Comparative Systems of Healing: Flexible Bodies, parts 3 & 4, set 8

“I learned later that the discovery of the flexibility of the antibody was a galvanizing moment in the development of immunology.”

(Flexible Bodies, Emily Martin, p. 92).

“In my mind, this language crashed into contemporary descriptions of the economy of the late twentieth century with a focus on flexible specialization, flexible production, and flexible rapid response to an ever-changing market with specific, tailor-made products… This course on immunology made me want to know much more about how scientists see their work fitting into daily life and how they imagine the world inside the body.”
(Flexible Bodies, Emily Martin, p. 93)

The idea of the flexibility of the immune system shown to Martin by her immunology professor created an implosion in her fieldwork where different elements that she was studying finally came soundly together for her (p. 91). The immune system as her professor described it was flexible and constantly adapting in order to continue to fight off damaging antigens. Mentioning the world inside the body as imagined by scientists and the flexibility of that world in order to work as efficiently as it can brings to mind images Martin talked about in her book of how societies function. As our society progresses and changes so does our understanding of the immune system.

She talks about the perceived hierarchy of cells where the T cells are the masculine hero commanders, and all other cells are either feminized, such as B cells taking orders from the T cells, or macrophages, which were feminine because they did the housekeeping, or were compared to minorities who held the most basic and menial jobs. This hierarchy, which was commonly put into the context, by the media, of a military campaign or war being fought inside our bodies, was reflected outside of bodies as well. As our society has started to break down that old hierarchy of white male domination, and women and minorities are now accepted as useful members of society, the perceived hierarchy of the immune system has also broken down. Martin says that the younger people she interviewed as well as many alternative medicine practitioners described health and immunity as a complex system where the elements are well managed in relation to each other. (p. 89). The immune system in the body is evolving from a hierarchical interpretation to one that is in a state of homeostasis. Each system in the body relies on and works with the others to keep the body functioning at its best.

This idea of a world inside the body reminds me of the movie “Osmosis Jones” and its later spin off “Ozzy & Drix”. Osmosis Jones is described as a hot-blooded, adventure seeking rebel cop type white blood cell working in the body of Bill Murray’s character. He is forced to take on a new partner, Drix, a cold pill after making too many hotheaded mistakes that embarrass the mayor and police chief. They have adventures, battle a killer virus and in the end Osmosis gets the girl and the petty mayor gets farted out of the body. It’s a story that mirrors any number of cheesy Hollywood action, adventure police movies, but with many clever puns. The Saturday morning spin off is basically the same. This movie is an example of the changing knowledge of the immune system to an idea of a system that functions like a metropolis with all the parts of the body, big and microscopic working together in a mutually supportive way. Even though there is a hierarchy reflective of popular movies, it shows that the body needs all of its systems working together efficiently in order to be healthy.