User:Jennifercrane/sandbox
Comedy
Comedy films, books, and cartoons have been produced about the NHS. These have shaped as well as reflected how people think about this institution.[1]
Cartoons
There were lots of cartoons about the NHS from as soon as it was launched. The historian Bernard Zeitlyn has analysed these cartoons in Punch magazine. Zeitlyn argues that the cartoons 'centred on the bonanza of free spectacles, beards and trips abroad' that the NHS would bring, and also its 'bureaucratic consequences'.[2] Cartoonists also portrayed free wigs. For example in January 1949 Joseph Lee showed an irate man chasing a child, asking, 'Who's been practising Home Perms on my free National Health Service wig?'[3]
Before the NHS was launched, the British Medical Association were opposed to the idea of doctors becoming state employees on fixed salaries.[4] Cartoonists made their opinions about this conflict known. David Low, a famous cartoonist, published a cartoon in the Evening Standard on the 14 December 1944 showing Charles Hill, BMA Secretary, being examined by a doctor. The doctor states, 'Don't be alarmed. Whatever's the trouble, you're not going to die from enlargement of the social conscience.'[5] Cartoons also showed how people responded to the NHS being free at the point of access. One cartoon, published in 1951 by Antonia Yeoman, portrayed women in a doctor's waiting room, one of whom stated that she had seen eighteen doctors and seven psychiatrists. Eventually, she had been diagnosed with a 'deep-seated guilt about getting things free from the National Health Service.'[6]
From the 1960s, cartoons were also used to criticise government policies about the NHS. In December 1960, cartoonist Victor Weisz drew an image for the Evening Standard showing Minister for Health Enoch Powell as a surgeon covered in blood, accusing him of making too many cuts to the NHS.[7] For the Daily Mail in 1968, John Musgrave-Wood drew a man to portray the NHS, who was wearing a dunce's cap and being fed 'Defence Cuts'.[8]
Many cartoons have been very interested in portraying NHS staff. The cartoonist Carl Giles, who often drew for the Daily Express, was very interested in drawing nurses in particular. Historian Jack Saunders has argued that Giles' presentation shifted from presenting nurses from 'caring and sexualised' to 'bolshie and assertive'.[9] Giles sent a cartoon of nurses stealing peas from patients directly to the East Suffolk Nurses League. On the cartoon, Giles wrote 'with deepest sympathy', referring to the cutting of food allowances.[10]
Films
- ^ Crane, Jenny (10 November 2016). "'Humour and the NHS: Is 'laughter the best medicine'? Is NHS policy a 'sick joke'?". peopleshistorynhs.org. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ Zeitlyn, Bernard (1972). "'Jokes and the Doctor-Patient Relationship'". History of Medicine. 4: 10–12.
- ^ Lee, Joseph (11 January 1949). "London Laughs: Free NHS Wig". British Cartoon Archive. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ "British Medical Association". People's History of the NHS. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ^ Low, David (14 December 1944). British Cartoon Archive http://archives.cartoons.ac.uk/GetMultimedia.ashx?db=Catalog&type=default&fname=LSE1173.jpg. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Punch Cartoons by Anton | PUNCH Magazine Cartoon Archive". punch.photoshelter.com. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ^ Weisz, Victor (5 December 1960). "National Health Service: Operating Theatre".
- ^ Musgrave-Wood, John (9 January 1968). "The Hypochondriac". British Cartoon Archive. Retrieved 22 November 1968.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ "Nurses' Christmas, 1963". People's History of the NHS. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ^ "Pinching Peas, 1969". People's History of the NHS. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
