Changing Configurations in the Portrayal of Doctors in Graphic Narratives: A Study of The Bad Doctor and The Lady Doctor

Abstract

The figure of the doctor has always been surrounded by a heroic aura, warranted by the possession of hard-earned medical knowledge and the tenacious reliance on doctors’ ability to heal and emancipate from pain and suffering. However, recent literary and visual-cultural representations of doctors have unsettled the dominant and homogenized perception of physicians as heroes. Particularly, representations in mainstream books, popular media, and comics, which have predominantly offered unilaterally positive initial portrayals of doctors as superhuman figures, eventually provided people with more nuanced and realistic representations, disclosing the “undesirable and unprofessional attitudes” of physicians and their sufferings. Ian Williams’ graphic narratives The Bad Doctor (2014, Oxford: Myriad Editions) and The Lady Doctor (2019, Oxford: Myriad Editions) serve as a critical lens to reflect on the postmodern perspective of doctor as a “wounded healer” and illuminate the problematic view of physicians as heroes. Drawing instances from the aforementioned graphic narratives, this essay aims to provide a revisionary understanding of physicians from heroes to victims of larger-than-life forces such as bureaucracy and the demands of patients. The essay scrutinizes how the verbal-visual medium of comics facilitates the envisioning and enunciating of the troubled personal and professional lives of physicians and the complexities involved in the medical profession.