Popular culture has the capacity to influence and affect the views society holds on a wide range of real-life concepts. The power the media holds over the exchange of information is largely attributed to its ability to shape ideas, perceptions and expectations through stories and narrative tropes. The topics of body, health and illness are no exceptions from this popular rule, as the topic of human relationship with one’s flesh has historically been a subject of interest.
In literature, particularly the somewhat older one written in religious societies, illness is often perceived as a sign of supernatural intervention or divine punishment. In ancient Greek canon, oftentimes a character struck by sudden disease has displeased a god and has gotten sick in retribution. Alternatively, the sickness may come from the influence of a negative supernatural creature, such as a witch or a demon, that exists in the direct opposition to the divine.
Specific illnesses, however, have received a more complex metaphorical approaches in modern or comparatively recent popular media. If a diagnosis is socially stigmatized, it transforms into horror narratives in cinema and writing. The HIV epidemic might be used as a relevant example, with the real-life repercussions of the diagnosis involving social isolation and prejudice (Kilty & Bogosavljevic, 2018). The marginalizing and often sexual nature of the virus has manifested in HIV-specific cinematographic metaphors that often-involved transformations into a monster.
Finally, the human body itself is often portrayed in fiction metaphorically, through a lens of analogy. Mechanical comparisons are largely common, with an organism being represented in the form of a machine. Following the metaphor, different parts of the body might be compared to cogs or other technical elements. And, within this logic, an illness is akin to a breach that needs to be repaired for the mechanism to function.
Reference
Kilty, J., & Bogosavljevic, K. (2018). Emotional storytelling: Sensational media and the creation of the HIV sexual predator. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 15(2), 279-299. Web.