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| Image: TV Tokyo, 1997 |
In December 1997, around 700 people were hospitalized in Japan after the first and only airing of the episode Electric Soldier Porygon from Pokémon. According to publications in various newspapers from the time, the patients presented cases of seizures, conscience loss, bloody vomit, migraines, and even memory loss. All of this after twenty minutes from the beginning of the episode, concurring with a scene where the colors onscreen changed drastically fifty-four times in less than five seconds.
After this event, Japan’s health ministry suspended the airing of the show nearly during a year. At the same time, investigations were started under the suspicion of negligence on TV Tokyo’s part, as this company oversaw its diffusion.
Many doctors identified the symptoms as episodes of television epilepsy, best known as photosensitive epilepsy, which is triggered by diverse light effects, including stroboscopic lights, or strobes, like the ones used during the episode. This theory was confirmed when studying the medical history of those affected, reason why the broadcasting of the episode was globally forbidden while various Japanese animation studios established guidelines which should be abided by every animated show in hopes to avoid a repetition of the event.
This incident took place during the show’s first year of airing and, although its fame hadn’t reach the level that it possesses actually, it had already managed to become one of the most watched shows at the time, especially among kids and teenagers, whereby it is not surprising the majority of the victims where minors, even less once photosensitive epilepsy’s nature -and even epilepsy’s in general-, is taken into consideration, as this condition is often developed during childhood and, in many cases, there’s the possibility of being outgrown.
In general terms, epilepsy is a nervous system disorder in which the brain sends abnormal signals that result in the temporary loss of control over brain coordinated processes. These episodes are called seizures or epileptic crises.
Although the term “seizure” has been made popular in mass media as violent body shakes and conscience loss, this is only one way the condition can be presented. Other epileptic crises are: absence seizures, characterized by the momentary loss of consciousness; tonic seizures, which cause muscular stiffness; atonic, causing of falls due to loss of muscular tone; clonic, presenting repetitive and involuntary muscle movements; myoclonic, or sudden limb spasms; focal without memory loss (or simple partials), altering the senses and creating spontaneous movements; and, finally, focal with memory loss (or complex partials), which cause fainting spells and repetitive movements.
It is worth noting that the different seizure types are solely symptoms, and therefore the usage of strobes does not cause epilepsy, but trigger the symptoms and, even if these are not the disorder itself, they can be dangerous on their own account by exposing the affected to a bigger brain damage.
Not every person who suffers from epilepsy is also photosensitive but, since this condition affects the nervous system, they can present sensorial sensibility, which is also challenged by strobes. In addition to this, kids between one and fifteen years are the most prone to develop photosensitivity when they possess a genetic predisposition to epilepsy and are exposed to this kind of effects.
The available information about photosensitive epilepsy has done nothing but grow since the events elicited by the famously forbidden Pokémon episode, turning strobes as seizure triggers as a piece of general culture. At the same time, multiple guides about ways to avoid triggering seizures with audiovisual content have been developed.
Among the recommendations emitted by professionals on the area are:
- Flashing sequences must not last more than five seconds (includes sudden color changes, especially red and blue).
- Flashing sequences must not use more than three or four flashes per second when they cover more than 25% of the screen.
- The movement of contrasting color patterns or uniform text must be avoided when they cover more than 25% of the screen.
- Contrasting color patterns or uniform text must not be used in more than 40% of the screen.
These recommendations apply to television, movies, concerts, and web content.
Regardless of this, Pokémon was not the first nor the last piece of audiovisual content to trigger seizures on its public. On the contrary, the usage of strobe lights has been popularized in the last few years, including its prolonged application in movies and shows aimed to kids.
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| Image: Disney Pixar, 2018 |
The Incredibles (2004) is a kid’s movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. This film not only represented a big box-office success, but it continued the trend of both studios to develop new technologies for every project. In this case, character skin effects were improved, and innovative hair and clothing simulations were created.
More than ten years later, this movie’s sequel came to theaters, attracting people of all ages, showing once more their ability to improve digital animation in a short amount of time, especially when Pixar is involved.
Despite this, the responsibility techniques from both production houses didn’t follow the same pattern, because the day of its premiere many audience members reported through social media the constant usage of strobes during the movie.
At least five scenes with flashing sequences, all with a duration between fifteen and ninety seconds, representing three and eighteen times more length than the recommended maximum, not mentioning that, according to the audience, said scenes were vital to comprehend the plot.
Before June 15th, 2018, day of the premiere, no warning about strobe lights was given through any medium; not in the trailer, not in box-office, not even a message prior to the showings. The warnings were started by audience members after the premiere and many cases of seizures inside of the theatres. After this, Disney emitted a notice inviting theaters to use a photosensitivity warning at box-office.
Beyond being different content from different studios, Pokémon and The Incredibles 2 have two clear differences: the available information, and the implemented measures.
It doesn’t have to be spelt out: 1997 and 2018 were very different years. Not only internet access was limited in 1997, the only instance of any popular audiovisual material causing seizures on its consumers prior to Pokémon was in 1981 with the videogame Space Invader, phenomenon registered in a medical journal of the time which, to this day, is hard to obtain. In addition to this, it seems like said case wasn’t as documented as the caused by Electric Soldier Porygon.
Despite being able to disassociate from any responsibility by being a little-known fact, TV Tokyo decided to maintain its integrity by forbidding the episode in question and cancelling the TV show during a year with the goal to focus that time into performing investigations to prevent the repetition of the event, in addition to joining forces with other Japanese studios to regulate content, helping perform more studies about photosensitive epilepsy, showing respect for their audience.
Coming to 2018, the knowledge about photosensitivity and ways to prevent seizures is higher, as it should be expected after twenty years of one of the most significative events for the epileptic community. At the same time, it’s rare to meet someone without an internet connection, yet the number of titles that employ stroboscopic lights, and the access to them, keeps increasing: Stranger things (2016), American Horror Story (2011), Sense8 (2015), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and Breaking Dawn part 1 (2011), are only a few of the audiovisual pieces that caused seizures in their public before the premiere of The Incredibles 2.
The damage caused by this movie not only could have been avoided through comparation and simple common sense, there are multiple guides on the best practices to avoid triggering seizures, as well as an automatized test through a Harding machine, and an online version of the same.
According to its website, the Harding test, developed by Cambridge’s research team, analyzes videos in search of specific seizure provoking patterns, generating a certificate that settles whether the film is safe or not.
The biggest problem related to this test is its elevated price, which is an impediment for independent productions, but certainly not for Disney; The Incredibles 2 has a 120 minutes length, films of this duration require a payment of 130 pounds sterling, around 162.04 US dollars. The budget for this movie was 200 million dollars.
Even if it was a case of economical restraint, the United Kingdom and Japan require to pass the Harding test before getting approval to distribute any audiovisual material. The Incredibles 2 premiered in both countries, but the movie that was shown was edited to decrease the stroboscopic effects without altering the plot.
Not only the test was performed before the premiere, but the original version was used in the rest of the world regardless of its failing grade, and without employing any warning before the seizure cases. Is it necessary to explain why this decision could be considered blatant negligence?
It’s incredible to notice that TV Tokyo took better measures in 1997, when there was virtually no information available. Way better than Disney and Pixar, multimillionaire enterprises, in 2018 and with access to hundreds of studies performed across twenty years.
According to law and bioethics doctor Eleonora Lamm, human dignity “Implies the necessity of every human being to be treated on a stance of equality and the opportunity to enjoy the fundamental rights that derive from them”. Isn’t health a fundamental right?
Many advocates of this and many other seizure inducing films argue that the creator’s artistic vision shouldn’t have to be sacrificed to accommodate a few people. This opinion not only shows a lack of empathy, but is also irresponsible, since it attempts against the life and safety of more than a million and a half persons in the world.
Artistic vision is important, but the line needs to be drawn where other people’s rights start. In other words, if the way you choose to express yourself ends up with someone at the hospital, your artistic vision should take a back seat.
Let’s also consider that exposition to stroboscopic lights can be so harmful, in 1997 Japan’s army tried to develop a weapon based on them. This is not about censorship. It is not even about banning strobe lights, but about its regulation; strobes have good uses within the deaf community, helping them to enjoy concerts, and employing them as smoke alarms or even alarm clocks.
However, there is a big difference between their employment for emergencies and/or domestic situations, where the users are conscious of their existence, and using them in front of people with no warning during recreative activities.
Creators should have all the freedom to develop their artistic vision as long as they follow the existing guidelines on the number and proportion of flashing scenes on screen, as well as giving a clear, timely, and accurate notice of its usage and nature, providing on site methods to mitigate any adverse effects that may arise on people who are not aware of their condition. It’s from those warnings that audiences can decide the content they consume, and demand safe versions of it.
Furthermore, these alternate versions should be the norm at public spaces, reserving the special effects for DVD and streaming services as a special feature of the same, but never being applied to content marketed to minors, as this is the group with more risk of photosensitive epilepsy.
We are in a situation where we cannot afford to ignore recommendations for content creation, the events related to strobe lights in mass media should be motive enough to take action, since we forgot so quickly about what happened after Electric Soldier Porygon and allowed these effects to be used in an irresponsible manner and become a cinematographic trend.
It’s not only about avoiding seizures on those who already suffer epilepsy, it’s avoiding kids developing it and making sure adults who outgrew it won’t relapse due to constant exposition, losing their driver’s license and even their livelihood.
November is epilepsy awareness month, but the events and research are of no use if the community remains ignored. We have all the necessary resources to decrease the numbers, we could live in a world that’s safe from seizures, we only need to understand that artistic vision is not superior to health.
