A matter of life and death: Imploring film to elucidate the relationship between chronic illness and death

Abstract

Despite chronic illness being widespread and increasing in prevalence, curricula largely avoid preparing learners to navigate chronic, often life-threatening, conditions in their daily lives or to prepare learners for the implications of these conditions. In this paper, I begin by discussing an exchange about chronic illness and death that I recently had with a student I called Maya (a pseudonym). I consider how my conversation with Maya reoriented my thinking on the relationship between chronic illness and death. I next illustrate that reorientation in thinking by discussing death’s representation in film, which I propose as a viable means forward for elucidating the relationship between death and chronic illness for others.