending,” she asks him to give her an injection of insulin. He does so. A few minutes later, she tells him again: “It’s time for my insulin.” Leonard repeatedly injects her with insulin until she goes into a coma and dies. When I saw this movie for a high school assignment, I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with diabetes, but my brother had. My mom made a reassuring assessment of the movie’s plotholes (Once Leonard has given his wife several injection, wouldn’t she finally realize he’s not faking his condition and drink some orange juice? If Leonard saw his wife going into a coma, wouldn’t he call an ambulance?) Still, I found the movie very disturbing. It reminded me that diabetics are constantly vulnerable, despite every attempt to manage their condition as well as possible. After watching Memento, I’ve never felt the desire to watch another movie about a diabetic. This is partly just my taste; while some people find it comforting to watch movies that address their health issues, I’m usually more of an escapist–I’m not sure I’d seek out a movie about a diabetic character even if the portrayal wasn’t depressing. Still, watching Memento made me curious. Were there any other movies about diabetics? My google search of “diabetics” and “movies” yielded a list from dLife.com of several movies with diabetic characters. From the accompanying short description of each, I found out that there are films with diabetic characters in all different genres. You can see the full list here. In most Continue reading >>
Carb Wars: Going To The Movies With Type 1 Diabetes
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is breaking records at the box office in it's opening weekend. The film made 57 million dollars on Thursday and another 100 million on Friday and those numbers tell me that many of you will be in a theater something soon. Trying to bolus for food that is carb heavy, nutrition light... So there I was this morning sitting in a theater waiting for Star Wars to begin (it was amazing by the way) when I began to think about all of you and I decided to compile carb counts for popular movie theaters and include them in this post. That however turned out to be more difficult than I originally envisioned. Of the big five theater chains, the two largest, Regal and AMC don't not provide nutritional information for their concession stands. Cineplex has a fact sheet online that I'd call "better than nothing", Carmike has a simple webpage that lists the values of their popcorn and Cinemark includes a partial list on their website. The thing is... there is no consistency between the theater companies and no good way to estimate based on the limited information that is available. Blog post interruptus... I wanted to provide at least a guideline to follow but from what I am seeing the variables between theater chains, package sizes, how full some theaters fill their bags and some significantly incomplete data; we're going to have to roll over guidelines and talk about strategy. You're going to have to make some educated guesses. We could theorize that one nacho is between 2 and 2.5 carbs. I'd guess a pretzel bite to be about 4 carbs but that popcorn is just too wonky. How do you measure it? How many carbs, how much will they eat... ug. So here's what I'm going to do when we head back to the theater tomorrow afternoon so the family can see Star Wars, yea I wen Continue reading >>
Student Films About Type 1 Diabetes In School
Created by 11-17 year olds as part of the2015 Diabetes in School Short Film Competition, these three-minute films show what life with Type 1 diabetes is really like for children and young people, and what care parents and teachers should expect at school. You could use these videos by: sending them to other families living with diabetes showing one in a school assembly sending them to people you know showing at any diabetes or education events to help inform teachers, school staff and volunteers. Get in touch and let us know which videos you’re showing, we can provide downloads or DVD copies and let us know anything you’d like to see in future videos by emailing us [email protected] Myths about Type 1 diabetes Rasing awareness Inspirational Living with diabetes / Day in the life Continue reading >>
