Cystic Fibrosis

Five Feet Apart

Madison Cunningham

Figure 1. Lionsgate.com, www.lionsgate.com/movies/five-feet-apart.

The movie Five Feet Apart recently came out and it is a movie about kids with Cystic Fibrosis. This movie focuses on three kids who have Cystic Fibrosis. This movies goes through describing the daily things kids who are sick with this disease must do. It also shows some pretty tragic side effects that can come from having Cystic Fibrosis (Five Feet Apart). Some of the information in the movie is accurate but there is also a decent amount that is inaccurate. According to Access Science, Cystic Fibrosis is a “common inherited genetic disorder that severely damages the lungs, pancreas, liver, and digestive system” (Paranjape, Shruti M.). In the movie, they also allowed other sick kids with CF to be around each other which is banned if kids are sick in the hospital. This will be an analysis on the movie Five Feet Apart and the correctness of the science within it.

Overall, Five Feet Apart is about kids that are sick and in the hospital with Cystic Fibrosis. It is mainly about two kids with Cystic Fibrosis fall madly in love with each other. This is not really practical because they are supposed to stay six feet apart from each other at all times. The main character, Stella, is sick and is very much a rule follower. When she falls in love with Will, who was sicker than she was, she lets go of one foot and agrees to being five feet apart from each other. In this movie Stella’s friend with Cystic Fibrosis passes away. The death of her friend made Stella realize it was time for her to start living her life and stop living in fear (Five Feet Apart).

Figure 2. Faigl, Armando. “Cystic Fibrosis.” Cystic Fibrosis | Armando Hasudungan, armandoh.org/disease/cystic-fibrosis/.

This story line directly relates to biology. Cystic Fibrosis is “A hereditary genetic disorder, resulting from mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene, that severely damages the lungs, digestive system, pancreas, and liver” (Paranjape, Shruti M.). This disease tends to shorten the life of the affected people. They tend to get sick easier and the sickness becomes more severe. 

The way that the disease is portrayed in the film is not the way the disease is in real life. When kids with CF are sick, they would not be allowed to see other sick kids with CF. In this movie, they were allowed to see each other as long if they were six feet apart, but in reality when these kids are sick they are not allowed near each other because they don’t want to get each other more sick (Ammer, Christine). 

This story line relates to numerous topics we have discussed in class. Previously, in class we discussed content on genetics. This directly correlated to Five Feet Apart because the movie is about Cystic Fibrosis which is a genetic disorder. For someone to get Cystic Fibrosis, they have to receive the mutation for that gene from each parent. That means that the gene to get Cystic Fibrosis is recessive. Having a recessive gene means that the only way it will be present is if the dominant gene is not involved. A person’s genes are what determine the characteristics that make up a person. A person’s genes are determined by their parents. In this case, the kids in the movie had parents that were either carriers for the Cystic Fibrosis gene or they had Cystic Fibrosis themselves. To be a carrier means that they have the allele for the trait but that they do not exhibit the trait. The mutation for this gene comes out when both parents carry the gene. If both parents are heterozygous then they have one dominant trait and one recessive trait. If they have offspring they have a 50/50 chance of having offspring with the Cystic Fibrosis gene. The mutation is an alteration of the base pair of the individual DNA sequence (Phelan, Jay). This is a sad disease that  most often leads to a shortened and can be hard to watch a loved one go through.

Work Cited

Paranjape, Shruti M. “Cystic Fibrosis.” AccessScience, McGraw-Hill Education, Jan. 2019.

Five Feet Apart. First edition. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2018.

Ammer, Christine. “Cystic Fibrosis.” The Encyclopedia of Women’s Health, Sixth Edition, Facts On File, 2009. Science Online, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=11992&itemid=WE40&articleId=127622. Accessed 17 Nov. 2019.

Phelan, Jay. What Is Life?: a Guide to Biology. W H Freeman, 2015.