Ever got home from a hard day’s work at the office or library and thought “I wish population health would take up more of my time”? No, me neither. Non-academic portrayals of public health issues by the mainstream media are important though, given they’re likely to reach a much bigger audience than anything popping up on PubMed. Below is a select list of films and documentaries recommended by Prachi Bhatnagar, should you ever decide you need a little bit more population health in your life. Keep an eye out for our ‘media monthly’ review posts too.
Films
This is a classic, demonstrating just how bad fast-food can be for our bodies. ‘Supersize me’ follows a man who decides to eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days – ‘supersizing’ his meal whenever he is given the option. The results speak for themselves.
This follows an Australian actor who adds sugar into his currently sugar-free diet through only eating ‘healthy’ foods. i.e. no, chocolate, ice-cream, sweets, biscuits etc. We watch him suffer the effects of all that added sugar and it’s an entertaining and informative watch.
Wall-E isn’t a film about health, but it shows just where we could head as a society if we were to let ourselves just be passive receivers of information. I love this film about a ditzy garbage-collecting robot, but I’ve always thought it has a brilliant health message in it too.
An entertaining and terrifying peek into what might happen if a lethal virus were to spread throughout the world – and what the public health response might look like.
This film gives a fascinating insight into the workings behind the tobacco industry, how they promote their products, and just how scarily good they can be at that job.
Follows the story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic – and the politics that went with it.
Sea of Change
This is an amateur film that is very worth watching. ‘Shared spaces’ are becoming more common in the UK, and involve the blurring of pavements and roads to slow traffic down. This film shows just how dangerous it is for the blind and partially sighted, and how their needs were disregarded.
Miss Representation
How women are portrayed in the media and the effect it has on how women are viewed. I haven’t seen it yet, but The Mask You Live In also explores how the masculine identity affects boys in America. Gender affects so much of our lives, mental and physical health included, these films make us aware of that.
TV Documentaries (available on Netflix)
Cooked
‘When we learned to cook is when we became truly human’. A brilliant documentary series by Micheal Pollan about cooking with real food and regaining our connection to it. I have to admit a bias here, because I love Michael Pollan.
An interesting look at what happens when some meat-addicted New Yorkers agree to become vegan for 6 weeks. More about the food industry than health per-se, but worth watching in my opinion.
Follows a guy in poor health who decides to go on a juice fast for 60 days to kick-start his health. I don’t necessarily recommend what he does, but I certainly found it thought-provoking.
UK TV programmes
(These might not be available to watch)
A Channel 4 series exploring how our food is produced. Do you know what you’re eating?
A BBC series presented by doctors aiming to answer health questions.
A light-hearted look at the ageing process. Can we prevent ageing and stave off all the diseases that come with it?
We stole this blog post from Prachi Bhatnagar, who has her very own public health blog. Thanks for letting us share it on here, Prachi!
What to read next
Readers' recommendations: books, podcasts, blogs, videos
12 August 2020
We asked you (our wonderful readers and community) for recommendations… books, articles, podcasts and more, broadly related to population health and epidemiology. Here’s what you said.