Why people thought tuberculosis was hot

[@CalibanL]

I'm late to this video but I have to say, this is fascinating and I really want to contrast it with the (fictional) Hanahaki disease that is prevalent in a lot of fan fiction. If you don't know, it's a fictional condition in which a person who has unconfessed and/or unrequited love begins to grow flowers in their lungs. As it progresses thorns grow and they begin to vomit blood/petals until they die. Presenting as a wasting respiratory illness, centered on love and tragedy, cured by either confession or reciprocation. It's visibly poetic. What is interesting to me is rather than something that enhances the beauty/sex of someone it seems to push the ugliness of the whole "disease". I wonder if more modern readers crave a more... graphic image or maybe our advanced medical knowledge makes too kind a death hard to believe. Or the aspect of religion being far lessened. It's still heavily romantic just. Differently.

[@chrisogrady28]

7:18 what a languishing beauty

[@books_ncats]

Isn't she just! 🐱

[@Pratchettgaiman]

The closest I've gotten to TB is a case of whooping cough, which has symptoms similar to TB (although TB's are much worse). It was neither easy, nor sexy, nor romantic

[@books_ncats]

I’m not surprised, it doesn’t sound pleasant!

[@fabricdragon]

OOOh me too!

[@CatMom-uw9jl]

I’ve had bronchitis several times, and that’s more than enough.

[@SuziQ.]

Bronchitis, pneumonia, and dozens of strep throats, but not tuberculosis. Not sexy. 😂

[@Isrjisoneavalable]

Unless someone has some VERY specific fetishes for hacking up phlegm, wheezing, stress incontanance, yeh, respiratory illnesses are not sexy.

[@fabricdragon]

oh, current literaturean and mythic illness? the Korean girlfriend dying of something beautiful in the soap opera plots... hanumaki disease (death of the flowers, where instead of blood you spit up flowers due to unrequited love) etc

[@TylerOMasta-nx8jg]

This is actually super interesting to learn about especially because recently i performed in a show called alice by heart (if you haven't heard of it or listened to it then you 100% should it is a stunning musical production) and one of the big plot points is that the main character, alice, has a childhood friend who she is lowkey in love with who is dying of tb. The parallels i drew from this romanticisation of the diseases from the romantic period that still showed within the show were super cool to think about. Its also cool because it has a good balance of the childhood being like sexualised and with the disease but also showing their hard truth of his disease.

[@pamsisler2396]

When I was young in the early sixties, I thought tb was romantic. Read many novels. Thank you for your knowledge.

[@SingingWithMyself-Frozen]

RIP Romantics you would have loved The Fault in Our Stars

[@mannu660]

This was a great watch especially after just learning of consumption from the final peaky blinders season

[@EleanorDeakinPoet]

I don't know if someone already said it, but this reminded me of the whole 'heroin chic' thing in the 90s, and of course we still have the presence of a culture of unwell looking models as well as 'thinspo' culture in corners of the Internet.

[@Momnpop98]

Thank you for this explanation. I had presumed consumption was alcoholic liver failure, which I thought was weird that children were dying from it also.

[@aliciamarie9704]

Your dear kitty is a well behaved delight to the eyes! 😊

[@books_ncats]

Thank you! She is an angel (most of the time) 😻

[@willowmakes]

mouse is almost too adorable 🫶

[@Isrjisoneavalable]

My grandmother caught TH from her father as a child. He died from it and it was expected she would also before she was 16. But she was the opposite of a frail consumptive passively languishing in beautiful but tragic surroundings. She was determined to live her life the way she wanted and even ran away from a Santorum her family had sent her to because they weren’t feeding her enough (she was liked her food and was not about to try a starvation diet). She was very intellectual but definitely not romantic or sentimental in anyway. She lived into her 60’s, when to university, married, had 4 children, met 5 of her 8 grandchildren, and even though the TB and versus treatments had wrecked havoc on her body (she was down to half a working lung and needed an oxygen tank in her bedroom, and it shows you the standard of health and safety that despite this my grandfather still smoked his pipe in bed!) she rarely spoke about her health and never let it define her. She was a ‘difficult women’ -read stubborn, would say exactly what she thought, and did things her way regardless of others opinions, be they professional or amateur- the opposite of a romantic consumptive- and I truly think that’s the reason she lived.

[@FreeWaves9]

I wonder if those in power pushed these myths to detract from the fact that they didn't really do anything to help...

[@EllieVie8]

Great video!! Super interesting and great to see a bit more of Mouse too! I guess a lot of people secretly dream of having a dramatic yet not too painful death surrounded by loved ones giving you sympathy and a perfect excuse to get your crush's attention hahaha especially if you can blame it on being too much of a good and creative person!

[@books_ncats]

Thank you 😄 yes, I can definitely see why people might subscribe to the myths rather than face the grim reality. Glad you enjoyed!

[@ungureanugabi2489]

I love your co-producer❤

[@TheGabeCapes]

I am really enjoying these!!

[@books_ncats]

I'm glad! Thanks ☺️

[@budthecollie]

A really well researched and presented video.

[@books_ncats]

Thanks ☺️

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

Hmmm... I wonder how much this influencer the movie Philadelphia. Instead of showing what would be considered a "good Christian death," the movie leans into the horror of AIDS and the true humanity of the person inflicted. Rather than lean into romantic idealism, it makes a point to be real no matter how ugly so that you can also see the true beauty of Denzel Washington's character's compassion for Tom Hanks' character. It's even called Philadelphia to highlight the point of brotherly, not romantic, love.

[@books_ncats]

Hmm interesting, I can't comment because I haven't actually seen it, but thanks for sharing - Rosie

[@Lady_Daae]

This changes the way I saw the movie many years ago, I'll rewatch it with this in mind!

[@FreeWaves9]

Your cat has a very adorable RBF lmao🥰

[@crk.resrhetorica]

This was very interesting!

[@books_ncats]

Thank you! - Rosie

[@Pallasathena-hv4kp]

They went to a lot of soirées, and hung around in crowded cafes? lol Reminds me of the famous courtesan Marie Duplessis. The opera by Verdi, La Traviatta, is about her and depicts a lot of what you discussed in this video. La Boheme too

[@sharonthompson672]

Ms Mouse!!! 🥰