Summary

Sniffles and Sneezes

Source Archive Films by Getty Images
Title: Sniffles and Sneezes
File Number: PA-1341 Beta SP; PA-0513 Digibeta
Color: B W
Type: Educational
Year: 1955
Subjects: HEALTH COLDS DISEASE CONTAGION SNEEZES SNIFFLES COUGHS PREVENTION GERMS HUMOR COMEDY ANIMATION CHILDREN SCHOOLS CLASSROOMS EPIDEMICS MEDICINE Educational films Health and hygiene Germs Disease Sneezes Sniffles Colds (common) Common colds Classrooms Boys Girls Children Eskimo people Mothers and children (Eskimo) Fishing (ice, Eskimo) Ethnographic film (photographing Eskimos) Scientists Viruses Graphics ("Virus") Hands Animation Smudges Germs (animated) Surrealism Fantasy Paranoia (anti-germ) Bacteria Coughing Germ clouds (animated) Microscopes Books (boy and girl consult) Finger licking Licking (finger) Table setting Heads (animated) Noses (animated) Mucus Cilia Pharynx Sinuses Eustachian tubes Nasal sprays Medicines (nasal sprays) Advertising (cold medicines) Pharmaceutical industry (advertising) Medical advertising Special effects Children (disappearing) Bed rest Children (sick) Boys (sick) Boys (sick in bed) Nose blowing Radio (listening to) Graphics ("Infantile Paralysis") Graphics ("Measles") Graphics ("Diphtheria") Graphics ("Whooping Cough") Graphics ("Scarlet Fever") Graphics ("Influenza") Flu Infantile paralysis (graphics) Measles (graphics) Diphtheria (graphics) Whooping cough (graphics) Scarlet fever (graphics) Influenza (graphics) Diseases (graphics) Polio (graphics) Larynx Bronchi Lungs Pneumonia Eating habits Exercise Bicycling Clothing (sensible) Sleep (adequate) Lights (turning off for bed) Food (sharing) Toothbrushes Bathrooms Sanitation Sanitary habits Hand washing Fingernail scrubbing Hygiene Softball Sports safety
Description: Sniffles and Sneezes Correlated with Health and Safety for You, by Harold S. Diehl and Anita D. Laton. SHOWS HOW COLDS ARE SPREAD BY SNEEZING, COUGHING & CARELESS HANDLING OF INFECTED ARTICLES. OUTLINES PRECAUTIONS TO FOLLOW TO PREVENT SPREAD OF COLDS. Ken Smith sez: "The average human being produces a quart of mucus every day." There're lots of shots of kids sneezing in this film germs are portrayed as a scary black smudge that's passed along unknowingly from person to person. If that isn't enough to traumatize the kiddies, a montage reviews all the deadly diseases that can begin as colds: "Diphtheria." "Scarlet Fever." "Infantile Paralysis." It's good we have films like this to put things in perspective. Though Sniffles and Sneezes employs bizarre means to depict the spread of infection, it s pretty much like many other health films. Presenting infection as a clear and present danger spread by ordinary human contact (including conversation, doorknobs, and handshaking), this film tends to argue for quarantine of the sick and extreme sanitary precautions, and engenders paranoiac attitudes. It isn't much of a stretch to look at this film and find the roots of public attitudes towards people with AIDS.
}