We all love Grey’s Anatomy for thousands of reasons, but one of the reasons why I think the show has taken off and gotten so popular over the last several years is because of how much you can relate to the characters, their lives, and just how overly awesome the show is! When you look past the medical side of Grey’s Anatomy, you realize that each character has their own quirk, their own “thing” that troubles them, and their own identity. As the seasons have progressed, we have learned just about everything there is to know about the characters and what makes them so interesting! So cheers to Shonda Rhimes, the producer and writer of Grey’s, for creating a show that includes every racial, ethnic, religious, medical, mental health, and social background/group that you can think of! Here are some of the things she so thoughtfully included and some of the lessons she reiterates to her audience:
African American and Asian characters:
Some of the best surgeons on Grey’s Anatomy are of color and diverse ethnic backgrounds. The Chief of the entire hospital, on two different occasions, were African American (shout out to Dr. Webber and Dr. Bailey), and the Chiefs of Cardio have been African American and Asian American (shout out to Dr. Burke, Dr. Yang, and Dr. Pierce). Shonda, being African American herself, shed light on the fact that Caucasians aren’t the only ones who are capable of being the best!
LGBT tolerance and awareness:
By including the relationship of Callie and Arizona, Shonda not only shed light on lesbian couples, but bisexuals as well. Callie has been seen in the show with not only women, but with men, like George and Mark, as well. Grey’s shows that all sexualities should be accepted in the exact same way.
Addiction:
We see more of Amelia Shepherd’s addition in Private Practice, another one of Shonda’s famous series, but her drug and alcohol addiction is also struggled through in Grey’s as well. Shonda has shown the hardships and real life repercussions that addiction has on a person’s life, and it can affect all kinds of demographics– even a beautiful, Caucasian, successful woman like Amelia.
All kinds of disabilities and medical conditions:
Arizona went through a traumatic amputation of her leg after a car accident leaving her to work and live with a prosthetic leg, Izzy died of cancer, and countless amounts of patients who come through the doors of Seattle Grace/Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital who undergo various kinds of disease and impairments. People learn to walk again under intensive therapy, get their faces reconstructed after tragic burns, and are told news that forever change their lives.
Women:
One of the most prominent successes that Grey’s has had is the use of putting women in leading roles of the hospital. Almost every main unit of the hospital is run by a woman: Meredith in general, April in trauma, Cristina/Maggie in cardio, Callie in orthopedics, and Arizona in pediatrics. Not only are women capable, but they are capable of extreme excellence!
Mental health awareness:
Grey’s also shines a light on real-life mental disorders that people go through every day. Owen Hunt develops PTSD from his combat days, and Arizona develops PTSD from her car accident where she lost her leg. Their disorders pose real and threatening effects on their day-to-day lives. At one point, Owen is having extreme nightmares where he desperately chokes Cristina in his sleep, and Arizona develops depression after losing her leg in a car accident. She undergoes feelings of an all too real disorder called Phantom Limb Pain where her brain actually still feels sensations and pains on the limb that is no longer there.
People who come from neglect:
In Meredith’s childhood, her mother, Ellis Grey, was a single, working mother who had no time for her daughter. Meredith was constantly being left alone at very young ages to fend for herself, feeling as if her mother didn’t care about her, and being verbally abused by her. There are many children in America who have gone through similar things, and throughout Meredith’s entire life, she feels the effects of her neglectful mother. She strives to do differently for her children, and ends up having to raise three young kids on her own while still being the best general surgeon at Seattle Grace/Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital.
Gingers do indeed have souls:
Kind of a joke, but really. Wherever the saying came from that gingers have no souls, I’m not sure, but Shonda puts the kibosh on that statement! April Kepner, one of the most sensitive and kind characters in the show, and Owen Hunt are both gingers who have incredibly big souls!
Other real life problems:
Jo Wilson, the girlfriend of Alex Karev, had a very unfortunate background that we learned when she started opening up to Alex for the first time. She was abandoned by her mother, shuffled through foster care, and ended up homeless. With everything against her, she still ended up being a great doctor. Divorce was another real-life issue that was depicted in Grey’s amongst April Kepner and Jackson Avery in more of the most recent episodes. Signing the divorce papers was one of the hardest things that the characters seemed to have to do this last season.
Real friendship:
If Grey’s shows us anything, it’s what true friendship looks like. Meredith and Cristina, the two partners in crime, were the absolute best of friends. Although Cristina had to move away, her goodbye was anything but easy for Meredith. They danced it out one last time with “their person” and I think we all cried as Cristina’s taxi drove away.
Infidelity:
Infidelity definitely crept up on multiple occasions for the characters of Grey’s Anatomy. Far too common in American society, Shonda Rhimes did a good job of showing it between her characters. Derek cheated on Addison with Meredith when she was just an intern, Callie cheated on Arizona ending their marriage, and in more recent seasons we discover that Richard Webber cheated on his wife, Adele, with Ellis Grey, Meredith’s mom, producing Maggie Pierce who is now head of cardio.
