“[Microbes] are not just soldiers attacking us in the sense of attacking the U.S. They are just living their lives because they happen to live their lives in us. Plenty of organisms live their lives happily with us. Warfare is a very nice way to explain it on a very superficial level, but a normal part of existence as microorganisms is balance,” (Flexible Bodies, Pg. 109, Emily Martin).
Context:
In Chapter 3 Martin discusses how alternative practitioners see the immune system in contrast to what has become a more traditional view. A common issue with modern medicine is that we view death as a failure. This is simply a perception however, and doctors such as acupuncturists work to help people die peacefully. Viewing microbes as the causes of disease was a strong cause for this and inspired a crusade of sorts to find miracle cures. Holistic doctors work from the a very different viewpoint, one in which the mind and the body have a relationship and are interconnected.
An acupuncturist in the books says that when a person’s chi is flowing smoothly, the body can be exposed to bacteria and not be made ill. The chapter then goes on to explain that no part of the body seems to work alone and that in fact, each part seems to be related and interconnected, functioning together to maintain health. This also applies to the world outside the body. With every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. One person interviewed compares the functioning of our body to the ocean, ebbing and flowing like the tides. It can also be compared to a river. The alternative practitioners see the problem of the stagnant water in a blocked river as a need to unblock the river, where other people would maybe seek a quick solution such as filtering the water.
In Chapter 4, Martin looks at the issue from the perspective of scientists. Your body is filled with antibodies which are incredibly flexible and have very specific functionality. One scientist, Uexkull, states that “Atoms and molecules have no self, memory, individuality, or inner pictures. They are not able to read, to recognize, or to interpret anything and cannot be killed either.” This is significant because the body cannot be under siege, per se, by something that doesn’t even understand the concept of “attack.” One interviewee says, “no reasonable discussions are taking place in the immune system.” The war metaphor seems to be born of the idea that viruses come in and violently attack the body, which must be defended by the immune system. The book goes on to explain that people do not really think about their immune system until they need it. It is easy to look at the metaphor of your body as being constantly at war, but in fact the immune system has a lot more than that going on.
Most often bacteria and viruses in our body are viewed as intruders and the immune system as the defense. Everybody is exposed to these bacteria and it is frequently thought that a stronger immune system explains why one person gets sick while another remains unaffected. Dr. Fleck explains that "The concept of infectious disease is based on the notion of the organism as a closed unit and of the hostile causative agents invading it."Pg 108. The concept of immunology is often based on the body being under siege by viruses and the immune system as constantly fighting back. Dr. Fleck explains on 108 and 109 that there is little experimental proof that should lead us to think this way. For one, many bacteria within our bodies are essential to our well being. Martin goes on to explain that the body is like a mechanical system and the immune system a part of it, which only functions as it knows how to, for better or worse.
I personally see merits and faults to thinking about the immune system in this way. In fault, the immune system is not conscious and therefore has no conception of war. Similarly viruses have no concept of good or evil, right or wrong. The best example I can think of is contrasting the body’s acceptance of an organ transplant with the US government’s acceptance of immigrants. The body, when accepting of an organ transplant will be able to survive as normal, cheating death itself in a way. On the other hand, without immunosuppressant’s the body’s immune system will work to kill the transplanted organ as it is foreign. Similarly, our government is currently taking a fairly anti-immigration stance, even though our nation is based on immigrants and they have great potential to fuel our economy.
Regardless, I think the idea of apply war imagery to our insides is only as reasonable as accepting a child’s imaginary friend to be real or that animals can talk, just like the cartoons. The images may help us to understand the very abstract, but in terms of deep and comprehensive understanding, it leaves us wanting.
Osmosis Jones - 2001 - Warner Bros
Links:
- Warner Bros Official Osmosis Jones Webpage
- Osmosis Jones Summary on Wikipedia
- Thrax will infest your mind (A fan-clip from the movie showing the havoc caused by the virus)
The animated feature, Osmosis Jones could be seen as the ultimate realization of how the “body at war” metaphor has been popularized to represent the essence of our immune system. The film, in its relevance to the immune system, takes place inside the body of a not-so-sanitary middle aged man named Frank (played by actor Bill Murray). Frank eats a hard-boiled egg that he recovers from the floor of a dirty chimpanzee cage. Then begins the story of his bodies internal battle to prevent Frank’s body from contracting an illness. The underdog police office like white blood cell, Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) works to stop the onslaught of ingested bacteria.
Thrax, a deadly virus that came in with the egg manages to escape Jones and goes on a rampage, attacking and demolishing various cells within Frank’s body. Frank takes a cold pill in an attempt to get over the illness. Drix, short for Drixenol arrives within Frank’s body and is assigned as Jones’ partner in the effort to stop Thrax.
Each character has a personality, as would be expected for an animated film. The virus Thrax turns out to be one of evil, masquerading as the common cold but in fact plotting to overheat Frank's body in an effort to kill him. Thrax ambition is to become the most dangerous new virus by attempting to kill each new victim faster than the previous. Thrax’s goal is to kill Frank within a record 48 hours
What is interesting about the Osmosis Jones movie, in comparison to the Emily Martin text, is that while there is a battle of sorts going on, the body isn’t really at war. A different kind of analogy is used. The body is like a city, with different districts that are inhabited by different types of people. The white blood cells are made out to be a sort of FBI like agency and the viruses are made out to be mostly common criminal and or hoodlums. The rest of the organisms living inside Frank seem to be for the most part at harmony with one another and regardless of Frank’s terrible hygiene and diet, the internal organisms seem to function well enough until the deadly Thrax virus arrives on the scene.
The relevance of this is that the regular viruses and alien organisms seem to be a more of a nuisance than anything, and the body certainly isn’t portrayed as being at war, not even when Thrax is on its rampage. The white blood cell is simply working with the medicine to do its best to restore things to their original state.
The movie can also be analyzed from a sociological perspective. Frank is portrayed as a metropolis, the stomach a sort of immigrant airport, the brain as the center of government and the bladder as a bus depot for those leaving or “deported” from the metropolis. The fact that a frightened germ in the movie is portrayed with a Spanish accent seems to either directly point towards the government’s aversion towards Mexican immigrants, or worse promotes the stereotype.
These gross exaggerations of what take place in the body certainly make it easy for the average American to grasp the basic concepts of the immune system. The question becomes whether or not people buy into the fact that our bodies are a veritable battle ground, and if so, does it have any reflection on our day to day actions and beliefs? My thoughts are that it doesn’t necessarily promote the idea of war or intolerance, but the images certainly do nothing to discourage the thoughts either. In a world where people are tense and health problems seem to be of utmost concern, a little psychological restructuring could do people some good.
To this I would propose a new explanation, built on concepts that are not too alien to those people already have. Your body is a temple, not a battlefield. A temple accepts people of all types, rich or poor, clean or dirty, those with strong conviction and those who are less than pure. The germs are like the dirty or the unchaste, they may cause trouble but the temple is strong and will eventually neutralize or integrate the germ to create a stronger, healthier and more pure community.
(Image courtesy of www.webwombat.com.au/.../
Text Quote from Flexible Bodies, the role of immunity in American culture from the days of Polio to the age of AIDS by Emily Martin, (c) 1994 Beacon Press Books.
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