The critic's point was that unplanned pregnancies and the prospect of abortion is a harrowing decision for many women. The movie had the opportunity to explore the depths of that choice but they just kinda rolled over it (Yes, we're talking about a Seth Rogan movie here. Judd Apatows' decision to keep it light and funny was the correct one).
I was thinking about this while watching Season 1 of The Pitt. It's a good show, probably a great show. I enjoyed it a lot. But as someone who is left of center but has actual conversations with actual conservatives, it was obvious the writers were left wing people who never leave their idealogical bubble.
Nothing is leftist progadanda--it is first and foremost a medical drama--but it is obvious that the writers lack curiosity.
In one scene, a teenage girl, accompanied by her "mother," are seeking an abortion. Just before a dose of Mifepristone arrives, a frantic middle-aged woman storms into the room looking for her daughter. Turns out the girl's aunt was posing as the girl's mom because the frantic woman is the real mom and doesn't approve of the abortion.
I was expecting the plot to unfold with the doctors having to wrestle with the conflict of treating the wishes of an underage patient with the religious beliefs of a conservative Christian mother. I was wrong. We don't get much detail on the mother's background, no mention of religion, other than she was once a teen mom as well. Most of the conflict is spoken doctor-to-doctor, behind closed doors, about how to convince the mom that she is wrong and that abortion is the correct choice.
In another scene, two doctors are treating a transgendered woman with a cut. One doctor notices the woman has been misgendered in her charts and updates it. The doctor is praised by her superior. This could have been an opportunity to explore the risks of classifying, e.g. transgendered men who are classified as female, like the pregnant transgender man who never revealed his sex to doctors when admitted to the ER with abdominal pains. They had no idea he was, or even could be, pregnant. By the time, doctors uncovered his sex, it was too late. He delivered a stillborn. That would have made for dramatic television but writers in an ideological bubble would not have considered it.
Later, a fight breaks out in the waiting room between two women; one taunting the other for wearing a mask. It's later revealed that she has contempt for people who wear masks and get vaccinated. This could have been an opportunity to explore all of the ways that people lost faith in the public health institutions in recent years: Dr. Fauci telling people that masks don't work then later admitting he lied so they wouldn't buy them, telling people the vaccines will prevent transmission, telling people they couldn't go to their church but it was acceptable for others to attend Black Lives Matter rallies, and on and on. Instead the woman is portrayed as a buffoon and the doctors as the wise people who have to deal with idiots. Over and over, the medical professionals are in the right and the patients who oppose them are cartoonish idiots.
Troubled Young Men
Finally, a young man shows up with his ill mother, who secretly tells doctors that her son has a hit list. When the son runs off, she has to decide whether to admit him for a pyschic evaluation. The show's protagonist, attending physician Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch goes on a spiel about how men are troubled because they are "told" to show no emotion, suggesting there would be no problems if men could just be more emotional.
Rather than relitigate my views on healthy masculinity, and how it's not just femininity, I'm going to stick with the Robby character for a moment. The ER's attending physician is basically the boss. He oversees everything that his happening, coaches people, hands out praise and criticism, and always seems to know what to do in every medical situation.
During the emotional height of the season, when he loses a patient he knows and the ER is overwhelmed with victims from a mass shooting, he cloisters himself in a room, falls to the floor, puts his head between his knees, and begins sobbing. An intern finds him and has to convince him to get up and continue treating the victims who still need help.
Leadership Requires Stoicism
Later, at the end of the shift, he is talking to the night shift attending physician and telling him how he let everyone down when he lost control of his emotions. Guess what: he's fucking right. As the leader, he has two heavy responsibilities. He treats patients with supreme care and expertise, and is someone everyone else looks up to.
During the stretch of the series when they are treating the mass shooting victims, the chaos is described as a war zone. The staff are literally covered in blood. One dude slips on and falls into a puddle of blood. It would be easy for a doctor or nurse to become overwhelmed with it all. One thing to prevent that from happening is the presence of a leader demonstrating calm under pressure. If your leader throws in the towel, what motivation do you have for pressing on?
Despite his talk about men needing to express their emotions, Robby was right about himself. His duty called him to suppress his emotions in that moment. At least until he can be vulnerable around someone who doesn't need to see him strong, like the other attending physician who was his equivalent.
I love the Elizabeth Brunig line about how modern society lacks opportunities for heroism. The Pitt has been praised for its realistic portrayal of emergency rooms. If this is true, then the success of the show is revealing that these people are heroes. You leave the season with nothing but respect for a profession that often times lacks respect. The direction is good, the performances are great, I just wish the writers were a bit more ideologically curious.
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