This is a short continuation of my post from yesterday. The term “angels” has been used to describe nurses to the point of nausea. It really makes me want to gag, and entwining nurses (who are human, afterall) and fluttering apparitions only serves to reinforce the Florence Nightingale image of white capped martyrs who are able to serve without the need for a decent paycheck, sleep, respect, safe working conditions, or a life beyond the confines of the hospital.

Anyway, it is ironic that a miniseries with the word “angel” boldly emblazoned in the title, would have such a positive and refreshing–and definitely non-angelic-like portrayal of nurses. I found an interesting write-up about the nurses of Angels of America at the Nursing Advocacy website. They wrote up an excellent review, although true to the reviews on this site, the reviewer has to mention that Belize’s threat to make IV insertion painful (after just enduring a barrage of racial slurs) is not something that’s part of the nursing curriculum. Come on, Belize is human and he told Roy Cohn that to shut his face up. And it worked.

Anyway, I’m not particularly fond of most of the movie/television reviews on this site, because I find them way too nit-picky. They often seem to have no comprehension of the time period that a movie/TV show takes place in, or when a particular movie was filmed–they just want the nurse to be portrayed as they see fit–the flawless concept of the 2004 nurse. But for the most part, their review of Angels in America is very well done, even with the unneeded comments about nursing school curriculums; like anyone who watched this is going to be wondering about that–gee, is that what they teach nurses in school? To threaten patients with an IV? Sometimes you really do need to just back off and give it a rest.