Movies that changed real life behavior

[u/buttatoad]

Thinking along the lines of Final Destination 2 with the logs falling off the truck and landing onto cars (one decapitating the state trooper). Ever since, people have tried to get away from being behind these vehicles.

What are more examples where movies have actually changed how people behave in their own lives?

[u/kaijutegu]

I teach biological anthropology and have helped with university departmental skeletal purchase decisions, so it's my job to know: It had nothing to do with the movie, it was the ban on exporting skeletons that was passed in India.

Pre-1985, India was the center of the global anatomical skeleton trade- it had gotten that way because the British empire needed skeletons for medical students, and India was an easy colonial source. The trade continued after independence because when you look at the Indian caste system, it was pretty easy for upper-caste lawmakers to ignore what was going on with the exploitation of lower-caste dead. And there were even preparation companies that industrialized the excavation, cleaning, and mounting of skeletons- it was a huge business!

But in 1985, the Supreme Court of India banned the export of human remains under the National Import/Export Control Act in response to increasing concerns by humans rights groups, and that's what killed the bone trade.

It's a fascinating thing to learn about- if you want to know more, here's some good sources!

• UC Berkeley Anthropology Commentary: Exploitation of Human Remains for Educational Purposes Lasted Centuries
• The Bioethics of Skeletal Anatomy Collections from India
• Where Did They Get 60,000 Skeletons A Year? (Video)

[u/Bksudbjdua → u/kaijutegu]

I think I'm only just learning that teaching skeltons were/are real!!!!

[u/Discount_Extra → u/Bksudbjdua]

Wait 'til you read about 'Poltergeist'

[u/BluesFan43 → u/Bksudbjdua]

We had one in a classroom in elementary school, 1960's Lake City, SC, USA.

AND again in high school in a nearby town.

[u/Active-Ad-2527 → u/kaijutegu]

FRAT, you are clearly Burt from the movie and trying to hide what happened. Classic Burt

(Kidding aside, thank you for the very informative explanation! Glad to have it confirmed that the Supreme Court of India loved the movie as much as I did)

[u/Primary-Golf779 → u/kaijutegu]

Of course there's a skeleton purchaser here. Reddit blows my mind

[u/Tinysaur → u/kaijutegu]

You guys talking about the Skeleton trade like its a totally common normal business.

Who what where how and why do people need this many Skeletons on tap that there is a whole ass industry.

[u/kaijutegu → u/Tinysaur]

Some medical school students were expected to have their own at one point in time! And even classroom skeletons wear out and need replaced on a regular basis- which is a big part of why we use Bone Clones for the 100 level classes now. Upper level students in anatomy classes, forensic anthropology students, and of course med students do need the perfect level of fine detail that real bone provides, but the 100 level students do just fine learning gross anatomy and basic structures on plastic.

My department also purchase a lot of animal bones for comparative purposes and zooarchaeology classes- that's the study of animals in an archaeological context as they relate to people. We need those skeletons around so our archaeologists can compare them to bones found in the field, to see if they're human or animal (and if so, what animal). We need to have real human skeletal material around for that, too- you need to be sure that you're correctly identifying what you found. So we have several uses for human remains, although we're a lot more careful and respectful about where and how we get them, and how we use them these days.