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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22242
03/03/05 02:01 AM
03/03/05 02:01 AM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,544 AZ
Turnbull
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,544
AZ
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The standard treatment for diabetes ca. 1958 (when we see him and his bodyguard on the train) was insulin injections, not oral medication. I'm guessing that the pill he took was Miltown, the tranquilizer of choice from the mid-50's through the mid-60's, probably the most widely prescribed drug of that era (made famous by the Rolling Stones in "Mother's Little Helper"). Geary probably popped a Miltown just before he made his "oily hair" speech. I think the purpose of FFC having Michael order club soda in Havana while Fredo ordered a banana daquiri was to point up Michael's discipline in the face of mortal danger, while Fredo, weakling, needed a drink ("Listen, Mikie, I'm a little nervous after the plane ride...could I have a...a...drink?").
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22243
03/03/05 02:04 AM
03/03/05 02:04 AM
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 924 toronto
mr. soprano
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 924
toronto
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i agree that the diabetes was just something brought in to punish mike in part three. ffc was so fascinated with the idea of having this character suffer so much that he needed infinate ways to make mike misrable.
"strange things happen all the time, and so it goes and so it goes. and the book says, 'we may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us'" - MAGNOLIA
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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22244
03/03/05 10:34 AM
03/03/05 10:34 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,762 Anytown, USA
goombah
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,762
Anytown, USA
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Originally posted by JustMe: Why do you think he drinks too much water? Why shouldn't he drink water just because he's thirsty? I always thought that his diabetes was powerful invention of Coppola to have him somehow punished. There's no direct proof of his diabetes in GF1 and not a single word about such a thing in the book. I agree with you about nothing referenced in the first film that would lead one to know about Michael's diabetes. But in the second film, along with the alternate script of GFII , there is more direct evidence of the illness. In fact, the alternate script even says: Michael sits at a table having a sparse lunch. He is attended by his sister Connie, who seems to be the closest person now living on the estate with him. We see from the way she pampers him with his lunch, that she has fallen into the role of a surrogate Mother-Wife. He seems older than his years, as though his illness, diabetes, has taken its toll. I would just add that, along with the illness, the stress of just having had Fredo killed was why Michael looks so despondant in the boathouse.
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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22246
03/03/05 11:13 AM
03/03/05 11:13 AM
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 44 home of the wildcats, kentucky
belle
Wiseguy
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Wiseguy
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 44
home of the wildcats, kentucky
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Nah, I don't think the water drinking and problem with his eyes had anything to do with the Type II diabetes that Michael is afflicted with later. The pills he took on the train were probably to sleep or perhaps just an aspirin. For heaven's sake think about the previous twenty four hours Michael must have had before being on the train. The party, his whore sister and her beau, the greasy senator and his greasy hair speech ,and Kay's nagging. Oh yeah and don't forget the hail(sp) of machine gunfire coming through his bedroom window almost killing him and his pregnant wife. This is a man who is the head of the most powerful mafia family in the country so stress is bound to be a factor in this man's life. Besides my boyfriend of ten years is diabetic and while excessive thrist is one of the first signs of diabetes I don't think Michael actions in any way are related.
Winegardner sleeps with the fishes.
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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22249
03/04/05 01:07 PM
03/04/05 01:07 PM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 151 Michigan
Lollie
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 151
Michigan
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Is there some reference in GFIII to indicate that Michael had/has diabetes? As I've said several times, I've only seen GFIII once, and that was enough for me, so I can't claim to know the movie inside and out. If there is no specific reference to it, then I don't know why one would bother to assume that this is some kind of underlying storyline. For what purpose? There doesn't seem to be any storyline, whether blatantly or underlying that doesn't have some specific purpose to it, that we learn about eventually and that ties some ends together. Michael having diabetes would be as significant as Kay having monthly cramps due to polyps! Neither does it tie anything together nor answer any questions about Michael's personality or problems. There just is no rhyme or reason for it.
I know this is asking a lot, but if you could, would you be able to type up a synopsis of what it says in GFIII regarding Michael having diabetes? If it is in GFIII, then I would like to research it for myself to see if I can find wha the author had in his mind at time time he wrote it. (I happen to be teaching this very subtopic in American Literature in my classes this week: determining the author's purpose! Pretty interesting stuff!)
~~ Lollie
"Sono una roccia; Sono un'isola...una roccia non ritiene dolore; un'isola non grida mai."
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Re: Michael's Diabetes
#22251
03/05/05 03:51 PM
03/05/05 03:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 151 Michigan
Lollie
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 151
Michigan
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JustMe: Well, that just validates even more my assessment of GFIII: that it was just a cheap shot at trying to squeeze another movie out of GFI and GFII. Had they taken their time and really thought it out carefully, and taken into consideration other options they could have taken rather than just another ongoing storyline, I think FFC is/was clever enough to come up with something that would have been very unique and very complimentary to the other two movies. Instead, GFIII, like you said, turns the story into a melodrama like you'd see on a soap opera in the afternoon rather than taken some interesting angle at the whole story. Maybe filled in a few gaps, taken some storylines and embellished them--perhaps answered some other questions. But, they were too much in a hurry. Well, this is what happens when you rush through things. (I try to tell my students this all the time!)
~~ Lollie
"Sono una roccia; Sono un'isola...una roccia non ritiene dolore; un'isola non grida mai."
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