ABSTRACT
The main themes in Neurocinema are sudden confrontation with a major neurologic illness, disability from chronic neurologic disease, and inability to lead a normal life anymore. Acute neurologic conditions produce sudden plot twists and are thus frequently used in screenplays. Dark Victory is a farce when it comes to neurologic manifestations of a brain tumor. Motor neuron disease is not a topic readily chosen by screenwriters, and when it is used, it seems to fall into the general categories of “severe disability” and “dying from an untreatable disorder.” In The Hawaiians, there is a very brief scene showing crippled lepers separated on an island who are pushed away by the lead actor in the film. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has clear criteria for somnambulism that include persistence of sleep or impaired judgment during ambulation and a disturbance that is not better explained by other disorders, drug use, or substance-use disorder.
