Lobotomies were common in th 1940s and 50s but had almost completely fallen out of favor by 1970. Most nations had outlawed the procedure, not that anyone was still performing them at that late dat except the quackiest of quacks. By the time the movie came out in 1975, the lobotomy was not practiced in American mental hospitals. The book came out in 1962, when it was at least possible to have a lobotomy, but even then, it had fallen out of favor except in the most extreme cases.

The reason is twofold: they are ineffective and we developed drugs to deal with metal disorders. A film coming out in 1975 to warn the American public of the dangers of the lobotomy is like a film coming out now to warn us of the Y2K bug.

It's a shock tactic, and one that wouldn't have been used on McMurtry. It wasn't a punitive procedure and even then, there is the element of consent for any surgical procedure. Even if the film was set when a lobotomy was more likely, like 1950, the doctors still likely would have gotten consent (ok, probably fraudulently, but they still check the box).

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Posted by molsusports

Member since Jul 2004

36178 posts

Posted on 6/12/15 at 3:35 pm to Baloo

quote:
The book came out in 1962, when it was at least possible to have a lobotomy, but even then, it had fallen out of favor except in the most extreme cases.

As you note, the book was written in 1962, not 1975. The procedure was performed in the United States until 1967. Yes, most of those took place in the 40s and 50s, but no it was not practiced only on individuals for whom a moral health practitioner should have concluded there was no other option.

There are unfortunately a lot of examples of this. NPR did a story on this featuring Howard Dully (an unruly boy who was lobotomized only 2 years before the book was published):

LINK

I would also argue that a viewer who thinks this raises questions about only the lobotomy procedure and not the issue of how people with mental health issues are treated has missed the larger point. For that matter the viewer should surely consider how people sucked up into the mental health system like Howard Dully, women with postpartum depression, or the protagonist are treated without regard for their best interests.

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