Themes Illustrated In The Film 'Wit'

Course Concepts Illustrated in ‘Wit’ Wit is a film narrated by a terminal cancer patient, about her experiences. There are many viewpoints and themes represented in the film. The ones I will talk about here are the different attitudes and views towards death and sickness presented by various characters in the story. The opening scene is the main character, Vivian, discussing her diagnosis and possible participation in a research study with Dr. Kelekian. Right away, the impression that the medical professional makes is one of authority and distance. While talking to Vivian he is very fast paced, to the point, and uses mostly medical jargon. This is often the case with other doctors seen in the film. Often, when she goes in for tests, she is isolated. The doctor or technician will go into another room while she is left alone with the machinery. At one point she is also in isolation because her immune system fails and she quips that every living thing is a danger, especially the doctors. This isolation is …show more content…
She is the one who looks to make her comfortable and talks to her. When Vivian tries to express her growing fears about her death to one of her physicians, he asks if he should order a test. When she talks about it with Susie, the nurse comforts her and lets her cry. She also discusses her end of life options, introducing the bias of the doctors, She talks to Vivian about her code status and explains that the doctors want to preserve life at any cost, but that she has the option to sign a do not resuscitate order, which would let her rest. When Vivian does finally pass, the doctor rushes to resuscitate her and call a code. Susie comes in and tells him to stop, but is ignored by him and the code team, but she persists, waving around the chart that has the order. The code is called off after the doctor admits he made a mistake, Susie covers Vivian’s exposed body, and the curtains are drawn of her