You have dragged the doctor’s office, sneezing and coughing, turning your head from that cold that refuses to disappear. You are waiting, no, demanding that your doctor looks like Dr. Doug Ross by George Clooney de Er, you know, high, handsome, well dressed. On the other hand, in walks, a pleasant, older and almost retired doctor who, although perfectly competent, does not conform exactly to the television doctor that has been conditioned to wait after years of medical dramas to see. "Where is McDreamy?" You think, in internal mood while your kind doctor writes a recipe. Television lied to you once again, but left us with some very iconic doctors. The saints to the doctors of defective heroes on television have been part of our visual experience for more than 50 years. In the first days, shows such as Medic (1954) offered a unidimensional and highly flattering representation of doctors. These early representations represented doctors as benevolent figures, comforting patients through difficult diagnoses and always delivering priests. Medic was immersed in an aura of reverence for medicine, presenting doctors as incorruptible and saints, guiding viewers through unbearably detailed medical procedures and promising results. At that time, medical technology and advances were treated with amazement, and the public’s fascination for healing previously not treatable diseases reflected these representations on screen. However, this idealized image of doctors began to crumble as social expectations changed. Shows like House changed the paradigm, presenting doctors as bright but deeply defective characters. Dr. Gregory House, for example, is a self -addicted drug diagnosis that barely interacts with their patients, treating them more as puzzles to solve than people who need attention. The approach changed to care for patients to diagnose them and cure them at all costs, with the character of House that embodies the arrogance and recklessness that has become synonymous with modern representations of television doctors. His cold, almost separate behavior was an extreme contrast with the holistic and compassionate doctors of previous decades. Similarly, Gray’s Anatomy portrays doctors as defective and excessively emotional individuals who deal with personal problems that often bleed in their professional life. Doctors no longer appear as untouchable heroes, but regular people prone to the same failures as any other person. This change indicates a broader cultural change in the way we see authority figures in medicine, where once the public placed blind faith in the infallibility of doctors, contemporary shows reflect a more skeptical vision and sometimes cynical The medical profession. Our favorite doctors from all our favorite television doctors, we obtain the most obvious out of the way: Gray’s Anatomy’s Drek Shepherd, also known as McDreamy. Played by the lovely Patrick Dempsey effortlessly, Derek was the neurosurgeon with the best hair of the game and a heart that rivaled his surgical skills. McDreamy was the epitome of the classic television doctor archetype: handsome, charismatic and incredibly talented. He is the doctor who made us dream of walking to a hospital and finding someone like him, although Spoiler alert: they usually do not exist in real life. The following is Dr. Miranda Bailey, also known as “The Nazi” (before political correction forced them to leave that nickname). Bailey, played by Chandra Wilson, is the opposite of McDreamy. She is meaningless, hard as the nails, and demands the best of all around her. But despite its noisy exterior, the compassion and loyalty of Bailey to its interns and patients make it one of the most beloved characters in Gray’s Anatomy. What does it highlight? She is identifiable, while other doctors are trapped in love triangles and dramatic surgeries, Bailey only tries to survive chaos. Enter the sophisticated Dr. Addison Montgomery, the neonatal surgeon who entered Gray’s anatomy to cause drama between McDreamy and Meredith. Interpreted by Kate Walsh, Addison is the type of doctor you imagine in an emergency room with designer heels with a red background and a solution to each problem. While it began as an antagonist (although his interference was seriously deserved), Addison soon became a fans favorite, even scoring his own Spin-off show, private practice. Dr. Max Goodwin of New Amsterdam, played by Ryan Eggold, is the man who enters the hospital with a mission: interrupting the system and putting patients before earnings. Max is the type of doctor we want us to have when dealing with insurance nightmares and the hospital’s endless bureaucracy. He is friendly, idealistic and refreshingly optimistic, even when he faces his own battles (a particularly inconvenient cancer diagnosis). The Max character represents a new race of television doctors, those who challenge the broken health system when the profits seems to be the new objective, especially after Covid’s struggles. More than inclusion, an opposite polar to Max is Dr. Vijay Kapoor, played by Anupam Kher. Vijay is the wise neurologist of the old school who has seen everything. You may not have the flash of a McDreamy, but its soft behavior and genuine attention for your patients make it unforgettable. The Indian inheritance of Dr. Kapoor made it highlight, especially for the public Desi. Its cultural origin is subtly infused into its arc of characters, whether their relationship with your child, the touches of traditional values or how it deals with their patients. There is something familiar to us in the gestures of Kapoor, their language and its act of balance between traditional ideals and modern challenges. He is not tokenized or reduced to his ethnic group; On the other hand, their cultural roots add an additional layer to their personality, which makes it a more nuanced and identifiable figure for the public in southern Asia. He is an expert and experienced doctor, an immigrant who navigates the American medical system with grace, but also has the weight of cultural expectations and personal difficulties that many spectators would recognize. Having a character like Dr. Shaun Murphy on television is deeply important because it challenges the conventional representation of doctors and opens conversations about neurodiversity. As a doctor with autism and wise syndrome in the good doctor, Shaun breaks the mold of what society normally expects professionals in high -risk fields such as medicine. The main debate about the program is ‘Shaun will succeed as a doctor?’, And although he has more against him than on his side, we soon see that skeptics are also winning. His character not only highlights the unique strengths and perspectives that people with autism can contribute to their work, but also helps dismantle stereotypes. The representation is a great step forward in the way we understand and represent the neurodivergentes in the media. Do you have something to add to history? Share it in the comments below.
