ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes the use of a 2012 Chinese film Design of Death (Shasheng 杀生) by a ‘sixth-generation’ director Guan Hu 管虎 to explore the ‘shady’ aspects of modern medicine: the hierarchy in the medical establishment, the pressure to conform, the relentless pursuit of longevity (or rather, the delay of death), and the coldness, detachment, and deception of the doctor trained in western medicine (versus the doctor of Chinese medicine), all of which can be summarised by the term ‘hidden curriculum’. This chapter also argues that by ‘close reading’ and understanding the metaphors and non-linear plot of the film, medical students’ narrative competence can be improved.
