I was at brunch with some friends a few weeks ago, one of whom is a massage therapist. We got onto the topic of–what else–politics, and my friend talked about how pervasively the alt-right has seeped into her sphere, which once felt like a bastion of, if not leftist ideas, at least anti-conservative ones. As the US government starts pushing fringe health theories into the mainstream, two recent TV shows–Apple Cider Vinegar and Common Side Effects–also explore this world and its dark side. Both shows make space to think about a world that can sometimes feel too big to wrap your head around, but they also raise the volume on dangerous wellness conspiracies.
Apple Cider Vinegar is a recent Netflix series that intersperses a fictionalized account of fraudulent wellness influencer Belle Gibson with two actually fictional characters: Milla Blake, a woman who believes she cures her cancer through juicing and coffee enemas (and who seems based on a real-life influencer who ultimately died of cancer), and a woman with breast cancer named Lucy who becomes a fan of Belle’s work.
(The following contains some general spoilers for the plot of Apple Cider Vinegar)
Belle falsely claims to have been diagnosed with various cancers that she treats with a diet that ultimately becomes the worldwide phenomenon The Whole Pantry (while I didn’t recognize Belle’s name when I first started the show, I absolutely remembered the cookbook.). Her fraud comes to light following reporting by Australian newspaper The Age, which first exposed that donations The Whole Pantry promised to various charities and individuals were never paid; the scrutiny ultimately forced Belle to admit that she had never had cancer.
The show jumps between multiple stories and timelines in a way that can be a bit confusing (the waters were further muddied for me given my feeling that the main actresses all look a bit alike) but which works to paint a complex picture of the world of wellness influencers. Milla, unlike Belle, earnestly believes that her non-medical cures saved her from having to have her arm amputated. When her cancer returns at the height of her fame, it doesn’t just threaten the media empire she’s built, but her entire sense of herself and her belief in the things she’s devoted her life to.
Lucy, meanwhile, is just a regular person. Her partner, who is one of the journalists investigating Belle, tries to stand by her through her treatment, but they grow estranged as Lucy’s fascination with Belle draws her deeper into alternative medicine. Unlike Belle and Milla, both of whom financially benefit from their experiences, we see the damage the wellness sphere does to Lucy financially, medically, and interpersonally.
Apple Cider Vinegar also shows how its protagonists’ actions affect other people in their lives. When Milla first decides to pursue alternate medicine instead of having her arm amputated, we see her parents struggle between supporting her and wanting her to get the care the doctors recommend. Later in the series, her mother is diagnosed with cancer; Milla insists she eschew traditional medicine. Lucy’s partner is motivated to look into Belle as much by his profession as he is wanting to free Lucy from Belle’s grip. Belle’s partner Clive is in a unique position; he loves Belle and her son, and he also clearly loves the swanky lifestyle her fame affords him. But he struggles as Belle’s story starts to fall apart.
What I appreciated most about Apple Cider Vinegar is the way the multiple storylines complicate what might otherwise be another grifter tale in the vein of The Inventor or Inventing Anna. While plenty of wellness gurus are obviously frauds, there are surely more people who are drawn to that space because they honestly believe in what it has to offer, and who become more than just participants because they earnestly want to help people. Through the show’s stories, we see how people value more than just the juices and health outcomes; the wellness world provides a sense of purpose and a narrative for the world that helps people make sense of themselves and their circumstances.
In their book Conspirituality, Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker write that “People are drawn to both marginal spiritual communities and conspiracism because 1) they are attracted to the idea of knowing something necessary for survival, 2) that no one else knows, and 3) that they can share with other kindred spirits.” When Milla’s cancer returns, she meets a woman who offers her black salve for her tumors; the woman tells her she can’t legally sell Milla the salve “because the government are scared of its potential to destroy the big cancer industry.” Conspirituality calls this an “an imagined fall from organic grace… as folk medicines were discredited by the captains of new pharmaceutical industries, and as spiritual rites were disenchanted by academics and bureaucrats.”
This strand in Apple Cider Vinegar would be right at home in another recent show, Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects.That show follows Marshall, who has discovered a mushroom that cures all diseases, and his attempts to evade the government and pharmaceutical companies that want to get their hands on it. In one way, it flips Apple Cider Vinegar’s health frauds on their heads–there really is a miracle cure out there “they” want to keep you from, and we see it have real results throughout the show. But unlike Apple Cider Vinegar’s characters, Marshall seems to have no desire for riches and fame; he just wants to save humanity with his discovery, while powerful forces try to stop him. He is, in a sense, portrayed as the exact kind of hero so many wellness influencers seem to believe they are, or at least present themselves as.
Both shows deal with themes that are incredibly relevant today. It is indeed true that government and medical bureaucracy prevent people from getting the care they need and create dehumanizing systems. But the wellness world’s brand of conspiracy often fails to take the right aim, inventing a shadow cabal that wants to push drugs and harm people instead of focusing on capitalism’s role in the health care industry. This thread feels especially notable now that RFK Jr. runs the Department of Health and Human Services. RFK’s “MAHA” (“Make America Healthy Again”) agenda whiffs of health conspiracies and wellness hacks that would be right at home in both shows’ worlds: vaccine skepticism, non-medical treatments for diseases, and various stances and theories that appeal to the alt-right. Some of it might sound good on its face–a hypothetical priority on healthy food and chronic diseases would be a good thing, if they weren’t pushed by a guy who drinks raw milk–but leaning into this as a country isn’t going to lead to some kind of wellness utopia; it’s just going to kill people and spread more misinformation.
While Apple Cider Vinegar both humanizes and takes aim at this, Common Side Effects seems to revel in it, at least so far (the show’s season isn’t over yet). As games journalist Ian Walker pointed out, “It's just a mysterious mushroom from the rain forest instead of a horse dewormer.” What does it mean for both shows to explore themes that have long caused real harm, and are gearing up to cause more widespread harm now? Both shows make space to think about these issues apart from the horrors of the news; as fiction, they can look more deeply and explore more facets than a news story that has to prioritize accurate information above all else. But they also turn up the volume on a confusing world that’s already making a lot of noise in the public sphere, potentially giving it more validity in some people’s eyes. And while I don’t believe fiction is duty-bound to give moral instruction–neither show needs some kind of “remember: this is bad” placard–does Common Side Effects’ thriller conspiracy as humanized through its animation style and writing, or the ways in which Apple Cider Vinegar paints Belle as compelling, add fuel to the fire of these conspiracies?
I enjoy both shows a lot, including indulging in a certain brand of escapism they offer by letting me enter a version of our current world that doesn’t lead to babies getting measles. And art is, of course, one way we explore and make meaning out of our lives, and the accelerated rise of the wellness sphere is something that’s urgently present in the lives of Americans right now. Ultimately, maybe anything that takes wellness claims out of the mouths of the people who peddle them has value, especially these days.
