Voyeur

Look, I admit it - I am addicted to tacky cheesy television. I have a particular fondness for shows which involve Swedish vets or randy incarcerated strangers. I've even thought of making my own fly on the wall docusoap. My idea is to strap a video camera on to the forehead of my friend's baby to get a baby's eye view of the world and leave it attached until puberty. I think that this would be an invaluable sociological experiment as well as making fantastic viewing. Unfortunately, the baby's parents are not yet overenthused about the idea.

I wonder what it is about voyeuristic programmes that make them so compelling. Perhaps it is because we now live in such a fragmented society, where although we do not talk to our neighbours we feel emotionally closer to ordinary people we see on the television. It is a strange paradox that those physically close to us are probably the ones with whom we are the most distant. I remember watching Princess Diana's funeral and feeling really appalled when a man in the crowd was interviewed and said that he cried at her funeral but did not shed a tear when his own father passed away.

I think that the real reason that these shows are so popular is because we all have an innate curiosity about other people and judge ourselves against others. So by gawping at the weaknesses of others, we can at least say, "Well, at least my life is not as sad as theirs." And so in a complex way this confirmation that others can be vulnerable too may be a reason that medical dramas have also been so popular. There is nothing more voyeuristic as medicine, and as medical students we are probably the biggest voyeurs of them all. We are forced into watching people when they are at their weakest. Watching.

A few months ago when I spent a short stint in hospital I remember feeling incredibly exposed. I think the last thing that I would have needed was a few sympathetically nodding medical students to share my pain. On the other hand, if I had a camera attached to my head the whole experience would have been a lot more bearable.

Debashis Singh, final year medical student, University of Leicester
Email: debsingh@hotmail.com


studentBMJ 2001;09:129-170 May ISSN 0966-6494