Unnatural Causes: In Sickness And In Wealth: Film Analysis

The topic I have chosen to write about was brought to my attention in class on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. In class that particular day we had a pair present their In the News article and then we watched a film titled Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and In Wealth. The main ideas and arguments presented were what factors cause us to become ill. It specifically focuses on the relationship between the likelihood of developing a sickness and where we fall on the social class ladder. The film followed the lives of four people. They all lived in different areas of Louisville, Kentucky. This clearly portrayed that they all belonged to a different social class and that class has a strong effect on health. Those at the top of the ladder and known

Those at the bottom of the ladder known as the lower class have poor health. They have poor health because they do not have the money to afford these health services. They have other concerns such as money to pay for food, housing, family, and other bills they may need to pay. Health care access cannot be made a high enough priority to be accounted for. The middle class is also struggling. Some may afford health care, but not all. The relationship presented in the film was that good health equals wealth. Data was displayed showing the life expectancy age from each class and how it decreases moving down the ladder. The film discusses how stress affects our bodies too. Stress can lead to disease. The middle and lower class may be more stressed because of their jobs. They have challenging jobs that are stressful and that do not pay enough for them to pay their bills. This stress and their behaviors can cause disease such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. The film showed that the United States compared to other countries had very poor health and broad range of income

It showed us how we fall on the ladder in relations to other countries. We have many high class and low class citizens. Some have careers that provide them to be very well off and some are unemployed and struggling to just get by. Our health is poorer than many countries some of which are much less financially stable than us. The income inequity that is clearly made aware to us from statistics on social class is larger than almost all other countries. We have learned in class that global health deals with politics and money. This concept just reiterates the fact that good health equals wealth. I think it was an excellent topic chosen for the class to explore because this is the current generation and country we are living in. There is a strong chance we will continue to live here and it is interesting and important to know how we line up with other countries to see how we are doing in certain categories. It personally greatly surprised me how there is a huge different in income inequity. I knew there are different classes and that some people have a greater salary than others, but I honestly can say I did not know how extreme the problem actually is. We have citizens who are living in very poor conditions and it is not just a handful of people. They certainly make up a large enough amount of the population that more awareness