Osmosis Jones, the Media's Representation of Our Immune System

“[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/.../movies/osmosis.htm)

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.

The Body as a Machine

“In accord with the machine model, the body is seen as made up of parts that can break down: in the NORC interviews, people refer to illness in terms of a body part: “ear trouble,” kidney trouble,” “stomach trouble,” “suffering with my back,” “my tonsils,” “my kidney.” The body emerges as a machine that sometimes requires overhaul:” (Pg. 29 Flexible Bodies, Emily Martin).

Context of Excerpt:

In Part Two of Flexible Bodies, Martin discusses concepts of the body, health and the immune system from a historical perspective. She wants to know why we have certain pre-conceived notions or understandings of our body and our health, and as a means of understanding why she looks at what every day understandings of the body in the U.S. may have been liked at the end of the first half of the century. For research she used popular periodicals, home health manuals and books, mostly from the 1940’s and 1950’s.

She states that early twentieth-century ideas about health reflected the impact of the new science, bacteriology. The idea of microorganisms causing disease. Public health concerns shifted from broad morally informed programs to more technical concerns based on the findings of microscopes and test tubes. Once the cleanliness of the city was a prime concern, but things quickly changed to cause people to be more concerned about the cleanliness of their own immediate environment, house and bodies. Hygiene and cleanliness became paramount to preventing disease and illness.

With diseases such as polio causing great and widespread distress, a sort of hysteria over germs spread. Companies such as Lysol promoted their products as able to kill germs by the millions. Martin illustrates and speaks of the body as a castle, which must be fortified and protected from intrusion. The body’s efficiency is measured and compared to that of industrial machines, each subject to many of the same chemical and physical laws. The rest of the chapter goes on to discuss how the body, like a machine can be repaired, but unlike a machine, the body has it’s own repair system in place, the immune system.

School House Rock - Body Machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_H89pIWis

In the classic educational cartoon, School House Rock, the chorus here sings “I’m a machine, you’re a machine, everybody that you know, you know they are machines. To keep your engine running you need energy for your high powered revved up body machine.”

This is a classic example of a scientific concept being reinforced by media. If the children are being educated by cartoons that they are machines, from a very young age, of course they are going to grow up thinking of themselves as machines. It isn’t an entirely bogus concept, of course. Both machines and humans need fuel to function. Both machines and humans are incredibly complex, have moving parts, and if not maintained properly will stop functioning. In the case of modern technology, machines can even get life threatening viruses if they are not properly immunized. If you don’t maintain, clean and repair your machine, it will likely not function as well as if you did or in fact will cease to function entirely, similar to a human.

On the other hand, the human body quite assuredly is not a machine. http://library.thinkquest.org/28807/data/home.htm

The above website points out that the human body can do things a machine could never do, most significantly grow. The human body starts out at a single cell and multiplies exponentially to eventually form a full grown human.

The significance of comparing a body to a machine really lies in two places; first and foremost the body is extremely functional. The body can labor, become a fully functioning and contributing member of society and even fight for its country. Second, the body must be maintained. If the body is not properly fed, cleaned or rested than the body will require an overhaul, which is expensive and wasteful for all parties involved.

One more aspect of machines is that they are generally expendable. We use machines for whatever purpose they are given and if, in the end they do stop functioning we simply dispose of the old and bring in the newest best “machine.” The unfortunate issue with referring to living breathing things as machines is that people can potentially desensitize themselves or dehumanize others, which can be very dangerous.

Nevertheless, I think the concept of humans being machines has held together very well over time. I am guessing that Martin would agree with me in saying that this is probably not a good thing. In terms of teaching children how to take care of themselves, there is probably a better way.

(Image courtesy of weegeebored at www.flickr.com/photos/kenningtonfox/605534865/)

Text Quote from Flexible Bodies, the role of immunity in American culture from the days of Poio to the age of AIDS by Emily Martin, (c) 1994 Beacon Press Books.

Naturopathic Medicine

Teresa Evans ND, CPM midwife and Margie Ikeda, ND operate a comprehensive medical doctor’s office in Seattle. Although their practices are not necessarily mainstream, they have all the training and background of a traditional MD, with the additional training and specialization of a naturopathic doctor. What this enables them to do is treat patients as a traditional family practitioner would, but also examine patient problems from another perspective. The naturopathic perspective is one in which the doctor tries to look at the solving the causing of the problem instead of simply treating the symptoms. This is usually done through diet, exercise, lifestyle change, and often herbal medicine. Surgery and other more invasive medical practices are reserved for last resort.

In the event that a patient needs surgery or is in a life threatening state, they will be referred to a hospital or traditional MD. In situation of which another specialist, such as Ayurveda, Acupuncture or massage therapy might be the best practice for the patients particular problem, they are trained to recognize these individual needs and make the proper referrals. They also will actively work with a patients regular MD, to make sure there are no conflicts regarding the patients medication use or instructions given previously.

The doctors are licensed in 17 different states in the U.S., its territories and Canada and are authorized to operate diagnostic labs, studies and prescribe the pharmaceutical medication with the exception of controlled substances.

In addition to traditional doctor practices, Teresa and Margie specialize in vitamin IV’s which enable the body to more efficiently absorb vitamins and thoroughly detox. In addition, they have a technique for flushing highly toxic heavy metals from your body. Their other specialization was in a special kind of massage which involves the placement of hot and cold towels on your back or chest in succession of the other, which essentially gives the blood vessels a workout, strengthening your immune system. Each of these techniques is something that requires several sessions of treatment, after which the results are usually enough to get a person’s immune system back on track. After a person is on the road to recovery, the doctors would then look at long term solutions that will help the problem from ever occurring again. Many of the patients they see for this are HIV infected or suffering from Fibro Mialgia.

Difficulties that the naturopathic doctors struggle with are a health care system that does not fully accept or work with them. Because of complexities, these particular naturopathic doctors do not work with insurance companies, which can make it difficult for patients. They did however advise that many insurance companies will pay partial, but the patients must send in their receipts for reimbursement. This is the preferred method of dealing with insurance companies, as it does not subject the naturopathic doctors to the demands of insurance companies, which often set patient quotas and such. The doctors felt that such quotas compromise the medical system, rushing doctors and preventing patients from getting the time and attention they need for both a proper diagnosis and effective treatment.

Overall it was very interesting to see what the naturopathic doctors do. I would definitely keep them in mind for a future primary care physician. I am also very intrigued at the idea of having my heavy metals removed from my body and wonder whether or not women should consider having this done before getting pregnant. I think that if accepted properly and given the attention it deserves, naturopathic medicine could really improve the lives of people and families everywhere.

The Ethics of Organ Transplants

“Marx wrote about the “fetishism of commodities,” whereby items come to be thought of as having inherent value, as they might have weight or color. The commodity – the object – is decontextualized in a capitalist system, and consumers know little or nothing about the social relations of production or of exchange. As Harvey puts it, “the grapes that sit upon the supermarket shelves are mute, we cannot see the fingerprints of exploitation upon them or tell immediately what part of the world they are from.” (Pg. 48-49).

Context of Excerpt

Margaret Lock discusses the commodification of human body parts and how it complicates the seemingly altruistic world of saving lives through organ donation. She argues that as globalization becomes more common, society must consider more than local values or regulations in determining things such as whether a commodity is ethically obtained or not. There are often so many intermediaries involve that it is too complex to determine a commodities origin, which leaves the door wide open for the exploitation of the poor in developing countries. Human bodies have been historically commodified as slaves or sex laborers, but up until the twentieth century an individual’s body parts had no intrinsic value to anybody but their owner’s. Lock then goes on to discuss that in the United States, body parts can be legally constituted as separate from the person, opening the door for their commodification.

In the excerpt I chose, Marx takes it one step further and points out the dilemma that commodification in general poses, which is that we have no way of knowing whether or not the products we buy were obtained ethically. This becomes an even greater dilemma than, say, that of whether or not your coffee is from workers getting paid a living wage, because in the case of body organ commodification, people’s very lives are at risk.

Doctors Study the Ethics of Transplant Tourism by Dave Parks

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base//living-11/1217742163244430.xml&coll=1

The article by Dave Parks also discusses the moral dilemma involved with the commodification of organs in respect to the global market. Many people are desperately ill and waiting for organ transplants that could save or extend their lives significantly. More and more, a trend is rising in which patients turn to transplant tourism, in which they travel to another part of the world where they can buy an organ, most commonly a kidney. Estimates state the between five and ten percent of organ transplants worldwide are conducted this way. Policy change in India and China has resulted in a serious reduction in the amount of foreign organ transplants in those countries, but Pakistan and the Philippines have now become leading exporters of kidneys.

This is where the ethics comes into play. Logically speaking, you can sell your own property, you can sell your labor, and if you take that one step further, why should you not be able to sell your body parts. The idea is typically that someone in desperate need of money should be able to make an altruistic sacrifice of one of their body parts, usually a kidney, save somebody’s life, and then significantly improve their own life by buying their citizenship or getting themselves out of debt. The problem that Parks points out is that this is not the case. Most of the money from these organ sales ends up going to the middle men who make the deals, and the lives of the people donating the organ are rarely improved. On the contrary, in many cases the organ donor is not provided with proper follow up care and could even die. In China, before serious policy reform it was thought that many organs were coerced out of prisoners.

Even in the U.S., Parks writes, it is debatable whether or not Organ donors are ethically treated. The sale of organs within the U.S. has been outlawed. The result is that the patients get the organs they need, doctors and hospitals get paid, but organ donors and their families get not compensation, not even insurance coverage for health problems they may have years later because of the surgery.

It is thought that if more people within their own country would agree to be organ donors, the illegal trafficking of organs would decline if not disappear entirely. Regardless, the problem of human body parts becoming commodified will still exists and as long as it still exists, there is always the possibility that the system will be abused and that people will be taken advantage of. Only as I said before, this is more serious than people simply getting fair compensation, peoples very lives are at risk. As long as there is the chance that people could die because of a decision to get an organ transplant, the ethics involved are questionable at best and sinister at worst.

(Image courtesy www.inkcinct.com.au)

Text Quote from Twice Dead, Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death by Margaret Lock (c) 2002 by the Regents of the University of California.

Changing Trends in Medicine and Treating Children

“In contrast to previous decades, where socialized medicine attended to the masses, in the 1980’s qigong emerged in response to desires for individualized forms of healing in the face of the changing health care system. It promised release and home: elderly people could attend to their rheumatism or arthritis, long-term sufferers of neurasthenia or chronic pain could seek relief, and even parents of children with congenital disorders could seek help when no other options could be found in either traditional Chinese medicine or biomedicine.” (Pg. 62, Nancy Chen, Breathing Spaces).

Context of Excerpt

This excerpt is from Chapter Three, Riding the Tiger. The chapter discusses how qigong masters became established as medical authorities. They were said to be able to harness tremendous powers, brining longevity, prosperity and superhuman abilities (Chen 61). In a time where government funded medical care was declining due to an increasingly capitalistic government philosophy and a rapidly rising population, which also was leading to rapidly rising medical costs, qigong masters helped to provide alternative healing practices, preventative lifestyles and resurgence in traditional culture. To legitimize these practices, the state government offered qigong licenses, in addition to media exposure.

Weight Drives the Young to Adult Pills, Data Says By STEPHANIE SAUL http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/business/26kidmed.html

The excerpt from Nancy Chen as part of a wider implication she makes, points out that while western medicine was and is to this day widely used in China, it is not without its flaws. High cost, training and education requirements and availability were all challenges that the Chinese government was facing in providing western medicine to its vast population. In addition, western medicine by definition had little connection to the Chinese people’s own cultural heritage and practices. Qigong was an ancient practice used in China that individuals and families could practice on their own, in addition to western medicine and at a significantly lower cost to the government. Noted advantages to the qigong medical practices were its preventative application, cultural promotion and reinforcement, a lower dependence on western medicine and by consequence, a healthier population that required less medicine.

The article by Stephanie Saul, points out one of the major flaws in western medicine that even America is coming to realize. It can’t or rather shouldn’t be used to fix everything. Children as young as 8 are being found to require medication for cholesterol, blood pressure, type II diabetes, acid reflux and other problems that have historically only been health problems for adults. Saul says, “While the drugs do help treat the conditions, some doctors fear they are simply a shortcut fix for a problem better addressed by exercise and diet.” This statement is a sure sign that while western medicine “can” be effectively used to solve many medical problems, it is questionable whether or not it “should” be used so indiscriminately. The idea that we can simply swallow a pill to solve all our problems is fine, until it doesn’t work or makes problems worse.

Eating healthy and exercising have been proven to be effective preventative measures for many serious health problems. Saul says, “Some experts have expressed concern that the increases in many of these obesity-related drugs reflect a systemic failure, with doctors and parents turning to them because they find lifestyle changes too difficult to implement or enforce.” The article goes on to explain that because of this, many companies are working on creating children oriented versions of adult medications meant to treat these “lifestyle and diet” related problems. The real problem seems to be cultural. People are seeking release through television and junk-food, which is being promoted as an acceptable lifestyle in many areas (as seen in Greenville, N.C., an area where 45 percent of the children are overweight). The Chinese government, in openly promoting qigong, succeeded also at promoting a healthier lifestyle, which will likely save the Chinese government a great deal of money and the Chinese people a great deal of hardship.

Saul’s article states that “The argument may be that we know what happens in adults, so the same should happen in children. It’s been proven untrue in several cases in the history of medicine.” In other words, in giving children the same medicines that are prescribed to adults, it may or may not help, and similar to the Chinese herbal remedies, there just isn’t any research available to determine whether or not it is helpful. The Chinese seem to be one step ahead of American’s in realizing that not everything can be cured by a pill. If we continue to live the fast paced, fast food lifestyle, which plays a heavy toll on the body, mind and soul, we will become more and more dependent on medication, which may or may not be effective and due to rising costs is rapidly becoming out of reach of more and more people anyway. American doctors, like the Chinese, recognize that there is a problem with this way of life, but the American doctors are just not sure what to do.

Could a social phenomenon such as qigong take place in America? I think that as health care costs place western medicine out of reach for many average people, people will look towards any alternative to an early grave and we just may see traditional Eastern practices surge in popularity across the U.S.

(Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/l27doctors.html)

Mana, The Tao Te Ching and The Force

“Mana is not simply a force, a being, it is also an action, a quality, a state. In other terms the word is a noun, an adjective and a verb. One says of an object that it is mana, in order to refer to this quality; in this case the word acts as a kind of adjective (it cannot be said of a man). People say that a being, a spirit, a man, a stone or a rite has mana, ‘the mana to do such and such a thing’. The word mana is employed in many different conjugations – it can be used to mean ‘to have mana’, ‘to give mana’. Etc. On the whole, the word covers a host of ideas which we would designate by phrases such as a sorcerer’s power, the magical quality of an object, a magical object, to be magical to possess magical powers, to be under a spell, to act magically. The single word embraces a whole series of notions which, as we have seen, are inter-related but which we have always represented as a separate concepts. It reveals to us what has seemed to be a fundamental feature of magic – the confusion between actor, rite and object.” (Pg. 133-134, Marcel Mauss, A General Theory of Magic).

Context of Excerpt

This excerpt is from Chapter 5, An Analysis and Explanation of Magic, and the section entitled “Mana.” In the prior section Mauss discusses the idea of “spiritual force” having preceded the idea of the soul, as far as magic is concerned. Mauss states that the spiritual nature of magic needs a term to explain “residue” of magic, which will explain the nature of magical beliefs. He then goes on to speak of it as an idea of power, or rather magical potential and magical force of the magician. Mauss builds on this to state that physical force is the cause of apparent movements and magical force is the cause of magical effects, which he describes as illness, death, happiness and health, etc… (Mauss 132). In this force, things happen outside the world of physical sense, “desires and images can be immediately realized,” and although the power is unlimited and the world transcendental, they are still governed by laws. This leads Mauss into the discussion on Mana, further stating that “it invades all magical and religious rites,” gives things and people both religious and social value, and further that a person’s social status directly depends on the strength of his or her mana (Mauss 134).

The Tao Te Ching and Mana

A translation of Lao-tzu’s “Tao Te Ching” can be viewed at http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html

While the Tao Te Ching is much more philosophical than the basic ideas that mana consists of, they both seem to share the concept that they are a sort of essential part of everything. On Pg. 134, Mauss states that “The idea of mana consists of a series of fluid notions which merge into each other” and that it at different times may be a quality, a substance or an activity. “It is described as being powerful or heavy, hot, strange, indelible, resistant, extraordinary, and an essence that may only be handled by individuals who possess mana. Mana is a sort of universal explanation for the force that creates and powers the unknown. Mana seems to be behind everything, but you cannot be mana.

The Tao Te Ching, while being more idealistic and deep, serves a similar purpose. Part four of the Tao Te Ching says of the Tao that “It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.” This also seems to relate to the Mauss idea that mana precedes even the idea of soul.

In part five of the Tao Te Ching, it is said that “The Tao doesn't take sides; it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn't take sides; she welcomes both saints and sinners.” And then in part six it is said that “It is always present within you. You can use it any way you want.” Mauss states on page 117 that a sorcerer’s patient will either be cured or left to die, according to whether his doctor “condemns him to death or pretends to save him.” Action and inaction both seem to hold very strong places in the Tao Te Ching and mana.

Where the Tao Te Ching and the concept of mana really seem to diverge is in the idea of power and control over the Tao, which notably can be used for good or evil, but doesn’t seem to possess magical powers in the same respect as mana. To this, popular media is more than happy to provide an example of Mana in it’s most literal form.

The Force and Mana

The sensationalized concept of The Force, made popular by the Star Wars movies, seems to share much more in common with the concept of mana. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force

A famous quote from Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars states, "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together." Similarly, Mauss states on pg. 137 that mana is an extraneous substance, invisible, marvelous, spiritual, the spirit which contains all efficacy and all life.

Similar to the Tao Te Ching and Mana, the following quote from the fictional Star Wars character Darth Sidious symbolizes the neutrality of the Force. "The reality is that there is only the Force. It is above such petty concepts as positive and negative, black and white, good and evil."

The concept of orenda, another form of Mana discussed by Mauss states that it can be thrown into the air in the form of clouds, bringing forth thunderstorms (Mauss 139). Similarly the Force is used to create lightening, but also to heal and close wounds. The word mana covers a host of ideas which we would designate by phrases such as a sorcerer’s power, to possess powers or to act magically (Mauss 133-134). Mana is also said to be a force, the force of sprit beings, the souls of ancestors and nature sprits (Mauss 135).

Mana and the force are both said to be part of all living things. Chris Knight on the website http://www.theforce.net/midichlorians/midi-what.asp gives a “scientific” examination of the force.

Knight discusses Midi-chlorians, a substance within every person that aids in a persons control and power over the force. Comparatively, a sorcerer or shaman who has a high strength of mana, is very strong in magic, a person with high Midi-chlorians is strong in the force. The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas describes Midi-chlorians as a loose depiction of mitochondria, a necessary component for cells to divide. Knight further adds that mitochondria are essential for cell life and life in general, for without mitochondria plants would not be able to produce oxygen. Knight gives an overwhelming argument for a scientific explanation of the force in terms of mitochondria. He also goes on to argue that they cannot explain the force entirely, because Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader’s son, who did not have as strong a Midi-chlorian count was even stronger in the force. This rings similar to Mauss account that magic, and thus mana, is often genetically transferred from generation to generation.

A final comparison between mana and The Force can be seen in the area of religion versus magic. The website http://www.ooze.com/toolofsatan/ is run by an organization of people who believe the force, like mana, is imaginary and encourages the worship of false idols. It would be hard to argue that it is not imaginary, since it was written as a piece of science fiction, however, Mauss would argue that Mana, in comparison to the Force, is spiritual, sacred, magic and like religion is a game involving value judgments (Mauss 149). At the following website, movies.ign.com, you can download an interview with some of the people that are on both sides of the argument as to whether the force is evil or not. They also argue that we have no solid evidence that the myths and magic of Star Wars are any more or less fact that many of the concepts of Christianity. In response, the anti-Star Wars religious fundamentalists argues that he their knowledge is based in faith.

Here is another link I found in which someone else compares the concept of the force with the Tao Te Ching. http://sci-fi.lovetoknow.com/wiki/The_Tao_of_Yoda

While Mana, The Tao Te Ching and The Force each have their own unique properties, they each represent a symbolic value system involving a force greater than anything humans can physically comprehend, and something that if properly used carries great potential for the good of society.

Mauss, A General Theory of Magic and Interpreting the connection between Woman and Magic

Excerpt

“The same may be said of women. They are everywhere recognized as being more prone to magic than men, not so much because of their physical characteristics, but because of the social attitudes these characteristics provoke. The critical periods of their life cycle lead to bemusement and apprehension, which place them in a special position. And it is precisely at periods such as puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth that a woman’s attributes reach their greatest intensity. It is usually at such times that women are supposed to provide subjects or act as agents for magical action. Old women are witches; virgins are valuable auxiliaries; menstrual blood and other like products are common specifics. Moreover, it is true that women are particularly disposed to hysteria, and their nervous crises make them susceptible to superhuman forces, which endow them with special powers. However, even outside these critical periods, which occupy a not insignificant part of their life, women are the butt of superstitions and jural and religious taboos, which clearly mark them off as a separate class in society. They are made out to be the font of mysterious activities, the sources of magic power. On the other hand, since women are excluded from most religious cults – or if admitted, reduced to a passive role – the only practices left to them on their own initiative are magical ones.” Pg. 35 – Marcel Mauss, A General Theory of Magic).

Context of Excerpt

This excerpt is from Chapter 3, The Elements of Magic and the section entitled “The qualities of a magician. In this section, Mauss discusses the fundamentals of what makes a magician. He states that magicians acquire some skills, inherit others and that some are born with magical skills while other are not. He then states that physically a magician generally looks differently or can be distinguished by some mark or unusual characteristic. He then states that this concept seems to carry over to people across the world, with people treating others differently based on an odd look or “evil eye,” nervous personality or shrill voice. He continues that these things usually make people nervous because they are signs that magicians show when performing ceremonies, going into nervous trances, hysterics, etc.. Any abnormal physiological response or physical trait is viewed as a possible sign of power by both magician and society. Muss then states “They possess magical powers not through their individual peculiarities but as a consequence of society’s attitudes towards them and their kind.” (Mauss 33-35)

From Samantha Stevens to Xena, Warrior Princess Witchcraft and Paganism on American Television article by Jennifer Ricard, paintings by Tamara Guion http://www.mirrorblue.com/annex/pangaia/index.shtml

Jennifer Ricard explores witchcraft and paganism and their exposure to mainstream society through television. In particular she focuses on Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Xena, Warrior Princess. Common themes between Ricard’s writing and the Mauss text in general include “family magic” or the concept of inherited magic, “secret identities,” the idea that purveyors of magic must do so carefully to avoid being ostracized, and being a “fish out of water,” having difficulties relating to or functioning within society.

Both authors touch on the idea that although witches get accused of things such as Satan worshiping, in fact they do not. This is a misunderstanding, when magicians or witches worship or invoke a spirit or god, it is generally symbolic and not personality driven such as the God of Christianity. In the Mauss text, he discusses how women who are forbidden to participate in the functions of their own religion (which is common, especially in Judaism) often have turned to magical and personal expression of their religion.

With Ricard’s article, this seems to ring true. Of the six or so television shows that she covers, nearly every witch, shaman or magician is female. Ricard does not speak to this specifically, but her article is an excellent example of Mauss argument on Pg. 35 of A General Theory of Magic.

Ricard, as opposed to Mauss, takes a modern American perspective on the situation of magic, stating that “Television is often cited as a reflection of society, so perhaps this recent upsurge in magic on television indicates a greater acceptance of Paganism in mainstream culture.” If women are going to be scape-goated for being witches, as Mauss has pointed out, it is probably a good thing that mainstream culture is promoting an idea that, “it’s okay to be a witch.” Most of the women in these television shows are also going through puberty, or post pubescent stages in life that Mauss would say promote intensity and hysteria, making them susceptible to supernatural forces.

Ricard goes through each of the aforementioned television shows and how they portray witchcraft and paganism. Starting with Bewitched, which originally aired in 1964 she states that for the most part witches are portrayed in a good light, although abnormal and often for comic relief. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the 16 year old witch is a fairly normal teenage girl who deals with the fairly normal angst and difficulties of adolescence, which are somewhat different due to her magical lifestyle. This show aired in 1996 and was also greatly for comic relief.

The show Charmed aired in 1998 and was the first television drama dedicated to the concept of the "Good Witch." The story centers on the lives, heartbreaks, and adventures of three sisters who discover that they are legendary protectors of the innocent. Ricard states that their witch skills are hereditary and they are not portrayed as spiritual practitioners so much as genetic freaks, similar to elves or other magical creatures in a fairy tale.

Where Ricard really seems to relate to Mauss, she states that “One problem of many modern real-life witches is addressed in nearly every episode of Charmed - the need for secrecy. The three sisters have "mundane" lives with jobs, friends, and lovers but they must keep these lives completely separate from their true identities as witches. She then goes on to state the three witch sisters are realistic in that they still have to cook, clean and work a day job.

In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, one of Buffy’s strongest allies is Jenny, a “real-life neo-Pagan: intelligent, caring, and wise, yet a regular human being with faults and failures. She does not have the supernatural magical powers attributed to most TV witches. Her magic consists of prayer, healing, and binding.”

Interestingly enough, Buffy The Vampire Slayer presents Wicca as a religion, rather than as a supernatural talent. Mauss himself seems to go back and for on whether or not magic and religion can be one and the same and where science fits into everything is also confusing. In the show Angel, there is a lack of traditional witches, but characters are shown practicing magic that is alchemical in nature, involving the mixing of ingredients but lacking deities of any sort.

In Xena: Warrior Princess, ancient Greek gods and pagan religious practice are accompanied by the Amazons, who seemingly follow a form of shamanism. The Amazons are an all woman society, and likely for their safety reveal very little of their religion in what they do. Xena also seems to mix in elements of science and Christianity, which all surprisingly (if not awkwardly) seem to work together.

Marcel Mauss and Jennifer Ricard may be experts on entirely different areas of magical studies, but the findings are not terribly different. Witches or magicians are everywhere, they are misunderstood and they are often only portrayed as women. The fact that modern media is promoting a positive concept of magic makes me hopeful that one day magicians, witches and anybody else who wants to practice alternate forms of healing practices may be left in peace.