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I’m due for a cervical cancer screening. What can I expect? Can I do it myself? And what happened to Pap smears?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-canfell-22668">Karen Canfell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/deborah-bateson-16105">Deborah Bateson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/megan-smith-131901">Megan Smith</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p>Cervical screening in Australia has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34499374/">changed</a> over the past seven years. The test has changed, and women (and people with a cervix) now have much more choice and control. Here’s why – and what you can expect if you’re aged 25 to 74 and are <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/national-cervical-screening-program">due for a test</a>.</p> <h2>When and why did the test change?</h2> <p>In 2017, Australia became one of the first two countries to transition from Pap smears to tests for the presence of the human papillomavirus (HPV).</p> <p>HPV causes virtually all cervical cancers, so testing for the presence of this virus is a very good indicator of a person’s current and future risk of the disease.</p> <p>This contrasts with the older Pap smear technology, which involved inspection of cells every two years for the changes resulting from HPV infection.</p> <p>The change to screening was supported by a very large body of <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62218-7/abstract">international</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002388">Australian</a> data showing primary testing for HPV is more accurate than Pap smears.</p> <p>Women and people with a cervix who do not have HPV detected on their test are at a very low risk of developing cervical cancer over the next five years, or even longer. This was the basis for lengthening the screening interval when HPV screening was introduced.</p> <p>Australia now <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/national-cervical-screening-program">recommends</a> five-yearly HPV screening, starting at age 25 up to the age of 74 for eligible people, whether or not they have been vaccinated against HPV. Many other countries are following suit to transition to HPV screening.</p> <p>All established screening tests – which are conducted in people without any symptoms – are associated with health benefits but also with some harms. These can include the psychological and clinical consequences of receiving a “positive” screening result, which needs to be investigated further.</p> <p>However, recent World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr2030640">reviews of the evidence</a> have found:</p> <ul> <li>HPV is a more effective screening test than Pap smears or any other method</li> <li>it substantially reduces incidence and death rates from cervical cancer</li> <li>it is the method of cervical screening that has the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02600-4">best balance</a> of benefits to harms.</li> </ul> <p>As a consequence, the WHO now unequivocally <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240030824">recommends</a> HPV screening as the best-practice method.</p> <h2>Now you can collect your own sample</h2> <p>One of the major benefits of switching to HPV screening is it opened the door for a person being able to <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/self-collection-for-the-cervical-screening-test">collect their own sample</a> (which was impossible with the Pap smear). If HPV is present, it can be detected in the vagina rather than having to directly sample the cervix.</p> <p>In 2022, Australia became one of the <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/landmark-changes-improving-access-to-life-saving-cervical-screenings">first countries</a> in the world to introduce a universal option to choose self-collection within a major national-level screening program. This means people eligible for screening, under the guidance of a primary care practitioner, can now choose to collect their own vaginal sample, in privacy, using a simple swab.</p> <p>By the end of 2023, <a href="https://www.ncsr.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media/self-collection-for-cervical-screening--at-an-all-time-high.html">27% of people</a> were choosing to take the test this way, but this is on an upward trajectory and is likely to increase further, with an <a href="https://acpcc.org.au/self-collection-campaign/">awareness campaign</a> due to start next month.</p> <h2>So what happens when I have a test?</h2> <p>You’ll receive an invitation from the <a href="https://www.ncsr.gov.au/information-for-participants/participant-forms-and-guides.html#cervical-forms">National Cancer Screening Register</a> to attend your first screen when you turn 25. If you’re older, you’ll receive reminders when you are due for your next test. You will be invited to visit your GP or community health service for the test.</p> <p>You should be asked whether you would prefer to have a clinician collect the test or whether you would prefer to take the sample yourself.</p> <p>There’s no right or wrong way. The accuracy of testing has been <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4823">shown</a> to be equivalent for clinician or self-collected sampling. This is a matter of choice.</p> <p>If the clinician does the test, they will undertake a pelvic examination with a speculum inserted into the vagina. This enables the doctor or nurse to view the cervix and take a sample.</p> <p>If you are interested in the self-collection option, check whether the practice is offering it when making an appointment.</p> <p>If you opt for self-collection, you’ll be able to do so in private. You’ll be given a swab (which looks like a COVID test swab with a longer stem), and you’ll be given instructions about how to insert and rotate the swab in the vagina to take the sample. It takes only a few minutes.</p> <h2>What does it mean if my test detects HPV?</h2> <p>If your test detects HPV, this means you have an HPV infection. These are very common and by itself doesn’t mean you have cancer, or even pre-cancer (which involves changes to cervical cells that make them more likely to develop into cancer over time).</p> <p>It does mean, however, that you are at higher risk of having a pre-cancer, or developing one in future, and that you will benefit from further follow-up or diagnostic testing. Your doctor or nurse will <a href="https://www.cancer.org.au/clinical-guidelines/cervical-cancer/cervical-cancer-screening">guide you</a> on the next steps in line with national guidelines.</p> <p>If you require a diagnostic examination, this will involve a procedure called colposcopy, where the cervix is closely examined by a gynaecologist or other specially trained healthcare practitioner, and a small sample may be taken for detailed examination of the cells.</p> <p>If you have a pre-cancer, you can be treated simply and quickly, usually without needing to be admitted to hospital. Treatment involves ablating or removing a small area of the cervix. This treatment will drastically reduce your risk of ever developing cervical cancer.</p> <h2>What does this mean for cervical cancer rates?</h2> <p>Cervical screening for HPV is a very effective method of preventing cervical cancer. Because of Australia’s HPV screening, combined with HPV vaccination in younger people, Australia is <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30183-X/fulltext">expected</a> to achieve such low rates of cervical cancer by 2035 that it will be considered eliminated.</p> <p>Last year, the government launched a <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-11/national-strategy-for-the-elimination-of-cervical-cancer-in-australia.pdf">national strategy for cervical cancer elimination</a> which provides key recommendations for eliminating cervical cancer, and for doing so equitably in all groups of women and people with a cervix.</p> <p>One of the best things you can do to protect yourself is to have your cervical screening test when you become eligible, whether or not you have been vaccinated against HPV.</p> <p><em>Marion Saville, a pathologist and Executive Director at the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer, co-authored this article.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/229495/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-canfell-22668"><em>Karen Canfell</em></a><em>, Professor &amp; Director, Daffodil Centre, A Joint Venture with Cancer Council NSW, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/deborah-bateson-16105">Deborah Bateson</a>, Professor of Practice, The Daffodil Centre, a joint venture with Cancer Council NSW, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/megan-smith-131901">Megan Smith</a>, Principal Research Fellow, The Daffodil Centre, a joint venture with Cancer Council NSW, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-due-for-a-cervical-cancer-screening-what-can-i-expect-can-i-do-it-myself-and-what-happened-to-pap-smears-229495">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Body

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Craig McLachlan set to return to Aussie screens

<p>Six years after being "crucified" in the public eye, Craig McLachlan is set to make his return to Aussie screens. </p> <p>The 58-year-old was unexpectedly approached by movie producers who asked him to star in a new feature film, almost seven years since his last on-screen project. </p> <p>Speaking exclusively with <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13716307/Craig-McLachlan-Neighbours-Rocky-Horror-comeback-movie.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Daily Mail Australia</em></a>, McLachlan said his return to the big screen had helped him deal with the "poisonous hate" that had eaten away at him since he was hounded out of the industry six years ago.</p> <p>In 2018, McLachlan was forced to quit his leading role as Frank-N-Furter in a 2018 production of <em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</em> after three of his former female co-stars accused him of serious inappropriate behaviour while performing alongside him four years earlier.</p> <p>The former <em>Neighbours</em> star was charged with 13 offences of assault and indecent assault after Victoria Police investigated the allegations but he was ultimately acquitted on all counts following a four-week trial in December 2020.</p> <p>Now, McLachlan candidly admitted that he was unlikely to ever find it in his heart to forgive the former co-stars who accused him of sexual harassment, and that he still blames them for "ruining" his life.</p> <p>"Here's the thing: hate is a poisonous thing. You have to get rid of the hate – and I've done that," he said.</p> <p>"Forgiveness is a different story. That’s hard s**t to do."</p> <p>McLachlan said he had "fallen out of love" with show business after his "public crucifixion" but decided to accept the role after discussing the opportunity with long-term partner Vanessa Scammell. </p> <p>"I only just went and met with the producers and the director last week and agreed to do it," he said.</p> <p>"I wasn't expecting to be approached about a return to acting… and certainly not about signing on to do a film – it was a complete surprise."</p> <p>"But it's a fantastic Australian production and Vanessa and I sat down and discussed it - and talked about whether it was the right thing for both of us. When you've had your life destroyed like mine has been, you need to take a little time to rest and recalibrate."</p> <p>"I haven't rushed into anything. I needed to think about what we wanted to do and what - physically - I could do. And we decided this was the right thing for us."</p> <p>McLachlan, who has been in therapy since the allegations first came to light, said he was grateful for his partner's support during the difficult few years, and is happy to be making his return to screen with a new lease on life. </p> <p>"When the s**t kicks off in the media, people start running for cover and they're afraid to put their heads up to support you publicly because they're worried about them getting chopped off," he said. </p> <p>"I'll be forever grateful to those people who did stand by me – people like Vanessa – who helped me keep going."</p> <p>"Irrespective of what anyone has ever said or alleged about me, nothing I do or say would ever be done intentionally to make anyone else feel uncomfortable. I know that’s not who I am."</p> <p>"But as for forgiveness? Ask me again about forgiveness a little further down the track."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Movies

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Does screen use really impact our thinking skills? Our analysis suggests it could

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michoel-moshel-1433565">Michoel Moshel</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jennifer-batchelor-1485101">Jennifer Batchelor</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joanne-bennett-1485102">Joanne Bennett</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wayne-warburton-402810">Wayne Warburton</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></p> <p>Screens have become seamlessly integrated into our daily lives, serving as indispensable tools for work, education and leisure. But while they enrich our lives in countless ways, we often fail to consider the potential impact of screen time on our cognitive abilities.</p> <p>In a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11065-023-09612-4">new meta-analysis</a> of dozens of earlier studies, we’ve found a clear link between disordered screen use and lower cognitive functioning.</p> <p>The findings suggest we should exercise caution before advocating for more screen time, and before introducing screens into even more aspects of daily life.</p> <h2>Young people’s screen time is increasing</h2> <p>In 2020, a UNSW Gonski Institute for Education report <a href="https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/UNSW%20GIE%20GUD%20Phase%201%20Technical%20Report%20MAR20%20v2.pdf">noted a concerning statistic</a>: about 84% of Australian educators believe digital technologies are distracting in a learning environment.</p> <p>And according to the ABC, a recent Beyond Blue <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-18/mental-health-depression-anxiety-support-coming-for-schools/102831464">survey</a> of Australian teachers identified excessive screen time as the second-most significant challenge for young people, just behind mental health issues.</p> <p>Despite mounting concerns, more than half of Australian schools have embraced a “<a href="https://www.linewize.io/anz/blog/the-rise-of-byod-in-australian-schools">bring your own device</a>” policy. Students are spending more time online than <a href="https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/students-computers-and-learning_9789264239555-en#page46">ever before</a> and starting at increasingly younger ages. A 2021 report by <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/8-18-census-integrated-report-final-web_0.pdf">Common Sense Media</a> estimated tweens spend an average of 5 hours and 33 minutes using screen-based entertainment each day, while teenagers devote a whopping 8 hours and 39 minutes.</p> <p>A surge in screen use has led to some individuals, including children, adolescents and adults, developing screen-related addictions. One example is gaming disorder, for which <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004867420962851">2–3% of people</a> meet the criteria.</p> <h2>What is ‘disordered screen use’?</h2> <p>The impact of screens on our cognitive abilities – that is, our thinking skills such as attention, memory, language and problem-solving – has sparked much debate.</p> <p>On one hand, some researchers and reporters claim screen use can have negative effects, such as <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-12701-3">health problems</a>, shortened attention <a href="https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/">spans</a> and hindered <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312489265_The_relationship_between_television_exposure_and_children's_cognition_and_behaviour_A_systematic_review">development</a>.</p> <p>On the other, schools are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/tech-takeover-classrooms-crowded-with-digital-devices-20200125-p53ul1.html">increasingly adopting</a> technology to boost student engagement. Tech companies are also marketing their products as tools to help you enhance your problem-solving and memory skills.</p> <p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11065-023-09612-4">recent study</a> sought to understand the potential cognitive consequences of “disordered screen-related behaviours”. This is a broad category of problematic behaviours that may include screen dependency, and persisting with screen use even when it’s harmful.</p> <p>We conducted a meta-analysis of 34 studies that explored various forms of screen use (including gaming, internet browsing, smartphone use and social media use) and compared the cognitive performance of individuals with disordered screen use to those without it.</p> <p>Our findings paint a concerning picture.</p> <h2>Differences in cognitive function</h2> <p>Across these rigorously peer-reviewed studies, individuals with disordered screen use consistently demonstrated significantly poorer cognitive performance compared to others.</p> <p>The most affected cognitive domain was attention, and specifically sustained attention, which is the ability to maintain focus on an unchanging stimulus for an extended period.</p> <p>The second-most notable difference was in their “executive functioning” – particularly in impulse control, which is the ability to control one’s automatic responses.</p> <p>Interestingly, the type of screen activity didn’t make a difference in the results. The trend also wasn’t confined to children, but was observed across all age groups.</p> <h2>Two ways to interpret the results</h2> <p>Why do people with disordered screen-related behaviours have poorer cognitive functioning?</p> <p>The first explanation is that disordered screen use actually leads to poorer cognitive function, including poorer attention skills (but we’ll need more experimental and longitudinal studies to establish causality).</p> <p>If this is the case, it may be the result of being constantly bombarded by algorithms and features designed to capture our attention. By diverting our focus outward, screen use may weaken one’s intrinsic ability to concentrate over time.</p> <p>Crucially, impaired attention also <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/10/1/article-p77.xml">makes it harder to disengage</a> from addictive behaviours, and would therefore make it harder to recognise when screen use has become a problem.</p> <p>The second explanation is that people who already have poorer cognitive functioning (such as less inhibitory control) are more likely to engage in disordered screen use.</p> <p>This could be a result of the plethora of addictive cues designed to keep us glued to our screens. Being bombarded by these could make it harder to <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/9/4/article-p990.xml">pull the brakes</a> on screen use.</p> <p>Although the literature doesn’t seem to favour this explanation – and does seem to suggest that cognitive functioning is impaired as a result of disordered screen use – it’s still a possibility we can’t rule out.</p> <p>Attention is the bedrock of everyday tasks. People with weakened attention may struggle to keep up in less stimulating environments, such as a static workplace or classroom. They may find themselves turning to a screen as a result.</p> <p>Similarly, people with less inhibitory control would also find it more challenging to moderate their screen use. This could be what drives them towards problematic screen-related behaviours in the first place.</p> <h2>Who should shoulder the responsibility?</h2> <p>Research indicates people with impaired cognitive functioning usually aren’t as well equipped to moderate their own screen time.</p> <p>Many users with disordered screen use are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563220302326?casa_token=BQv_N_MFffYAAAAA:AsGkAfdwXjCZHJB463G40Mx-ckS2Q1c8jSOn2SWR_9iW64eWaQsru1IJAZBDCgSPXwhZ3Qwl">young</a>, with mainly males engaging in internet gaming and mainly females engaging in social media use. Neurodiverse people are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5587">also at greater risk</a>.</p> <p>Tech companies are driven by the goal of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/18/netflix-competitor-sleep-uber-facebook">capturing our attention</a>. For instance, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings acknowledged the company’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/18/netflix-competitor-sleep-uber-facebook">most formidable competitor was sleep</a>.</p> <p>At the same time, researchers find themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of technological innovation. A potential path forward is to encourage open-access data policies from tech companies, so researchers can delve deeper into the study of screen use and its effect on individuals. <!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216828/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michoel-moshel-1433565">Michoel Moshel</a>, PhD/Masters Clinical Neuropsychology Candidate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jennifer-batchelor-1485101">Jennifer Batchelor</a>, Associate Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joanne-bennett-1485102">Joanne Bennett</a>, Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-catholic-university-747">Australian Catholic University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wayne-warburton-402810">Wayne Warburton</a>, Associate Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-screen-use-really-impact-our-thinking-skills-our-analysis-suggests-it-could-216828">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Mind

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Breast cancer screening in Australia may change. Here’s what we know so far

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brooke-nickel-200747">Brooke Nickel</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katy-bell-134554">Katy Bell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p>The way women are screened for breast cancer in Australia may <a href="https://www.cancer.org.au/about-us/policy-and-advocacy/early-detection/breast-cancer/rosa/key-findings">change</a>.</p> <p>There’s international debate on the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q1353">age</a> women should be invited for screening. But an even larger change being considered worldwide is whether to screen women at <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-021-01550-3">high and low risk</a> of breast cancer differently.</p> <p>But what such a “risk-based” approach to screening might look like in Australia is not yet clear.</p> <p>Here’s why researchers and public health officials are floating a change to breast cancer screening in Australia, and what any changes might mean.</p> <h2>Why breast cancer screening may need to change</h2> <p>Mass screening (known as population-based screening) for breast cancer was introduced in Australia and many other developed countries in the 1980s and 90s.</p> <p>This was based on <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26756588/">robust research</a> that found early detection and treatment of cancers before there were symptoms prevented some women from dying from breast cancer.</p> <p>These programs offer regular breast cancer screening to women within a specific age group. For example, <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer-screening/national-cancer-screening-programs-participation/contents/breastscreen-australia">in Australia</a>, women aged 40-74 years can have free mammograms (x-rays of the breasts) every two years. The BreastScreen program sends invitations for screening to those aged 50-74.</p> <p>However, evidence has been mounting that mammography screening could be inadvertently causing <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61611-0/abstract">harm</a> for some women.</p> <p>For some, screening causes a false alarm that may cause anxiety, and unnecessary tests and procedures. Even though these tests rule out cancer, these women may remain anxious and perceive something is wrong <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e072188">for many years</a>.</p> <p>A more insidious harm is <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-warning-signs-of-overdiagnosis-110895">overdiagnosis</a>, where screening detects a non-growing or slow-growing lesion that looks like “cancer” under the microscope, but would not have progressed or caused harm if it had been left alone. This means some women are having unnecessary surgery, radiotherapy and hormone therapy that will not benefit them, but may harm.</p> <p>Although trials have shown screening reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer, questions are being raised about how much it <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6080.abstract">saves lives overall</a>. That is, it’s uncertain how much the reduced risk of dying from breast cancer translates into improvements in a woman’s overall survival.</p> <h2>How about better targeting women?</h2> <p>One idea is to target screening to those most likely to benefit. Under such a “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-021-01550-3">risk-based</a>” approach, a women’s personal risk of breast cancer is estimated. This may be based on her age and many other factors that may include breast density, family history of breast cancer, body-mass index, genetics, age she started and stopped her periods, and the number of children she’s had.</p> <p>Women who are at higher risk would be recommended to start screening at a younger age and to screen more frequently or to use different, more sensitive, imaging tests. Women at lower risk would be recommended to start later and to screen less often.</p> <p>The idea of this more “precise” approach to screening is to direct efforts and resources towards the smaller number of women most likely to benefit from screening via the early detection of cancer.</p> <p>At the same time, this approach would reduce the risk of harm from false positives (detection of an anomaly but no cancer is present) and overdiagnosis (detection of a non-growing or slow-growing cancer) for the larger number of women who are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6230256/">unlikely to benefit</a>.</p> <p>On face value this sounds like a good idea, and could be a favourable change for breast cancer screening.</p> <h2>But there’s much we don’t know</h2> <p>However, it’s uncertain how this would play out in practice. For one thing, someone’s future risk of a cancer diagnosis includes the risk of detecting both <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/m17-2792">overdiagnosed cancers</a> as well as potentially lethal ones. This is proving to be a problem in risk-based screening for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41698-022-00266-8">prostate cancer</a>, another cancer prone to overdiagnosis.</p> <p>Ideally, we’d want to predict someone’s risk of <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(23)00113-9/fulltext">potentially lethal cancers</a> as these are the ones we want to catch early.</p> <p>It is also still uncertain how many women found to be at <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31701797/">low risk</a> will accept a recommendation for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23092125/">less screening</a>.</p> <p>These uncertainties mean we need robust evidence the benefits outweigh the harms for Australian women before we make changes to the breast cancer screening program.</p> <p>There are several international <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-021-01550-3">randomised controlled trials</a> (the gold standard for research) under way to evaluate the effectiveness of risk-based screening compared to current practice. So it may be prudent to wait for their findings before making changes to policy or practice.</p> <p>Even if such trials did give us robust evidence, there are still a number of issues to address before implementing a risk-based approach.</p> <p>One key issue is having enough staff to run the program, including people with the skills and time to discuss with women any concerns they have about their calculated risk.</p> <h2>How about breast density?</h2> <p>Women with dense breasts are at <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960977622001618#:%7E:text=Mammographic%20density%20is%20a%20well,increased%20risk%20of%20breast%20cancer.">higher risk of breast cancer</a>. So notifying women about their breast density has been proposed as a “first step” on the pathway to risk-based screening. However, this ignores the many other factors that determine a woman’s risk of breast cancer.</p> <p>Legislation in the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/mammography-quality-standards-act-and-program">United States</a> and changes in some <a href="https://australianbreastcancer.org.au/news-stories/latest-news/breast-density-reporting-at-all-sa-clinics/">Australian states</a> mean some women are already being notified about their breast density. The idea is to enhance their knowledge about their breast cancer risk so they can make informed decisions about future screening.</p> <p>But this has happened before we know what the best options are for such women. An <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/9/psychosocial-outcomes-and-health-service-use-after-notifying-women-participating">ongoing Australian trial</a> is investigating the effects that breast density notification has on individual women and the health system.</p> <h2>What next?</h2> <p>Robust evidence and careful planning are needed before risk-based screening or other changes are made to Australia’s breast cancer screening program.</p> <p>Where changes are made, there needs to be early evaluation of both the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1566.abstract">benefits and harms</a>. Programs also need <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2049.long">independent, regular re-evaluation</a> in the longer term.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/231917/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brooke-nickel-200747">Brooke Nickel</a>, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katy-bell-134554">Katy Bell</a>, Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Sydney School of Public Health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/breast-cancer-screening-in-australia-may-change-heres-what-we-know-so-far-231917">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

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6 best screening hedge plant

<h4>Lillipilly</h4> <p>With its dense screen and fast growing habit, lillipilly can grow up to eight metres tall but should be pruned to thicken the foliage. The Syzygium smithii variety is commonly known as ‘Neighbours Be Gone’.</p> <h4>Juniper</h4> <p>A conifer such as Juniperas spartan is an excellent choice due to its dense evergreen dark blue-green coloured foliage. This column-shaped hardy plant grows to three metres in 10 years and no trimming or pruning is required.</p> <h4>Camellia</h4> <p>Camellias come in two main varieties, japonica and sasanqua. For hedging, the sasanqua is the preferred choice with its faster growing habit, smaller leaves and better sun tolerance. The flowers in autumn are an added bonus.</p> <h4>Photinia</h4> <p>Photinias come in larger and smaller leaf varieties with the smaller leaf types more suitable for hedges up to two metres. With an overall deep green leaf appearance, the new growth comes as striking red foliage.</p> <h4>Murraya</h4> <p>A great alternative to box hedges with a somewhat similar texture but lighter green leaves, murraya is fast growing and easy to care for, with a pretty flush of orange blossom scented flowers in spring and summer.</p> <h4>English Box</h4> <p>Box is the most popular choice for hedging and is the best choice for a more formal look. Its slow growing tendency means it will not provide privacy for several years, but the bonus is it’s easy to maintain.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/gardening-tips/best-screening-hedge-plants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.</em></p>

Home & Garden

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Can death on the screen feel the same as a ‘real’ one?

<p>Death is a part of life, an adage usually reserved for those who physically exist in our lives – family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. So what happens when a profound death experience happens on the screen? Is that still a legitimate experience of mourning?</p> <p>Last week, the popular TV show <em>Succession</em> had a significant “on screen” death - where even the cast filming the scene spoke as if the response to the trauma had a very <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/succession-episode-three-logan-dead-b2317366.html">real feeling</a>. </p> <p>In the same way as the cast, social media reactions to the sudden and unexpected death of a person with a complex character, after four seasons of growing to understand them, can feel like the death of someone you actually know. </p> <p>The <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2017.0267#d3e765">research</a> behind this phenomenon can be found as far back as the 1970s when early understandings around the death of a main character on children’s television served to provide real world insight into the irreversibility of death as a universal experience.</p> <p>Over time, as popular culture and television became more nuanced, the diversity of the ways in which death occurred in fictional programs began to <a href="https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/5234_Bryant__Death,_Dying,_Dead,_Popular_Culture.pdf">replicate the complexity</a> of “real” loss in our lives. Via television, we get access to catastrophic loss, multiple casualty events, loss after significant illness – as well as seeing how death impacts the people left behind.</p> <p>In the most recent episode of <em>Succession</em>, we also see what happens when a death occurs involving a person where their character or relationship to others is strained. We see ways in which grief is not always a byproduct of love.</p> <h2>Why does this grief feel real from an armchair perspective?</h2> <p>Death on screen can also act as a trigger or a reminder of the losses we have endured.</p> <p>When a show realistically portrays grief in its purest form, the emotive or reflective reaction can unlock our own grief. Engaging with the small screen is an overt act of escapism, often for entertainment. We might be switching on a program with the intention of relaxation, only to be met with trauma and sadness.</p> <p>When a sudden loss is brought into our lounge rooms, or via the devices on our laps, we experience shock, confusion and anger about the abruptness of an event, just like the feelings we can experience when loss happens suddenly in our real lives.</p> <p>Safe reporting of sudden and traumatic death on fictional TV shows is not covered by media reporting guidelines. Warnings prior to a scene, or consistent information at the end of an episode about seeking additional support, might be minimal. </p> <p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266722">Recent research</a> identifies multiple contexts related to warnings where TV shows may note that an episode will explore death, however, the complexity of how this might be portrayed is limited.</p> <figure> <h2>What is this grief called?</h2> <p>While there is no rulebook for grief, reacting emotionally to a small screen death can bring about concerns that we look silly or that we lack awareness of the distinction between reality and fiction. This form of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00302228211014775?casa_token=qZ3_RQR6xw0AAAAA%3Awv53_SeeKUgDIH34Z3diViJjcghG-dJb39n--oZP5-Gz-vCRn8RTQOmNxVFZ34fnNjdrwNDriq8GCg">parasocial grieving</a>, described as having feelings attached to a pseudo-relationship, does feel real, does have consequences and does need space to be managed. </p> <p>We don’t all watch the same shows, we don’t all respond to the death of a character the same way, we might even struggle to understand why people have the reactions they do when a TV death occurs. I would encourage you to pause for a moment and remember the ones that did get under our skin. </p> <p>In 1985, Australian viewers lived through the death of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/06/how-mollys-death-on-a-country-practice-touched-a-nation-the-writers-room-was-shedding-tears">Molly from <em>A Country Practice</em></a>, where the final image of a mother’s end-stage cancer diagnosis played out while watching her daughter fly a kite. </p> <p>Teens watching Sarah Michelle Gellar stumble across the sudden untimely death of her mother in <em><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/03/the-body-the-radical-empathy-of-buffys-best-episode/519051/">Buffy the Vampire Slayer </a></em>shaped many feelings when there is a catastrophic loss without warning. </p> <p>In the last decade, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2013/aug/08/offspring-fans-mourn-patrick">sudden death of Patrick from <em>Offspring </em></a>had people legitimately calling in sick from work the next day. </p> <p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAgpbPIVy0M">global reaction</a> to the Red Wedding scene in <em>Game of Thrones</em> had forums on Reddit unpacking why so many characters were murdered and sharing the impact of the sights and sounds of blood and murder and traumatic grief.</p> <p>We engage in a social contract when we connect to a TV show. We expect to be removed from our real life and engage in the viewing of other spaces. Death in those spaces – and the reactions to that loss – can feel as if they break that contract.</p> <p><em>Image credits: HBO</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-death-on-the-screen-feel-the-same-as-a-real-one-203549" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p> </figure>

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Age, not weight, should be the big decider in whether to screen for diabetes

<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Because it’s possible to be diabetic or prediabetic without any symptoms, and early diagnoses lead to better health outcomes, lots of countries have screening programs for diabetes.</span></p> <div class="copy"> <p>In the US, overweight or obese people between 35 and 70 are recommended to regularly get diabetes tests.</p> <p>But <a href="https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(23)00006-5/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new research</a> in the <em>American Journal of Preventative Medicine</em> has called this into question, suggesting that screening based purely on age will catch the greatest proportion of diabetic and prediabetic people.</p> <p>“It might sound counterintuitive because we think of being overweight or obese as the primary cause of diabetes,” says lead author Dr Matthew O’Brien, an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, US.</p> <p>“But if we make decisions about diabetes testing based on weight, we will miss some people from racial and ethnic minority groups who are developing prediabetes and diabetes at lower weights.”</p> <p>The researchers examined data from all the 2021 diabetes screenings recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force. Based on this data, they recommend screening every US adult aged between 35 and 70.</p> <p>“All major racial and ethnic minority groups develop diabetes at lower weights than white adults, and it’s most pronounced for Asian Americans,” says O’Brien.</p> <p>Roughly half of US adults have Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, and 81% of adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it. Diagnoses are delayed in ethnic minorities, compared to white people.</p> <p>“Diabetes is a condition in which unacceptable racial and ethnic disparities persist,” says O’Brien.</p> <p>“That’s why we need a screening approach that maximises equity. If we can find everyone earlier, it helps us reduce these disparities and the bad outcomes that follow.”</p> <p>The researchers also found that it might be beneficial for members of some ethnic minorities to receive earlier screening, but they don’t formally recommend it.</p> <p>“It’s imperative that we identify a screening approach that is equitable across the entire US population,” says O’Brien.</p> <p>“Our findings illustrate that screening all adults aged 35 to 70 years, regardless of weight or body mass index, performs equitably across all racial and ethnic groups.”</p> <p>This age cut-off also makes it much simpler for clinicians to decide whether someone should get a diabetes test.</p> <p>“There are many ways to nudge patients and providers to complete this testing, which should be the focus of future research,” says O’Brien.</p> <p>In Australia, diabetes tests are recommended based on a <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diabetes-screening-tests" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">range of risk factors</a>, including age, waist measurement, ethnicity, physical activity and family history. Diabetes Australia has a <a href="https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/risk-calculator/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">risk calculator</a> with which you can determine your own risk.</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=240911&amp;title=Age%2C+not+weight%2C+should+be+the+big+decider+in+whether+to+screen+for+diabetes" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/diabetes-tests-screening-age-weight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/ellen-phiddian">Ellen Phiddian</a>. </em></p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p> </div>

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Hilarious footage emerges of Sam Neill's James Bond screen test

<p dir="ltr"><em>Jurassic Park</em> star Sam Neill appeared on the <em>Today</em> show to discuss his career and new memoir 'Did I Ever Tell You This?' but the hosts had other plans.</p> <p dir="ltr">Karl Stefanovic, Sarah Abo and Brooke Boney managed to dig up an old screen test that left the 75-year-old red-faced.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Oh, my God, no - That is so cruel to play that, so cruel," a flustered Neil said, as footage from his <em>James Bond</em> audition started rolling.</p> <p dir="ltr">In the video, a young Neill armed with a gun and donning an unbuttoned shirt bursts into a bedroom-to the surprise of a naked woman- and says the famous line "My friends called me Bond, James Bond".</p> <p dir="ltr">Neill said he was thankful that he didn’t get the part and that someone else was chosen to do the role.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I felt so awkward all day that we made that thing and it just went on and on and on," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I am so relieved they offered it to someone else, they are welcome to it - you don't want to be the Bond that no-one likes, you know - that is a fate worse than death."</p> <p dir="ltr">Although he didn’t get the role of agent 007, the actor has starred in three of the J<em>urassic Park films, Event Horizon, The Dish and Peter Rabbit</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">He also told the <em>Today </em>show hosts that he never intended on becoming a professional actor and his success was completely unexpected.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I never really imagined I would have a career in film, let alone a career as an actor," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"At the rather advanced age of 30 I suddenly realised I could make a living at what I loved best and I never looked back until I wrote (the memoir) and it has been good to look back - it has been really good for me."</p> <p><em>Image: Today Show, Channel 9</em></p>

Movies

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Urine sample test: new way to detect and screen for early stages of Alzheimer’s disease

<p>When it comes to <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/alzheimers-peer-review/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alzheimer’s disease</a>, an early diagnosis – one made well before signs of irreversible dementia are apparent – is key to providing effective intervention and treatment. Now early detection might be as simple as a urine test, allowing for wide-scale and early screening across large populations of the elderly.</p> <p>A collaboration of researchers in China investigated urine samples for biomarkers from a large group of patients with varying severity of Alzheimer’s disease, comparing them with healthy controls.</p> <p>A compound known as <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/f/formic-acid.html?cid=home_motw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">formic acid</a> (which is also produced by some ant and bee species) was a particularly sensitive marker for cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Significant increases in urinary formic acid levels were found in all samples from Alzheimer’s sufferers (including those with only early-stage subjective cognitive decline) as compared with those from the healthy controls.</p> <p>“Alzheimer’s disease is a continuous and concealed chronic disease, meaning that it can develop and last for many years before obvious cognitive impairment emerges,” say the authors. “The early stages of the disease occur before the irreversible dementia stage, and this is the golden window for intervention and treatment.”</p> <p>When blood samples of the participants were analysed for Alzheimer’s biomarkers in combination with the urinary formic acid level, the researchers were able to predict to what stage of the disease the patient had progressed. Their report is in <em><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.1046066/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Ageing</a></em>.</p> <p>Other methods currently used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, such as positron emission tomography brain scans, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/alzheimers-blood-test-developed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invasive blood draws</a> and lumbar punctures, tend to be costly and invasive. Although other urinary biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease have been found, none have been able to detect the disease at its earliest stages.</p> <p>The links between urinary formic acid and Alzheimer’s disease are still not fully understood, but this research is an important step towards developing tools to diagnose and treat this debilitating condition amongst a vulnerable group in society.</p> <p>“Urinary formic acid showed an excellent sensitivity for early Alzheimer’s screening,” said the authors. “The detection of urine biomarkers of Alzheimer’s is convenient and cost-effective, and it should be performed during routine physical examinations of the elderly.”</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=227116&amp;title=Urine+sample+test%3A+new+way+to+detect+and+screen+for+early+stages+of+Alzheimer%E2%80%99s+disease" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/urine-new-way-detect-alzheimers-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Clare Kenyon. </em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Mind

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6 things that could happen to your eyes if you stare at a screen all day

<h2>More screen time</h2> <p>You may know that staring at a screen all day is not particularly good for you, and that it’s a good idea to give your eyes a rest and limit your screen time. This includes your phone, laptop and TV. But, on average, you probably spend more hours than you realise staring at a digital device. With more people working from home, that amount of time is on the rise.</p> <p>“Covid-19 has put screen time on steroids,” says optometrist, Dr Paul Karpecki. You may have a work-from-home arrangement, chat with friends via video call, do online on-demand workouts, see doctors via telemedicine, and more. We’re online all the time, and there’s an indication hours spent in front of a screen are spiking.</p> <p>The average adult now spends more than 13 hours per day in front of a screen, up from just over 10 hours in 2019, according to Eyesafe, which designs and develops products that protect against blue light from digital devices. (Karpecki is also a member of the Eyesafe Vision Health Advisory Board.) Eyesafe analysed data from a March 2020 report from the Nielsen Company that estimated that Covid-19 stay-at-home orders would lead to a 60 per cent increase or more in media consumption. Even with lockdowns now lifted, many of those habits established over the last two years have remained.</p> <p>Too much screen time can lead to digital eye strain, which is a condition that results in eye discomfort and vision problems, according to Eyecare Plus. It’s true that prolonged screen time does increase your exposure to blue light. However, it’s unclear whether blue light is to blame for digital eye strain, or whether products that block blue light help.</p> <h2>You may blink less</h2> <p>You’re more likely to blink less when you’re using electronic devices or even watching TV. Specifically, staring at an electronic screen can affect how often you blink and whether your eyelids close entirely as you blink. A 2015 study published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology &amp; Visual Science found people experienced a lower blinking rate and were less likely to completely close their eyes during a blink when reading on an electronic device, like a tablet.</p> <h2>Your eyes will dry out and may burn</h2> <p>As previously stated, when you stare at a computer screen, you blink less. This can make your eyes dry out and even feel like they’re burning. “Blinking keeps the front surface of your eye moist,” says optometrist, Dr Barbara Horn. She suggests increasing the humidity in the air at home and at work (if possible). Also, sip water throughout the day to stay hydrated, a habit that benefits your whole body, including your eyes. And finally, commit to consciously blinking more often during computer work, especially if your eyes are beginning to feel dry. There’s a condition called dry eye, which is when you have inadequate or poor-quality tears. Talk to your optometrist, who may recommend simple solutions like over-the-counter artificial tears.</p> <h2>You may get (visual) migraines with or without headaches</h2> <p>Ever heard of a condition called computer vision syndrome (CVS)? It’s the more formal term for digital eye strain, and some estimates say it affects half of computer users, according to a 2018 review in BMJ Open Ophthalmology. “CVS describes a group of eye and vision-related problems that can result from prolonged computer, tablet, or [mobile] phone use,” says Horn.</p> <p>One of those symptoms of CVS is headache. Poor lighting, glare and sticking your face too close to a screen can trigger headaches. Also, poor posture when using a computer can do this too. The more you use your devices, the worse the symptoms, she says. “People who spend two or more continuous hours at a computer or using a digital screen device every day are at a greater risk of experiencing eye strain,” says Horn.</p> <p>You can also experience a visual migraine, which is characterised by visual disturbances, such as seeing spots and zigzags in your field of vision, according to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This can last anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes and typically, will then resolve. It’s important to note that visual migraines can occur with or without headaches; this is known as a migraine with aura, according to Headache Australia. These types of migraines can be triggered by extreme lighting and staring at electronic screens.</p> <p>To treat and prevent headaches and migraines, take regular breaks from electronic devices and follow the 20-20-20 rule, which helps protect eyesight. That means stopping every 20 minutes to stare at something 20 feet (6 metres) away for 20 seconds. Also make sure that your eyeglass prescription is correct, as that can exacerbate CVS symptoms, too.</p> <h2>You may get blurry vision</h2> <p>One of the symptoms of CVS is blurry vision. “Viewing a computer or digital screen is different than reading a printed page,” says Horn. “Often the letters on the computer or handheld device are not as precise or sharply defined, the level of contrast of the letters to the background is reduced, and the presence of glare and reflections on the screen may make viewing difficult,” she explains.</p> <h2>Your eyes may have trouble focusing</h2> <p>In order to read, your eyes have to work overtime to see clearly. The good news here is that most of the time, the blurriness will go away once you stop computer work, she says. Still, it’s not pleasant and can make tasks take longer if you’re struggling to focus. In that case, Horn suggests holding your phone or tablet further away from you at a “book reading distance” rather than up close to your face. Make the font larger if you can, and adjust the brightness to match the room (for instance: lower it in the evening). This prevents your pupils from having to adjust constantly to changing light levels, something that contributes to strain.</p> <h2>Your neck may be stiff and your jaw may ache</h2> <p>How do you feel after being attached to a digital screen for 8 hours? Likely not great. Symptoms like neck stiffness and jaw tightness “could be directly linked to digital eye strain,” says Karpecki. “We have something called the trigeminal nerve that serves basically as an expressway connecting our eyes to our temple and jaw. We have found that sometimes strain that happens in the eyes is reflected in soreness, discomfort and tightness in those two other areas,” he explains. It’s important to not only take regular breaks to follow the 20-20-20 rule, but also make tweaks to your workspace so it’s healthier for your body.</p> <h2>Expand your reading materials when you can</h2> <p>Everything you read shouldn’t be from a screen – and that can be a tall order in our digital times. “There are unique challenges to managing eye health when it comes to screens and digital devices,” says Karpecki. Reading something digital is different from on paper, even if they both use the same field of vision. “Due to the pixel movement on a digital screen, something we only perceive on a subconscious level, our eyes remain focused longer and we subconsciously reduce our blink rate,” he explains. If possible, mix up your media use: grab a paper book, magazine, or newspaper for your recreational reading pleasures.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/healthsmart/conditions/eyes/6-things-that-could-happen-to-your-eyes-if-you-stare-at-a-screen-all-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Body

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4 ways to clean your shower screen naturally

<p dir="ltr">Whether your glass shower screen is covered in those irritating hazy grey spots or, in extreme cases, you can no longer see through it, now is the time to take action.</p> <p dir="ltr">Best natural ways to clean shower glass</p> <p dir="ltr">Start by slipping on your gloves, rinse the glass thoroughly with water, wipe it over with a soft sponge, then try one of these popular methods to bring back the shine.</p> <h3 dir="ltr">1. Lemon shower cleaner</h3> <p dir="ltr">Pour straight lemon juice (freshly squeezed or bottled concentrate) onto a soft sponge. Wipe the dampened sponge over all the glass surfaces. Leave the lemon juice to work its magic for a few minutes. Thoroughly rinse away lemon juice with plenty of clean water or white vinegar then water. Dry glass to a shine with paper towel.</p> <h3 dir="ltr">2. Vinegar shower spray</h3> <p dir="ltr">Bringing the shine back to shower screen is easy with cleaning vinegar. Pour white vinegar into a spray bottle. You may wish to dilute the vinegar up to 50/50 with water and add a squeeze of lemon for a fresh scent. Drench the glass surfaces with the vinegar solution. Leave for a few minutes then work over the stains with a soft sponge or soft-bristled brush. Apply more solution if necessary. Rinse thoroughly with clean water. Dry glass to a shine with paper towel.</p> <h3 dir="ltr">3. Baking soda shower scrub</h3> <p dir="ltr">For tougher stains, head to your pantry and pull out baking soda. Make a thick paste by mixing baking soda with a little water. Smear the paste over the glass using a dampened sponge or soft-bristled toothbrush (you should avoid using coarse brushes and scrubbers as they may scratch your glass). Pay more attention to stubborn stains, particularly around door hinges and framework. Rinse with clean water then dry glass to a shine with paper towel.</p> <h3 dir="ltr">4. Toothpaste shower cleaning hack</h3> <p dir="ltr">Swap out the homemade baking soda and water paste for regular white toothpaste. While you can buy the most inexpensive toothpaste for the job, the best type of toothpaste to use is something with a simple ingredient list. Apply the paste to a dampened soft sponge, work it over the glass surfaces, then rinse with plenty of clean water. Repeat this process, if necessary. Dry glass thoroughly with paper towel. Ahh… minty fresh!</p> <h3 dir="ltr">Best and easiest way to clean glass shower doors</h3> <p dir="ltr">If you are looking for something a little tougher, Cerapol Ceramic and Induction Stove Top cleaner to transform her cloudy glass shower screen, which had built-up soap scum.</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b3e86dcd-7fff-9715-2ba2-58102412cc3f"></span></p>

Home Hints & Tips

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Data visualisations made more accessible to screen reader users

<p>A type of assistive technology, screen readers are software programs that scan the contents of a computer screen and transform it into a different format – like synthesised voice or Braille – for people with complete or partial blindness, learning disabilities, or motion sensitivity.</p> <p>Now, scientists from the University of Washington (UW) in the US have designed a JavaScript plugin called VoxLens that allows people to better interact with these visualisations.</p> <p>VoxLens allows screen reader users to gain a high-level summary of the information described in a graph, listen to said graph translated into sound, or use voice-activated commands to ask specific questions about the data, such as the mean or the minimum value.</p> <p>The team presented their <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3491102.3517431" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> last month at the <a href="https://programs.sigchi.org/chi/2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems</a> in New Orleans in the US.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="VoxLens - Paper Summary and Demo Video" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o1R-5D2WS4s?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> <p>“If I’m looking at a graph, I can pull out whatever information I am interested in – maybe it’s the overall trend or maybe it’s the maximum,” says lead author Ather Sharif, a doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science &amp; Engineering at UW.</p> <p>“Right now, screen reader users either get very little or no information about online visualisations, which, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, can sometimes be a matter of life and death. The goal of our project is to give screen reader users a platform where they can extract as much or as little information as they want.”</p> <p>The difficulty with translating graphs, according to co-senior author Jacob O. Wobbrock, a professor of information at UW, comes from deciphering information with no clear beginning and end.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p193459-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.61 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/voxlens-accessibility-screen-readers/#wpcf7-f6-p193459-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <p style="display: none !important;"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap referer-page"><input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://www.google.com/" data-value="https://www.google.com/" aria-invalid="false" /></span></p> <p><!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></form> </div> </div> <p>“There is a start and an end of a sentence and everything else comes in between,” he explains. “But as soon as you move things into two dimensional spaces, such as visualisations, there’s no clear start and finish.</p> <p>“It’s just not structured in the same way, which means there’s no obvious entry point or sequencing for screen readers.”</p> <p><strong>Working with screen reader users to improve accessibility</strong></p> <p>The team worked with screen reader users who had partial or complete blindness when designing and testing the tool. During the testing phase, participants learned how to use VoxLens and then completed nine tasks, each of which involved answering questions about a data visualisation.</p> <p>The researchers found that participants completed the tasks with 122% increased accuracy and 36% decreased interaction time, compared to participants of a previous study who hadn’t had access to VoxLens.</p> <p>“We want people to interact with a graph as much as they want, but we also don’t want them to spend an hour trying to find what the maximum is,” says Sharif. “In our study, interaction time refers to how long it takes to extract information, and that’s why reducing it is a good thing.”</p> <p>VoxLens can be implanted easily by data visualisation designers with a single line of code. Right now it only works for visualisations created using <a href="https://www.javascript.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JavaScript</a> libraries – such as <a href="https://d3js.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">D3</a>, <a href="https://www.chartjs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chart.js</a> or <a href="https://www.google.com.au/sheets/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Sheets</a> – but the team is working towards expanding to other popular platforms.</p> <p>“This work is part of a much larger agenda for us – removing bias in design,” adds co-senior author Katharina Reinecke, associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science &amp; Engineering at UW. “When we build technology, we tend to think of people who are like us and who have the same abilities as we do.</p> <p>“For example, D3 has really revolutionised access to visualisations online and improved how people can understand information. But there are values ingrained in it and people are left out. It’s really important that we start thinking more about how to make technology useful for everybody.”</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=193459&amp;title=Data+visualisations+made+more+accessible+to+screen+reader+users" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/voxlens-accessibility-screen-readers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

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No screen on your flight? No problem

<p dir="ltr">Surely we’re all familiar with the crushing disappointment of realising your plane seat has no TV screen when it comes to those dreaded long-haul flights. </p> <p dir="ltr">Some travellers use their phone as an awkward substitution for the glorious big screen, however it can be a pain to keep it propped up. One savvy tech expert knows this feeling all too well and has shared her TikTok hack for transforming the back of your seat into your very own entertainment hub.</p> <p dir="ltr">Katarina Mogus, who posts as <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@katamogz?lang=en">@katamogz</a>, shared her own "iPhone travel hack" for when you don't have an included TV screen on the back of the seat.</p> <p dir="ltr">In the video, Mogus takes the case off her iPhone and pulls out the sick bag from the seat pocket, She then proceeds to tuck the bottom of the sick bag between her phone and case, ensuring it is thoroughly wedged in.</p> <p dir="ltr">After the bag is securely fitted inside the phone case, Mogus pulls down the tray table and folds half of the sick bag and secures it behind the tray.</p> <p dir="ltr">Finally, she uses the sliding bolt to keep the sick bag in place.</p> <p dir="ltr"> The result is a hands-free, hanging screen - so you can sit back, relax and watch your favourite television shows or movies without having it hold it up yourself.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d7782e6f-7fff-82a6-bf43-968ae0881bf5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">If the plane doesn't have Wi-Fi, you can pre-download shows or films on any streaming service so you can still enjoy it without using data.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: TikTok</em></p>

Travel Tips

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See the stars who stunned at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards

<p dir="ltr">After years of virtual events and social distancing, the 2022 award season has kicked off in style with the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Santa Monica, California.</p> <p dir="ltr">The absence of events for celebrities to embrace the latest fashion trends has seen those attending this year’s event go all out, with particularly stunning moments coming from everyone from Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams to Helen Mirren and Lady Gaga.</p> <p dir="ltr">Here are some of the best looks to come out of the 2022 SAG Awards.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Venus Williams and Lady Gaga </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Though the tennis legend and pop icon might not have much in common, they both turned heads with gorgeous white gowns at the SAG event.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6304a5fe-7fff-7ce9-57aa-c517f0b77e28">Williams stepped out on the red carpet in a Dolce &amp; Gabbana gown with a silver bustier, high-slit white sleeve and skirt after <em>King Richard</em> - the film she co-produced with her sister Serena - was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Motion Picture.</span></p> <p><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/03/venus-gaga.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Though their dresses were both white, Venus Williams and Lady Gaga shone in their take on the classic gown. Images: Getty Images</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Gaga, meanwhile, posed in a strapless white column gown that hugged her figure, which she paired with a Tiffany &amp; Co necklace and with her hair worn down. She was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her performance in <em>House of Gucci</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Helen Mirren and Jean Smart</strong></p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1bf03d5e-7fff-a3bc-37b9-1baa08439487"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">The famed actresses wowed with the vibrancy of their attire, with Helen Mirren choosing a pastel pink dress with accenting floral pieces on her waist and shoulder, and Jean Smart opting for a rich maroon outfit complete with ruffles forming a halo around her shoulders and cuffs.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/03/mirren-smart.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Unsurprisingly, both Mirren and Smart took home awards from the event.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mirren was presented with the Life Achievement Award by Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett, and paid tribute to actors past and present in her acceptance speech.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve been angsting about what to say tonight, and I’ve been waiting for inspiration,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“To all those people with whom I have shared my professional life: the actors.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is you, you: actors, that I want to thank. For your wit, and your humour, all the giggles, all the laughter - I’ve laughed my whole life honestly.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, Jean Smart claimed the gong for Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her starring role in <em>Hacks</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Smart also took the opportunity to praise actors.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I love actors, nobody gets us actors,” she said. “What we do is valuable, we are the tribe’s storytellers since man crawled out the cave and sat around the fire together and it’s important.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Opting for classic black, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blachett took their dresses in completely different directions.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-05045047-7fff-c789-a1db-ca7e6523548d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Kidman - who was nominated for her role as Lucille Ball in <em>Being the Ricardos</em> - stepped out in a timeless Saint Laurent long sleeve velvet gown, accessorised with an ivory white bow.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/03/cate-nicole.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Appearing on the red carpet for her nomination for her supporting role in<em> Nightmare Alley</em>, Blanchett wore a jaw-dropping Armani Prive gown with a plunging neckline edged with geometric black stones.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Notable mentions</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/03/salma-sandra.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Bold colours and black were popular choices on the red carpet, with Salma Hayek rocking a salmon pink halter neck gown with matching sheer gloves and Sandra Oh opting for a metallic silver gown with a tight bodice and tiered skirt.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5583eb41-7fff-de9e-5396-bf91b3c7588e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Beauty & Style

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5 blockbuster movies hitting the big screen in 2022

<p dir="ltr">After a slow two years due to the pandemic, the world of blockbuster cinema is revving back up in 2022. </p><p dir="ltr">With 2021 going out with a bang after the releases of <em>No Time to Die</em>, <em>Dune</em>, <em>The Matrix Resurrections</em> and many more, 2022 cinema has some big shoes to fill. </p><p dir="ltr">With countless blockbusters on the calendar for 2022, here are just five highly anticipated releases to add to this year’s must-watch list. </p><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>1. The Batman</strong></p><p dir="ltr">The latest instalment from DC Comics comes in the form of <em>The Batman</em>, as the dark and gritty version of the superhero flick is not one to miss. </p><p dir="ltr">Starring Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne, this highly anticipated movie has been gathering buzz since the first trailer was released in October last year. </p><p dir="ltr">The film boasts an all-star cast including Paul Dano, Colin Farrell and Peter Sarsgaard, and is due to hit cinemas in March.  </p><p></p><p dir="ltr"><strong>2. Top Gun: Maverick</strong></p><p dir="ltr">36 years after the success of <em>Top Gun</em>, the sequel is due to hit the big screen in May. </p><p dir="ltr">After a two-year delay due to Covid, <em>Top Gun: Maverick</em> will see Tom Cruise jump back into his iconic role for another high-stakes mission. </p><p dir="ltr">The film is directed by Joseph Kosiniski, and also stars Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly. </p><p></p><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>3. Jurassic World: Dominion</strong></p><p dir="ltr">In the third instalment of the <em>Jurassic World</em> trilogy, humanity must grapple with dangerous genetically enhanced reptiles on the loose. </p><p dir="ltr">The film sees the return of Chris Pratt, while also featuring nostalgic cameos from Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38;margin-top: 0pt;margin-bottom: 0pt"><em>Jurassic World: Dominion</em> is due to hit cinemas in June<span style="font-size: 11pt;font-family: Arial;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-weight: 400;font-style: normal;text-decoration: none;vertical-align: baseline">. </span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr"><strong>4. Elvis</strong></p><p dir="ltr">Australian director Baz Luhrmann is taking on one of the most famous musicians in <em>Elvis</em>. </p><p dir="ltr">Austin Butler will be playing the iconic singer, with Tom Hanks playing his manager Colonel Tom Parker. </p><p dir="ltr">Other Aussie stars such as Olivia DeJonge, Richard Roxburgh and David Wenham are also joining the cast, with the film set to be released in June.</p><p></p><p dir="ltr"><strong>5. Avatar 2</strong></p><p dir="ltr">More than 10 years after James Cameron’s revolutionary film <em>Avatar</em> was released, the sequel is due to hit the big screen in 2022. </p><p dir="ltr">In the first of many sequels, familiar faces from the first movie, such as Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, are due to return to their iconic roles. </p><p dir="ltr">While there is no official trailer for the film yet, the <em>Avatar</em> Twitter account has shared stunning concept art images with fans to get them excited for the next instalment.</p><p dir="ltr">Fans will still have a while to wait for the film, however, with a release date expected in December. </p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">ICYMI — Check out these stunning concept art images from Avatar 2! <a href="https://t.co/QVVK8cVU21">pic.twitter.com/QVVK8cVU21</a></p>— Avatar (@officialavatar) <a href="https://twitter.com/officialavatar/status/1437807131856564227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2021</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr"><em><span id="docs-internal-guid-1a70098f-7fff-e12b-b99d-6680b65dfd7e">Image credits: DC Comics / 6th &amp; Idaho Productions / Paramount Pictures</span></em></p>

Movies

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From fairytale to gothic ghost story: how 40 years of biopics showed Princess Diana on screen

<p>Since the earliest Princess Diana biopics appeared soon after the royal wedding in 1981, there have been repeated attempts to bring to the screen the story of Diana’s journey from blue-blooded ingenue through to tragic princess trapped within – and then expelled from – the royal system.</p> <p>A long string of actresses, with replicas of the outfits she wore and a blond wig (sometimes precariously) in place, have walked through episodic storylines, charting the “greatest hits” of what is known of Diana’s royal life.</p> <p>Biopics about the princess tend to be shaped according to the dominant mythic narratives in circulation in any given phase of Diana’s life. The first biopics were stories of fairytales and romance. From the 1990s, the marriage of Charles and Diana took on the shape of soap opera and melodrama.</p> <p>Now, with the Crown (2016–) and Spencer (2021), Diana has become a doomed gothic heroine. She is a woman suffocated by a royal system that cannot, will not, acknowledge her special place in the royal pantheon.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WllZh9aekDg?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <h2>Fairytales and soap operas</h2> <p>The first Dianas appeared on American television networks within months of the July 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana.</p> <p>Both Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story (starring Caroline Bliss) and The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (starring Catherine Oxenberg) invested wholesale in a fairytale lens.</p> <p>They told of the young and virginal beauty who had captured the attention of the dashing prince, whisked off to a life of happily ever after.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/54QRwogBUQI?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>The Diana biopics fell quiet for the first years of the marriage (fairytales don’t tend to interest themselves in pregnancies and apparent marital harmony), and then reemerged after the publication of Andrew Morton’s exposé, Diana: Her True Story (1992).</p> <p>Morton’s biography was written from taped interviews with the princess and inspired the next generation of Diana biopics, ones that I call the “post-Morton” biopics, which borrow from Diana’s own scripting of her life.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R7OnHYcTqLk?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>A series of actors were enlisted to play Diana in these made-for-television productions.</p> <p>Oxenberg turns up again in Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After (1992). In Diana: Her True Story (1993), Serena Scott-Thomas (who, incidentally, turns up in the 2011 television biopic William and Kate as Catherine Middleton’s mother Carole) does her best with a terrible script and series of wigs.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tUFUuGpHHPg?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Others gave it their best shot. We had Julie Cox in Princess in Love (1996), Amy Seacombe in Diana: A Tribute to the People’s Princess (1998), Genevieve O'Reilly in Diana: Last Days of a Princess (2007) and, briefly, Michelle Duncan in Charles and Camilla: Whatever Love Means (2005).</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eNTR0nZZXn4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>But even large budget films (such as 2013’s cinema-release Diana, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and starring Naomi Watts) had critics and audiences letting out <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diana_2013">a collective yawn</a>.</p> <p>In film after film we were offered yet another uninspired, soap opera-style representation of the princess’s life.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ca2GGofxzX4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <h2>A gothic tale</h2> <p>Critics’ voices were quelled somewhat with the appearance of Emma Corrin’s Diana in season four of The Crown.</p> <p>With Netflix’s high budget and quality production values, many — <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crown-season-4-review-a-triumphant-portrait-of-the-1980s-with-a-perfectly-wide-eyed-diana-149633">including myself</a> — felt Peter Morgan’s deliberate combination of accuracy and imaginative interpretation of Diana’s royal life offered something approximating a closer rendition of the “real” princess than we’d been presented with before.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tedqw0gMuCI?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>And then we come to the most recent portrayal of Diana on screen, Pablo Larraín’s Spencer (2021), starring Kristen Stewart as Diana. What, royal biopic watchers wondered, could it possibly do to top The Crown’s Diana?</p> <p>Spencer’s statement in the film’s opening offers a clue: it promises to be a “fable from a true tragedy”.</p> <p>This is a film where genre imperatives and creative imaginings are placed at the forefront of its representation of the princess.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-FBHQAGLnY?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Taking its cue from the gothic themes and tropes Diana can be heard invoking on the Morton tapes, Spencer’s heroine is trapped in a frozen Sandringham setting, gasping for air to the point where her voice rarely lifts above a soft, almost suffocated, whisper.</p> <p>She tears at the pearls encircling her throat. She rips open the curtains sewn shut by staff. She self-harms with wire cutters. She runs like an animal hunted down manor house corridors and across frosty Norfolk fields.</p> <p>She is haunted by the ghost of Anne Boleyn, another royal wife rejected by her husband, prompting <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a38164090/princess-diana-spencer-horror-movie/">one reviewer to ask</a>: “is Spencer the ultimate horror movie?”</p> <p>Larraín and Stewart’s Diana has her precursor in the spectral, gothic Diana who appears in the 2017 future-history television film King Charles III, based on Mike Bartlett’s 2014 play. The anguished howl of this Diana (played by Katie Brayben) echoes throughout the palace in the same way Spencer’s Diana is framed as the royal who will haunt the Windsors for decades to come.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nyckuIRtag0?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>The lamentable Diana: The Musical (2021) on Netflix (a filmed version of the Broadway production starring Jeanna de Waal) – with its cliched storyline, two-dimensional characterisation, awkward costuming and early 1980s Andrew Lloyd Webber-style aesthetic – offers some evidence that, even in 2021, the creators of Diana stories haven’t altogether abandoned their investment in the Diana of 1981.</p> <p>But with Spencer, we have a Diana shaped by both the princess’s own version of her story, and the screen Dianas that came before her. Spencer suggests new directions and potential for the telling of royal lives.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173648/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlebsnuEI1Y?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/giselle-bastin-391174">Giselle Bastin</a>, Associate Professor of English, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/flinders-university-972">Flinders University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-fairytale-to-gothic-ghost-story-how-40-years-of-biopics-showed-princess-diana-on-screen-173648">original article</a>.</p> <p><span class="attribution"><span class="source"><em>Image: Pablo Larraín/Roadshow</em></span></span></p>

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From Chicago to West Side Story, how to successfully adapt a musical from stage to screen

<p>The second half of 2021 is proving to be a peak time for movie musical-goers, with the release of critically acclaimed In the Heights, disastrously received Dear Evan Hansen, and Steven Spielberg’s hotly anticipated West Side Story.</p> <p>These films lead to reflection on one of the stranger sub-genres of film history — the musical stage-to-screen adaptation. To film a stage show (as in the recent professionally shot films of Hamilton and Come from Away), or merely to create bigger stage sets in a studio (there are many examples of this, from Guys and Dolls to The Producers) is not truly to adapt a musical to film.</p> <p>Instead, adaptors should use the tools unique to film to re-interpret the musical in this different medium.</p> <p>To help us through the vicissitudes of adaptation, here is an idiosyncratic list of a few DOs and DON’Ts.</p> <h2>DO use real locations creatively</h2> <p>Location shooting is a frequent tool used to enhance the realism of film musicals, but placing the un-realism of song and dance in a real place can backfire and create an uncanny valley. Locations are best used in a super-realistic way.</p> <p>A successful recent example of this is In the Heights. Director Jon Chu and his production team shot much of the film in Washington Heights in Manhattan, but in a way that the neighbourhood seems a natural place for music-making: very careful lighting, colour-timing, and the occasional unobtrusive effects shot lift the story out of the mundane.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437093/original/file-20211213-21-hr5jsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437093/original/file-20211213-21-hr5jsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">In The Heights (2021) is a love letter to the Washington Heights area of NYC.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></p> <p>In the number When the Sun Goes Down, lovers Benny and Nina begin singing naturalistically on a fire escape, but then a set on hydraulics, green screen, and “magic hour” lighting come together to enable a gravity-defying dance across the rooftops and walls of the apartment buildings.</p> <p>See also: Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, On the Town</p> <h2>DON’T ghettoise all of the musical numbers to a stark dreamland covered in artistic scaffolding</h2> <p>Counter to the previous guideline about using real locations for musical numbers, some film musicals go too far in the opposite direction.</p> <p>Two musicals directed by Rob Marshall, Chicago and Nine, puzzlingly use the same solution to try and hedge their bets: the dialogue scenes happen in realistic locations (1920s Chicago and 1960s Rome, respectively) but the musical numbers are relegated to their characters’ internal fantasies, which in both cases means studio-like settings that allow for dancers to be placed in aesthetically pleasing formations.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437098/original/file-20211213-27-qhe4i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437098/original/file-20211213-27-qhe4i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">Chicago (2002), features musical numbers entirely set within the character’s internal fantasies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></p> <p>This strategy gets the filmmakers out of having to bridge the gap between speech time and music time, but the narrative innovations of both shows are smoothed out on screen. That makes for a less interesting filmgoing experience.</p> <p>The exception that proves the rule here is Cabaret, in which director Bob Fosse removed all of the “book” songs and kept only those performed in the titular cabaret.</p> <p>Through innovative intercutting and montage the cabaret songs pervade the whole texture of the film, however, resulting in one of the most “musical” of all musicals.</p> <h2>DO fix problems with the dramatic unfolding of the source material</h2> <p>Show Boat was the first stage musical to attempt a truly epic form, covering twenty years of story time and locations all along the Mississippi River.</p> <p>In 1927, stage mechanics had not caught up with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and composer Jerome Kern’s ambitions, and the musical, brilliant and groundbreaking as it was, suffered from overlength and a dramatically clumsy second act. The production team fixed these issues in the 1936 film version, as the technologies of montage, dissolve, and cross-cutting that were possible on film allowed for a more effective unfolding of time and place.</p> <p>The 1965 film version of The Sound of Music similarly fixes problems in the stage version; another epic musical, the stage version feels hemmed-in and stifled.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437103/original/file-20211213-21-1maqjdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437103/original/file-20211213-21-1maqjdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">The Sound of Music (1965) uses film techniques and editing to improve on a ‘stifled’ stage musical.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></p> <p>It is allowed to breathe on film, and the songs are moved around to better reflect what they are actually about (My Favourite Things on stage is sung by the Mother Abbess to cheer up Maria before she leaves the convent!)</p> <p>See also: Hair, Hairspray, Tick Tick Boom</p> <h2>DON’T adapt a musical to film that didn’t work on stage</h2> <p>Poor Alan Jay Lerner. After the extraordinary success of the film version of My Fair Lady, Lerner attempted film adaptations of three of his other musicals that had been less successful on stage.</p> <p>Camelot, which had a healthy run on Broadway because of its star actors (Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, and Robert Goulet), its Oliver Smith production designs, and a few excellent songs, rather more than for its unconvincing storyline and structure, was a natural for screen adaptation. But non-singer stars (Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero), unconvincing plot revisions, and dull direction by Joshua Logan caused it to be an inert behemoth on screen.</p> <p>Lerner tried again with Paint Your Wagon in 1969, based on a much earlier stage musical that had been only mildly successful with a few hit songs (notably They Call the Wind Maria). But once more, non-singer stars (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg), unconvincing plot revisions, and dull direction by (again!) Joshua Logan resulted in yet another inert behemoth.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437105/original/file-20211213-27-1dca0r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437105/original/file-20211213-27-1dca0r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">Paint Your Wagon (1969) is generally acknowledged as a poor example of a film musical, and a stage musical.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></p> <p>Third time was not a charm, with On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. This time the stars were singers: Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. Unfortunately, their talents were hidden by another poorly revised screenplay and, unlike the other two films, this one could have used more of everything, especially music.</p> <p>Writing this has made me realise that successful stage-to-screen adaptations are quite rare. For every Cabaret there are two Annies and a Man of La Mancha. Spielberg’s new West Side Story will be the first musical he has directed in his long career, and musical-lovers everywhere are optimistic that he will do this classic musical justice.</p> <p>I merely hope that the only scaffolding to be found is on the fire escapes of 1950s Manhattan!<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169946/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gregory-camp-1280180">Gregory Camp</a>, Senior Lecturer, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-auckland-1305">University of Auckland</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-chicago-to-west-side-story-how-to-successfully-adapt-a-musical-from-stage-to-screen-169946">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: 20th Century Studios</em></p>

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From Chicago to West Side Story, how to successfully adapt a musical from stage to screen

<p>The second half of 2021 is proving to be a peak time for movie musical-goers, with the release of critically acclaimed <em>In the Heights</em>, disastrously received <em>Dear Evan Hansen</em>, and Steven Spielberg’s hotly anticipated <em>West Side Story</em>.</p> <p>These films lead to reflection on one of the stranger sub-genres of film history — the musical stage-to-screen adaptation. To film a stage show (as in the recent professionally shot films of <em>Hamilton</em> and <em>Come from Away</em>), or merely to create bigger stage sets in a studio (there are many examples of this, from <em>Guys and Dolls</em> to <em>The Producers</em>) is not truly to adapt a musical to film.</p> <p>Instead, adaptors should use the tools unique to film to re-interpret the musical in this different medium.</p> <p>To help us through the vicissitudes of adaptation, here is an idiosyncratic list of a few DOs and DON’Ts.</p> <p><strong>DO use real locations creatively</strong></p> <p>Location shooting is a frequent tool used to enhance the realism of film musicals, but placing the un-realism of song and dance in a real place can backfire and create an uncanny valley. Locations are best used in a super-realistic way.</p> <p>A successful recent example of this is <em>In the Heights</em>. Director Jon Chu and his production team shot much of the film in Washington Heights in Manhattan, but in a way that the neighbourhood seems a natural place for music-making: very careful lighting, colour-timing, and the occasional unobtrusive effects shot lift the story out of the mundane.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437093/original/file-20211213-21-hr5jsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437093/original/file-20211213-21-hr5jsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">In The Heights (2021) is a love letter to the Washington Heights area of NYC.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></em></p> <p>In the number <em>When the Sun Goes Down</em>, lovers Benny and Nina begin singing naturalistically on a fire escape, but then a set on hydraulics, green screen, and “magic hour” lighting come together to enable a gravity-defying dance across the rooftops and walls of the apartment buildings.</p> <p>See also: <em>Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, On the Town</em></p> <p><strong>DON’T ghettoise all of the musical numbers to a stark dreamland covered in artistic scaffolding</strong></p> <p>Counter to the previous guideline about using real locations for musical numbers, some film musicals go too far in the opposite direction.</p> <p>Two musicals directed by Rob Marshall, <em>Chicago</em> and <em>Nine</em>, puzzlingly use the same solution to try and hedge their bets: the dialogue scenes happen in realistic locations (1920s Chicago and 1960s Rome, respectively) but the musical numbers are relegated to their characters’ internal fantasies, which in both cases means studio-like settings that allow for dancers to be placed in aesthetically pleasing formations.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437098/original/file-20211213-27-qhe4i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437098/original/file-20211213-27-qhe4i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">Chicago (2002), features musical numbers entirely set within the character’s internal fantasies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></em></p> <p>This strategy gets the filmmakers out of having to bridge the gap between speech time and music time, but the narrative innovations of both shows are smoothed out on screen. That makes for a less interesting filmgoing experience.</p> <p>The exception that proves the rule here is <em>Cabaret</em>, in which director Bob Fosse removed all of the “book” songs and kept only those performed in the titular cabaret.</p> <p>Through innovative intercutting and montage the cabaret songs pervade the whole texture of the film, however, resulting in one of the most “musical” of all musicals.</p> <p><strong>DO fix problems with the dramatic unfolding of the source material</strong></p> <p><em>Show Boat</em> was the first stage musical to attempt a truly epic form, covering twenty years of story time and locations all along the Mississippi River.</p> <p>In 1927, stage mechanics had not caught up with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and composer Jerome Kern’s ambitions, and the musical, brilliant and groundbreaking as it was, suffered from overlength and a dramatically clumsy second act. The production team fixed these issues in the 1936 film version, as the technologies of montage, dissolve, and cross-cutting that were possible on film allowed for a more effective unfolding of time and place.</p> <p>The 1965 film version of <em>The Sound of Music</em> similarly fixes problems in the stage version; another epic musical, the stage version feels hemmed-in and stifled.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437103/original/file-20211213-21-1maqjdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437103/original/file-20211213-21-1maqjdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">The Sound of Music (1965) uses film techniques and editing to improve on a ‘stifled’ stage musical.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></em></p> <p>It is allowed to breathe on film, and the songs are moved around to better reflect what they are actually about (<em>My Favourite Things</em> on stage is sung by the Mother Abbess to cheer up Maria before she leaves the convent!)</p> <p>See also:<em> Hair, Hairspray, Tick Tick Boom</em></p> <p><strong>DON’T adapt a musical to film that didn’t work on stage</strong></p> <p>Poor Alan Jay Lerner. After the extraordinary success of the film version of <em>My Fair Lady</em>, Lerner attempted film adaptations of three of his other musicals that had been less successful on stage.</p> <p><em>Camelot</em>, which had a healthy run on Broadway because of its star actors (Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, and Robert Goulet), its Oliver Smith production designs, and a few excellent songs, rather more than for its unconvincing storyline and structure, was a natural for screen adaptation. But non-singer stars (Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero), unconvincing plot revisions, and dull direction by Joshua Logan caused it to be an inert behemoth on screen.</p> <p>Lerner tried again with <em>Paint Your Wagon</em> in 1969, based on a much earlier stage musical that had been only mildly successful with a few hit songs (notably <em>They Call the Wind Maria</em>). But once more, non-singer stars (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg), unconvincing plot revisions, and dull direction by (again!) Joshua Logan resulted in yet another inert behemoth.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437105/original/file-20211213-27-1dca0r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437105/original/file-20211213-27-1dca0r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a><em> <span class="caption">Paint Your Wagon (1969) is generally acknowledged as a poor example of a film musical, and a stage musical.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></em></p> <p>Third time was not a charm, with <em>On a Clear Day You Can See Forever</em>. This time the stars were singers: Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. Unfortunately, their talents were hidden by another poorly revised screenplay and, unlike the other two films, this one could have used more of everything, especially music.</p> <p>Writing this has made me realise that successful stage-to-screen adaptations are quite rare. For every <em>Cabaret</em> there are two <em>Annies</em> and a <em>Man of La Mancha</em>. Spielberg’s new <em>West Side Story</em> will be the first musical he has directed in his long career, and musical-lovers everywhere are optimistic that he will do this classic musical justice.</p> <p>I merely hope that the only scaffolding to be found is on the fire escapes of 1950s Manhattan!<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169946/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gregory-camp-1280180" target="_blank">Gregory Camp</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-auckland-1305" target="_blank">University of Auckland</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/from-chicago-to-west-side-story-how-to-successfully-adapt-a-musical-from-stage-to-screen-169946" target="_blank">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">20th Century Studios</span></span></em></p>

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30 years since The Addams Family hit the big screen, it is still the perfect blend of horror and comedy

<p>The dark side of films has always had a strong relationship with the light side. Mixing comedy with horror often ensured a hit even in the early days of cinema –comedian Harold Lloyd was making such films <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-CXQspZtMs">as early as the 1920s</a>.</p> <p>This combination of light hearted horror worked on the small screen as well.</p> <p>In the 1950s and 1960s, family sitcoms The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, The Beverley Hillbillies and Leave it to Beaver were all hugely popular. But the 60s were also a time of the counter-culture revolution. Beatniks, hippies and a general anti-establishment youth culture progressively dismissed the conforming stereotypes of the wholesome family.</p> <p>From this a TV show, based on a long running New Yorker cartoon by Charles Addams, was launched: The Addams Family, based around a family who, while not outright monsters, definitely played on the dark side of life.</p> <p>The series itself only ran for two seasons and was dropped for poor ratings. But in the intervening years the show’s status grew.</p> <p>Children of the 1960s to the 1980s discovered the reruns and grew in love with the weirdness and offbeat humour. These children grew into adults who never lost interest in one of the strangest shows ever made.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F3jnymeJof4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>In 1991 this nostalgia culminated with the release of The Addams Family Movie.</p> <p>Set around a family of oddballs whose pastimes include grave digging, cutting the heads off roses (because the thorns are far more precious) and stealing stop signs to revel in the sound of cars crashing, 30 years on the film has not lost any of its eccentric charm or quirky sensibilities.</p> <h2>A plot for the madness</h2> <p>The Addams Family Movie starts with the dilemma of attempting to contact Gomez’s brother, Fester (who has been in the afterlife for 25 years) and constantly failing. When someone claiming to be Fester turns up (the ever-versatile Christopher Lloyd), he is quickly embraced by the Addams’s as the long-lost Uncle. What they don’t know is the fake Fester is just there to find and steal their hidden riches.</p> <p>But this whole story is just a flimsy backdrop to all the crazy jokes, one-liners and sight-gags that each member of the family gets up to throughout the film.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G388UMkJIBE?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>The parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams are difficult to describe. Gomez is somewhere between a 1930s gangster and a wide eyed man-child who finds wonder at everything. But he is definitely a Renaissance man: just as skilled with a rapier sword as he is with a golf club, his dance moves are unparalleled. The late Raul Julia plays Gomez to perfection – arguably even better than John Astin who played the TV original.</p> <p>Angelica Huston steals the show as his wife Morticia. Wistful, sublime and ethereal, Huston mixes eroticism with playful innocence. She also gets many of the best lines.</p> <p>When Gomez asks Morticia if she is “Unhappy, darling?”, Morticia smoothly supines with a smile “Oh yes, yes completely” – as though that is the ultimate state of ecstasy. Gomez looks on her with constant adoring eyes, and cannot control his unbridled lust whenever Morticia speaks French.</p> <p>It is a love fuelled by constant romance. As Morticia says, “Gomez, last night you were unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me … Do it again!”. And when Gomez is racked by angst Morticia tells him “Don’t torture yourself, Gomez … that’s my job”.</p> <p>Every horror movie needs a creepy kid. And the Addams children, daughter Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and son Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), fit the bill nicely. Wednesday is like a mini version of her mother, but in a much more dour mood, with an intense interest in instruments of torture and execution. Pugsley is more playful, always following Wednesday’s lead – to the point of climbing into her electric chair to play her game of “Is there a God?”.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5I0xFZ34uT4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <h2>Ghoulish with heart</h2> <p>Horror is supposed to make you frightened; comedy is supposed to make you laugh. They’re genre polar opposites. Then why do horror-comedies work? The Addams Family is so accessible to a wide audience because, while it plays with the dark side of life, it’s a horror film without any of the horror. The darkness is very low level, and it isn’t represented as being real.</p> <p>This is why children and people who don’t like real horror films love it. They can dip their toes in the horror genre but it is played for laughs, not scares.</p> <p>In a way, it has a been a gateway film for when children grow older and watch real horror films. The Addams Family introduces them to the dark world, but there’s nothing to fear. For now, it’s just fun.</p> <p>Overall, though, the one thing The Addams Family movie teaches audiences is regardless if you’re a witch, or a ghoul, or even just a hand, the most important thing in life is family.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172042/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daryl-sparkes-828631">Daryl Sparkes</a>, Senior Lecturer (Media Studies and Production), <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/30-years-since-the-addams-family-hit-the-big-screen-it-is-still-the-perfect-blend-of-horror-and-comedy-172042">original article</a>.</p>

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