I figured Thanksgiving was the perfect time for this clip from 1973’s movie Sleeper. For those of you who missed it because you were born after the invention of the iPhone, Sleeper is aa Woody Allen movie where the main character is the owner of the Happy Carrot Health-Food store; he is cryogenically frozen and then reawakened 200 years later in a world where he is the only person alive without a known biometric identify.
While the movie is a little dated, it was damn funny at the time. I think it is particularly amusing today considering that everyone is running around trying to establish a biometric identity through quantified self activities or just plain old health plan compliance.
But the most holiday
-appropriate part of the movie is when Mike is unfrozen and being observed by scientists. He is running around and the clinicians are watching him through the glass and discussing his eating habits. One could only wish that what the scientists say about nutrition are true on a day like today, where deep fats, cream pies and their high cholesterol friends are heavy on the menu. Enjoy the quick 1 minute clip and I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs4b3Fm5ymI
So, Lisa…given that we’re talking about Happy Carrots and Woody Allen (and a dude who’s cryogenically frozen), here’s a story for you:
Back when I was in high school (?), my American History / Civics teacher gave us an assignment to go out and find a movie that made a profound statement about American politics through film. Some people chose “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” others chose “The American President” or “Dave” (both excellent choices). I chose “The Distinguished Gentleman,” and I will never forget just how SPOT ON Eddie Murphy got it. But it wasn’t the saccharin gloss that no one cares about deep-down; it was the soddy, shady, back-room stuff; this was a political version of “Trading Places,” and he’s been hard-pressed to do better.
I got to thinking, in light of your post, whether a corollary exists in the healthcare world — has anyone made a film that just HIT IT. A movie that gets the gross and the ridiculous and the commiserable and packages it in the patina of comedy, so that those of us who live and breathe (and sweat and bleed) healthcare / health IT would look at it and say “WHOA, I KNOW people who do that…or who are running startups designed to fix that!”
Turns out, there IS such a movie, and if you haven’t seen it already, it’s worth showing off to your Berkeley class (or something). Am I ashamed to say that it’s on my favorites list? Not a chance. 🙂 Is it going to win awards anytime soon? Not a chance.
And so, without further ado, I bring you the World’s Most Prescient Clip from “Idiocracy.” ENJOY — and Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.
~ Jonathon
P.S. Spoiler Alert: There is definitely a plotline that deals with cryogenics in this movie, too….wouldn’t it be ironic if the filmmakers were inspired by “Sleeper” after all?
This is the clip you were trying to include https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkPGlVqqEP0