Personal context
One of the most significant philosophers in the mediaeval times is Ibn Sina as it is recorded in the film and the novel The physician. The novel and the film depicts Sina as having great knowledge in diverse fields including mathematics, chemistry an physics that makes him ranked among the most famous Islamic scientist. In the movies, one is taken aback to the ancient ways of handling pain and diseases like a tooth ache. How could they perform surgical operations such removing the appendix without the sophisticated tools is fascinating. Sina had diagnosed and attempted to treat diseases that had not been known before his time.
In the movie, Rob Cole had heard the positive things about Sina-“The Prince of physicians,” who cured peculiar conditions and was free enough to teach others what he had discovered. Cole having not been involved in the Christian-Muslim war and he being a Christian decided to travel as Jew in order to protect himself from the vagaries of the war to learn from Sina. Jews had no problem with the Muslims at this time and, therefore, coexisted in harmony.
The surprising part of the movie is how close it comes to resemble the history of medicine. It shows how ancient people could drink something that tasted bad to induce vomiting as a means of healing. It also has multiples storylines in that it shows the origin of conflicts of the Muslims and Christians and also the passion and zeal of seeking knowledge. The storyline shows Cole even falling in love with a Spanish girl. The movie is well choreographed and easy to understand.
Cultural context
Analyzing The physician with keen eye on the cultural context, one see how the community strived to find a solution to the Black Death that improved the general life in the community. Moreover, the culture of passing information from one generation to another is brought out well. Sina had realized that his work might disappear if he never passed it to the people. He wanted the people to know that they ought not to fear life or death as death is a must-occur to all humans.
Sina saved all the data he had found and made sure that the community was well-informed on how to protect itself from diseases. Such created a change in the way the people lived since they were empowered on how to be safe from various diseases. Since the fear of diseases was no more courtesy of Sina’s discoveries, the productivity of the people increased. At this time, the society was suffering greatly from the plague transmitted by fleas from rats and mice. For this reason, Sina had realized that the best way to stop the plague was to kill the mice and rats that were hosting large number of the fleas that transmitted the plague and also to burn bodies of the victim who had the plague. Educating the people brought changes on their relationships since they had found a common way of fighting the diseases.
Social context
Religion guides the consciousness of the adherents and hence it helps in stopping of the criminal activities. Religious beliefs define the societal norms and what is considered as good or bad. It is also of significant importance in creating nations as the leaders would require the citizens to fight to protect their land and nation. The movie shows how society unites towards solving common problem through focusing on the problem and devising means to end it. The ideas used are also common all over the word in fighting mysterious diseases i.e. destroying the transmitters of the pathogens.
Work cited
Social.” Oxford Dictionary. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
< http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/social>.
Technological context
Technological inventions from scientific studies have both negative and positive effects on the society (Neumann and Tunis 378). In the Movie The physician, the medical technology is shown and its role in solving mysterious problems. The technological invention results from sacrifice of some members in the society whose passion leads to the discoveries. It is basing on this that Cole after watching his mother die of the mysterious illness, vowed to become a medical doctor. He joined one of the barber surgeons as an apprentice where he learned mediaeval medical practices of cupping and teeth extraction. The barber developed a cataract that was difficult to treat until Cole found help from a Jewish doctor. After learning about Ibn Sina, Cole travelled to gather more knowledge on medical field. He was able to perform autopsy and learned about appendectomy in the process. He used this procedure to treat others, Science deviates from n norms as it is indicated by Cole’s ambition.
Work cited
Neumann, P. J., & Tunis, S. R. (2010). Medicare and medical technology—the growing demand for relevant outcomes. New England Journal of Medicine,362(5), 377-379.
Historical context
Historically, the movies is set about one thousand years ago depicting the Viking era. The movie shows the norms of the times that were mainly religious other than scientific. The foretelling tendencies of the ancient communities based on observations are well brought out in the movie. In fact, the movie is based on traditional tales of those times (George 12). The foretelling skill came to be modeled in scientific fields as prediction methods on trends or phenomena. Religious beliefs also are significant in some regions in the world. The religious conflict evident today perhaps could have their roots during the time the movie was made.
Work cited
George, Mentriz. "RTL Group." 6 January 2014. 8 October 2014
Psychological context
Psychology, the human mental activities, is also depicted in the movie. There are scenes and acts that have some profound psychological effects in terms of awareness and motivation. Death is one of the most emotional issues affecting human beings. Cole’s Mother’s death is associated with hopelessness, mental anguish and destitution. The cruelty of death hand the negative impacts on the society is depicted by the hopelessness that affects Cole. Death may lead to misconceptions as many movies depict the theme (Niemiec and Schulenberg (2010, 387).
The anxiety associated with death and life after is not easy. One can psychologically relate with the movies since it is common occurrence what happened to Cole’s Mother and her death. Misconceptions and stereotypes about communities are brought out clearly. Cole had to circumcise himself so as to be admitted on the in a Jewish school on top of taking a Jewish identity showing how Jews viewed others as lesser humans and did not want to mingle with them. The movie creates a positive view on life and diseases, and resilience that Cole had. Cole’s intrinsic motivation and resilience in life can be considered as having positive impacts in life. Religious beliefs and the religious beliefs and how they control the society are depicted in the movie.
Work cited
Niemiec, R. & Schulenberg S. (2010). Understanding Death Attitudes: The Integration of Movies, Positive Psychology, and Meaning Management. Death Studies, 35: 5, 387-407.
