Health education films in the twentieth century

Christian Bonah (1) , Anja Laukötter (1)

1 SAGE - Sociétés, Acteurs, Gouvernement en Europe

During the twentieth century, film came to be seen as a revolutionary technology that could entertain, document, instruct, and transform a mass audience. In the fields of medicine and public health, doctors, educators, health advocates, and politicians were especially enthusiastic about the potential of the motion picture for communicating about health-related topics, including sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, tuberculosis, smoking, alcoholism, and contraception. Focusing on the period from the 1910s to the 1960s, this book is the first collection to examine the history of the public health education film in Europe and North America. It explores how a variety of commercial, governmental, medical, and public health organizations in Europe and North America turned to movies to educate the public, reform their health behaviors, and manage their anxieties and hopes about health, illness, and medical and public health interventions. Moreover, by looking at categories of movies as well as individual examples, the book tackles questions of the representativeness of individual films and the relationship between the public health film and other forms of motion picture.

Domaines: Histoire

Christian Bonah, Anja Laukötter. Health education films in the twentieth century. Health education films in the twentieth century, 2018, Rochester Studies in Medical History, 9781580469166. ⟨hal-03254545⟩