1587P - As seen through Hollywood’s lens: Cancer in movies, 2010-2020

Background

The treatment and survival associated with multiple cancers has dramatically improved over the past decade with therapeutic advances. While print and broadcast media often report on cancer, it is unknown how movies depict cancer, treatment, or outcomes. Given that film may influence and shape public opinion, and potential willingness to seek out cancer treatment, we evaluated the portrayal of cancer in movies.

Methods

We searched for movies released between 2010 and 2020 using IMDb.com with search references for cancer in keywords. We excluded non-English language movies to avoid error in translation. We viewed and coded movies to include character’s role, diagnosis, curability, treatment, race/ethnicity, and gender. Per institutional policies, the study was not submitted for IRB approval because all data are publicly available.

Results

We identified 104 movies depicting cancer and oncologists between 2010 and 2020. A total of 108 characters with cancer were portrayed. Female characters were depicted more often (n = 60, 55.6%) than male characters (n = 48, 44.4%). The type of cancer was most often not specified in the movie (n = 40, 37%). The majority of characters were portrayed as having an incurable cancer (n = 70, 64.8%), while the curability of cancer was unknown in 21.3% of roles (n = 23). Only 13.9% of characters (n = 15) were depicted as having a curable cancer. The cancer-directed therapy was not specified or depicted for most characters (n = 37, 34.3%). When treatment was depicted or specified, chemotherapy was the most common treatment shown (n = 36, 33.3%). Two characters were depicted as choosing alternative medicine. Twelve characters were shown to choose forgoing cancer directed treatment. Zero characters (0%) were shown receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors or genomic-based therapies. Hospice or palliative care was discussed and offered for 8 characters (7.4%).

Conclusions

Most movies released from 2010 to 2020 with an oncology storyline do not contain granular details about cancer type or treatment. Most characters were portrayed as having an incurable malignancy. Chemotherapy was the most commonly depicted therapy while newer therapies were not depicted. The portrayal of oncology in recent English-language movies does not accurately reflect the reality of cancer care.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

D.J. Benjamin: Financial Interests, Advisory Board: Astellas, Eisai, Seagen; Financial Interests, Speaker’s Bureau: Merck; Financial Interests, Other: Merck. A. Rezazadeh Kalebasty: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board, advisory board and speaker: Exelixis, Bayer, Pfizer, Genentech, EMD Serono; Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board, speaker and advisory board: AstraZeneca, Novartis, BMS; Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker: Janssen, Astellas Medivation, Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech/Roche, Eisai, AstraZeneca, BMS, Amgen, Exelixis, EMD Serono, Merck, Seattle Genetics/ Astellas, Myovant, Gilead Sciences; Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board: Gilead Sciences; Financial Interests, Institutional, Local PI: Genentech, Exelixis, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Eisai, Macrogenics, Astellas, Beyond Spring, Bioclin Therapeutics, Clovis Oncology, Bavarian Nordic, Seattle Genetics, Immunomedics, Epizy, Arnivas, Navire, Point biopharma, Novartis. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.