ME and CFS in popular culture
From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history
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Common stereotypes
Three common but incorrect stereotypes are express across many media:
- Patients are just tired, like everyone else gets, or lazy.
- Or conversely, that patients are ambitious overachievers, burnouts
- Patients are hypochondriacs and attention seekers.
The primary misconception behind these stereotypes is that patients are not simply tired, they are severely sick & disabled.
Film
- David Puttnam (British filmmaker)
Television
- Michael Crawford (British actor)
- The Golden Girls
- Ricky Gervais mocked ME patients in his comedy act. Matthew Smith blogs at Indigo Jo Blogs about this and has a short clip of Gervais in a 3 minute Youtube video C.F.S/M.E - The Torturous Disease embedded in the article "Ricky Gervais on ME, and other bad comedy".[1] The ME Association wrote about his "apology".[2] His 2016 album, (performed by his character from The Office, David Brent) includes a song called "Please don't make fun of the disableds" that refers to ME urging people to be "please be kind" to the disabled, "...even the ones with ME, who feel tired... we all feel tired.... sometimes we all feel tired".[3]
- Transparent
- Vicky Beeching (UK TV broadcaster)
- Martine McCutcheon (British actress)
- Armando Iannucci wrote a comedy sketch where Jesus healed people with various ailments. When faced with a person with chronic fatigue syndrome Jesus replied "yeah, well we all get tired".[4]
- House
- The Middle (ABC comedy), April 27, 2016
- Alex Trebek on Jeopardy, July 3, 2015
Fiction
Comics & cartoons
- Blondie comic
- Chronic fatigue syndrome anonymous
- I'm too tired to eat
- My stomach would hurt but I'm too tired
- What doctors are really thinking
- You're just dog tired
Music
- Cher (singer)
- Howard Bloom (publicist and writer)
- Stevie Nicks
- Stuart Murdoch (lead singer of Belle and Sebastian), "Nobody's Empire"
- Yuppie Flu (Italian music group)
News and non-fiction
Fashion
- Laura Dundovic (model). Diagnosed with the disease when she was 16 years old.[5]
See also
Learn more
References
- ↑ Ricky Gervais on ME, and other bad comedy - Indigo Jo Blogs
- ↑ Ricky Gervais ‘apologises’ for show’s ME wise-crack - ME Association
- ↑ David Brent: Life on the Road
- ↑ Armando Iannucci - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- ↑ 'I got every possible sickness': Laura Dundovic reveals how she overcame battle with chronic fatigue syndrome during her teenage years
