Movies, television, and books often portray scenes involving a “reading of the Will,” where, upon someone’s death, an attorney assembles all of the heirs to read the terms of the document (complete with dramatic pauses, gasps, and ultimately, tears). Historically, this practice was carried out due to low literacy rates and unreliable mail delivery. Today, there is no requirement in any state for such a reading and they rarely, if ever, happen. With beneficiaries scattered across the globe, high literacy rates and access to mail, email, and fax, the “reading of the Will” is a thing of the past.
Just about any Western: Need to have a character take a bullet, but be back up and running by the end of the show? Shoot them in the shoulder. In reality, getting shot in the shoulder is definitely “not good”.
When my mother passed away some years ago, my brother and I (the only beneficiaries) just met with her lawyer in his office. I was on some level disappointed that we weren’t required to gather at a spooky old mansion where we would be required to spend the night.
I don’t think it’s so true these days, but in older Westerns and cop dramas, if someone got shot in the chest, I’d pay close attention to which side. It used to be almost invariably true that getting shot on the left side = certain death (with just enough time for the shot person to manage to say something memorable before they expire). Getting shot on the right side of the chest though? You’d be just fine after a little recuperation.
Clutching the left side of the chest when shot before falling down meant death; clutching the right side meant they’d likely survive. And sometimes, if we’re talking Technicolor and not B&W, you’d see a little red spot on the chest indicating where the shot hit. More likely in movies than TV, but I remember seeing some occasional blood on Bonanza.
The amount of casual death in old westerns is staggering. I think because it done in such an realistic manner it just doesn’t register. I was looking at a clip from Support Your Local Sheriff at the body count was extremely high. And that was a comedy. The deaths were not played for laughs they were just something that happened.
When someone is shot in the head or has other severe head trauma you never see decorticate posturing. Even if you have never seen it before you will automatically know it means something is really fucking wrong. I don’t know if anyone is a good enough actor to pull it off and even if they were it would probably look fake.
The same with rapid blood loss. The reality of how it looks when the body starts shutting down and not working would be very hard to pull off. And it doesn’t allow for quips and heroic last words.
From years of watching Emergency! I know about blown pupils and negative Babinski, I can tell subdural from an epidural hematoma*, but never heard of decorticate posturing.
I like “The Rookie”… or I did until this recent horrible epi-
A duct in a room for a courthouse people can crawl through. No, no, no. The perp not wearing a tracking device- why? A massive manhunt and security detail being called off as a car with a unidentified driver crossed the border. Only one female cop escorting a dangerous female prisoner? nope. A supermax prisoner having free access to the internet and social media? Nope There are more, but this epi is so very bad.
I may have already mentioned this on, but speaking of apartments, single people and childless couples always live in apartments, and families with children always live in house. You hardly ever see single people living in houses or families in apartments on TV.
And apartment buildings are always multi-story buildings with interior hallways, no matter how small a town they’re in. That was one thing that bothered me about Schitt’s Creek. Stevie’s and I believe David and Patrick’s apartments were shown as being in such buildings, even though Schitt’s Creek appears to be a very small town. If a standalone apartment building existed there at all it would more likely be a single level motel-like building. But more likely in a town like that an apartment would just be above someone’s garage, or above one of the shops, or a house that’s been subdivided. Or, above the motel’s office. It’s pretty common for older mom and pop motels to have an apartment behind or above the office where the owner lived. As part owner of the motel, that’s where Steve would have been living in real life. But apart from that, I bet the rent on a small house in Schitt’s Creek would have been quite affordable.
I may have mentioned this here, but a while back, I heard an interview on NPR with a doctor who did some consultation with TV and movie producers. One thing he was asked was how a person would behave with a lacerated liver, and he replied that the person would lie as still and quiet as possible, because this is an extremely painful injury. So, what does the actor do? Thrashes around and screams in pain.
This doesn’t seem impossible. Some people move when very uncomfortable. You can usually diagnose kidney stones just from the way the patient is moving. Sure, in theory the doctor was possibly right, but people differ a lot.
Watching the football game tonight there was a graphic example of how people act with a brain injury. Luckily it doesn’t appear as bad as it was initially. He was being discharged from the hospital later the same night.
I feel “Person gets famous via a viral video and suddenly gets stardom/major career from it” happens way too often in fiction than in real life. Who’s the only person to get lifetime fame from a viral video that wasn’t a sex tape?
I think the point is likely that many injuries hurt worse the more you move. Pull a ligament in your leg and you’re not going to dance around in pain, even if your leg is still functionally able to carry your weight.
A lacerated liver might be such that any movement of the torso is excruciating, and even thrashing the arms becomes off-limits just due to how much that would shake the torso.
but never heard of decorticate posturing.