That Food Allergy Scene in Netflix's "You" - Food Allergies Portrayed in the Media
In Netflix’s 2019 premier of the drama series You, we all got to cringe as Dan Humphrey (as he shall always be known) murders a man who is allergic to peanuts by poisoning his drink with peanut oil. In all fairness, I didn’t watch the show. I read the book several years ago, and aside from that one terrifying moment, I thought it was a compelling thriller. Part of me wants to watch the series, but the other part of me is torn. I’ve already seen some negative reactions from allergy bloggers and Instagrammers who I will assume did not read the book beforehand. Had I not already known, I would also have been shocked. The scene is basically our (and I use the word “our” as in, us as the food allergy community) worst nightmare. And while I lamented that a show I otherwise would have already binged was still sitting in the suggested carousel, another thought came to mind; what if this is a sign of progress?
*2020 update: I ended up watching both seasons of the show and loved it just as much as I loved the book
*This post was updated in January 2022 with further film and TV references. It’s amazing to see how much the culture around food allergies has changed in the media. Skip down to Boiling Point for the best example of how far we’ve come.
Hear me out.
Allergic reaction scene in the movie Hitch
When I look back at examples of food allergy in the media during my childhood, the 90’s and 00’s, it makes me flinch. Allergy kids were portrayed as the nerdy kids, the losers, the ones with braces and glasses and a fanny pack (and back then none of those things were perceived as cool). Anaphylactic reactions were inserted as fluff content, something to jazz up an episode, and the character would always recover quickly, sometimes in the school nurse’s office.
Jennifer Lopez has an allergic reaction to peanuts in Monster In Law
Rewatching old episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a fabulous example of such miseducation. In season 1, Libby, the cheerleader bully, has an anaphylactic reaction and is healed simply by getting an epinephrine injection from the school nurse. Life goes on as usual. And in season three, the feeble and mousy teacher, Mrs. Quick’s, corn allergy is leaned on for quick laughs on several occasions.
Libby, second from the right. Mrs. Quick, right.
Image from DVDizzy
Kids, myself included, loved this show and ate it up. No wonder so many of my peers didn’t realize my allergies could be life threatening. The depictions they saw were always comical and inaccurate.
Raven has an allergic reaction to mushrooms in That’s So Raven
But here we are in 2019, with a show that doesn’t portray the allergy guy as a social outcast. He’s good looking, impossibly hip, someone that the main character is jealous of. That’s not to say that every person with food allergy has to look a certain way, or that you have to be traditionally good looking to make up for your disease, but it is refreshing to see a character whose food allergy and perceived “frailty” is not their one defining characteristic.
Although its difficult to watch such a sadistic crime that hits close to home, the allergic reaction plays out in a realistic way. It’s no laughing matter. His actions have consequences and they leave an impact.
SCROLL DOWN FOR A ROUNDUP OF CLIPS AND LINKS TO FOOD ALLERGIES PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA
Benji from Netflix’s You. Image sourced from Pop Buzz
How Food Allergies are Portrayed in the Media These Days is a Sign That Times Have Changed
This isn’t the first time in recent years that a show or movie has depicted an allergic reaction in way that’s true to life (big shout out to the show Working Moms for their realistic depiction of a parent’s panic and fear at her daughter’s allergic reaction), but it is still a rarity (I think we’re all familiar with the Peter Rabbit movie issues). Scenes in movies like Hitch or Monster in Law that depict characters with comically swollen faces are hopefully becoming a thing of the past. I’m waving bye from behind my computer.
Truthfully, those movies irked me more than the scene in You. They made a mockery of my disease and I worried that their downplaying of the severity of anaphylaxis would register with viewers. There is no way I’d drink Benadryl through a straw instead of going to a hospital and using my Epi Pen, and if I had been intentionally poisoned with peanuts before my wedding you can bet I would have reported it to the police.
I can’t tell you how many people have asked me if my allergies “are like Will Smith’s face in Hitch”, or how annoyed I felt when a friend’s mom told me she thought Jennifer Lopez’s puffy lips were so funny in Monster in Law.
This leads me to wonder, why? Possibly because the massive cohort of 80’s/90’s babies with food allergies is all grown up (check out the Demetri Martin special on Netflix), there are more of us out there in the world sharing our experience and educating others. Nearly everyone knows someone with a food allergy, and it’s no longer just a kid thing. If you know someone who has had a reaction then you know how severe it is. You might not consider it a laughing matter because you’d know it’s not. TV and movies are getting better at reflecting their viewers in their content.
I actually paused the show and rewatched the scene in Grown-ish where Aaron says he’s wearing a wristband because he has a nut allergy (internally screaming but not out loud because I live in a condo!!). Did I ever think I’d see a first day of school scene where a character not only tells his new friends that he has food allergy, but also be immediately thrown into a love triangle because his allergy does not make him lesser than any of the other characters? I DID NOT BUT I AM HERE FOR IT. The scene is laid out in such a realistic way, with him shying away a bit as he delivers the line. Reflecting the viewers in the show! Incredible. I hope Kenya Barris includes more mentions and actions related to Aaron’s food allergy throughout the series. If he ever paused to not kiss another character because they had eaten PB, I think I would just cry.
Aaron from Grown-ish wearing a teal food allergy band
Image sourced from Teen Vogue
And there are more realistic food allergy mentions much like this in other shows too, like season 2 episode 3 of Lilyhammer, where a man is killed by peanut. Again, sadistic, but realistic. Also in Dollface, an amazing must-watch show geared towards young adults.
So back to that anaphylactic reaction scene in Netflix’s You. Maybe the portrayal of food allergy as a real and serious thing with potentially grave consequences, in a mainstream TV show, is something worth noting. A sign that we’re making progress, that educating others about the severity of anaphylaxis is getting somewhere, and finally sinking in.
A Somewhat Exhaustive List of Notable mentions of food allergies in film and TV:
I have embedded the videos wherever possible, but in some cases the video or article is hyperlinked in the title. These clips are arranged in no particular order as this is not a ranking chart, it is just a list of notable mentions documented for the purpose of interest.
The Itch Podcast episode 40: Food Allergies Portrayed in the Media
May Contain blog: Has the Film Industry Failed the Food Allergy Community?
Nutritionally Nicole: Reacting to Food Allergy/Anaphylaxis in TV/Movie Scenes
Top Chef season 19, episode 4: one of the chef contestants decides to make a shrimp dish despite being allergic to shellfish. She is eliminated from the show when her dish demonstrated she did not know enough about the ingredient.
Here Today, a Netflix movie where in the first part of the movie, Tiffany Haddish orders an exorbitant amount of seafood in a restaurant and then goes into anaphylaxis, and is sent home shortly after. She no longer has any visible symptoms and Billy Crystal gives her an Epi Pen in her butt cheek.
Boiling Point, 2022, shows the most realistic depiction of an allergic reaction that I have ever seen. It takes place in a restaurant. This is a fantastic movie that will have you on the edge of your seat (and not just because of that one scene; it’s just an incredible movie).
Love Hard shows a poorly managed allergic reaction to kiwi
Curb Your Enthusiasm, talcum powder allergy in Season 10 Episode 1
The Office, “Training Day” episode, new manager Deangelo Vickers has a peanut allergy
Nate Bougatze stand-up - several mentions of child with peanut allergy and millennials having peanut allergy! I could not find the clips
Black AF - Kenya Barris’ family has allergy troubles at the bowling alley S1 E4, scene begins at 28:50 - 30:48
Workin Moms - there is an anaphylaxis scare at a mom and child event
The Babysitter movie: Bella Thorne’s character accidentally-on-purpose gives her rival (who has a nut allergy) a smoothie with almond milk
Stella on How I Met Your Mother accidentally eats peanuts
I couldn’t find the clip, but I did find this recipe for Ted’s Peanut Pesto on Hello Giggles, so there’s that lol.
Rotten docu-series about peanut allergy and peanut farmers
The Simpsons season 18 episode 3, Bart discovers Principal Skinner has a peanut allergy
Squared Love - epinephrine is given by syringe
Arthur - Binky has a nut allergy
The scene starts at 2:46