Media depiction of epidemics is an interesting approach in discussing relationship of biology and society, as well as community and population. The film Contagion (2011) uses the “outbreak narratives” where human relationships expand beyond nation-wide boundaries (Lecture 14, 2015). Similar to the Outbreak film (1995), Contagion illustrates how a virus, which was revealed to be a mix of bat and pig viruses, is able to transmit throughout the world. This gives the viewers an insight to the power of contagion.
Similar to the “outbreak narrative” media analysis Priscilla discusses, Contagion illustrates the boundless boundaries of transmission. The film gives the audiences ideas of where there is a potential outbreak with the most threat due to its enormous population. Hong Kong, London, Gwangjzu in China, etc. Certain times that film would have some type of subtitles on the screen indicating a place and its population like “Kowloon Hong Kong: Population 2.1 million” or “Minneapolis Minnesota: Population 3.3 million.” These populated
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Cheever reminds people the basic protocol of social distancing such as stay home when you’re sick, frequently wash your hands, and to not shake hands with anyone, he is the biopower to benefit the population. It is preventing the spread of the disease from people to people. Or another instance when a vaccine is found, and the CDC announces that everyone should get vaccinated. These scenes in the movie portray the positive use of biopower, which is to ensure that the whole population is healthy and lively, like how Foucault said.
The movie Contagion is a conventional “outbreak narrative” media analysis to how media portrays the bodies of population in a disease context. It portrays how one simple handshake could effect the whole population, as it becomes the transmitter of the infection. Through the use of text subtitles and techniques, it illustrates a story of the danger of epidemic to the
Plagues and Peoples written by William H. McNeill follows the patterns of epidemics and endemics within human history. It is within this history that McNeill finds parallels between diseases and humans in the forms of microparasitism and macroparasitism. Merely from the title, McNeill gives equal importance to viruses and humankind. In several instances, humans behave the same way viruses, bacteria, and parasites do in order to survive and to compete. Surprisingly enough, McNeill’s overarching theme can be summarized using his last sentence, asserting that “Infectious disease which antedated the emergence of humankind will last as long as humanity itself, and will surely remain, as it has been hitherto, one of the fundamental parameters and
It can because the disease known as spreads very quickly. And when there is so many people it has more people to spread to and affect. Also when you live in the heart of New York there is a lot of people near you at all times. The author Caroline B Cooney was very effective in providing details for the setting. And she gave the reader a whole lot of sensory details to make us see the setting. For all of these reasons shown above is how the setting affected the
This essay is and both exploratory and informative. Gladwell tells a story about different epidemics to prove his point that small events can lead to massive results. This essay connects well with the others because it is examining the entire premise of social issues, and the large effect they can have in society. Several elements of creative non-fiction are present in this novel, such as the apparent subject vs. deeper subject, storytelling, reflections from the author, and interesting phrasing. This essay is an excerpt from Malcom Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point which goes into greater detail about how epidemics are created. The target audience of this well-written informative essay is anyone interested in learning about the factors that lead to epidemics
The viruses are spread in many different ways in the novel, but all are due to human mistakes. One of the most common forms of errors found in the medical field is the recycling of soiled equipment. The repeated use of dirty medical equipment is found commonly in the poor regions of the world where resources are limited and fundings are bound. This is an example of the errors the human race performs that lead to disaster.
That’s where we’re heading” (Dr. Erin Mears, Contagion). Though the zombie metaphor focuses primarily on fear involving unconscious contributors and their mission of adding to their population, the fear of governmental control and how society responds to the epidemic is also an issue that needs to be considered. In this scenario, the viral epidemic is the initial zombie, however, fear is also a main contributor.
Max Brooks makes a similar point in his faux-documentary novel World War Z. Brooks, under his own name, takes the part of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission to recount the history of the fictional World War Z. Because the novel is in the form of journalism, the narrative is fragmented and mostly implied; there is no protagonist, but Brooks does return to several “interviewees” multiple times. Although the true origin of the zombie pandemic is unknown, the story begins in China after a zombie from a previous outbreak bites a young boy. The Chinese government attempts to contain the infection and concocts a crisis involving Taiwan to mask the true purpose of increased military activity. The infection is spread to other countries by the black market organ trade and by infected refugees seeking a cure; an outbreak in Cape Town, South Africa finally brings the plague to global attention.
The main way that Preston does this is by appealing to the sense of fear and the ongoing battle of good versus evil. By making people fear the virus Preston hopes that he drives the action towards preventing the virus’ spread and destruction because people fear for their friends and family as well as themselves. Preston’s illustration of good versus evil also creates a heroic aspect to fighting the Ebola virus as no job is more revered than that who combats evil for the common good. Overall Preston does a great job convincing the readers to join the crusade to not only end the Ebola virus but the evil that is in nature
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
The social effects of the influenza epidemic of 1918 were severe: (1) The medical and scientific communities had to develop new theories and “apply them to prevention, diagnostics and treatment of the influenza patients” (Barry, 234). Something that, until then, no pandemic had forced (or allowed) such a collaboration. (2) In some cities and towns residents were required to wear surgical masks to protect themselves from the virus because influenza can penetrate even tightly woven clothing. (3) Children made up rhymes to jump rope to: Its name was Enza. / I opened the window, / And in-flu-enza. (4) The precautions set by city officials to help minimize influenza’s effects, such as closing schools and churches and limiting commerce, all changed
This allowed the cells to multiply to within the billions of trillions in a short period of time. They had been allowed to into the drainage system infecting the water supply of the population. Every household within the United States had tainted water, making it easier to spread the noocytes from person-to-person. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been informed of a “plague” as the cells have already spread across the continent. This led to the cancellation of “all intra- and international” flights with travellers from the United States quarantined to prevent potential contamination (121). A procedure of this magnitude conjures up images of men in hazardous suits having citizens strip down and sprayed with sterilizing chemicals. The sudden isolation of the country by the CDC has caused panic and chaos with communication between major cities failing. Any physical contact other countries had with North America has been cut off. The plague had the North American continent isolated with countries ceasing to have physical contact created this mood of an apocalyptic setting throughout the story. The story then examines the apocalyptic plague through Michael
middle of paper ... ... When the people leave that area, they carry people or animals that may be carrying the infection to uninfected populations, thus creating a pandemic. Once the infection spreads to a pandemic status, the world’s military will crumble; there will be mass panic and anarchy in cities everywhere. Looters, pillagers, plunderers, and thieves will run rampant with no law enforcement to uphold the peace.
In “Contagion and in “The Hot Zone” when confronted with an outbreak in the United States, technology both helped spread the virus and aid in its containment by connecting the world. Some brief ways it helped spread was the ease of going anywhere in the world by airplane within twenty four hours. A way that it helped contain the outbreak was the high level technology that we have and how we can stop the spread of a virus and make a vaccine against it.
A League of Their Own (Marshall, 1992) explicitly characterizes an American era when a woman’s place was in the home. Even our modern perspective implicitly follows suit. Although women have gained rights and freedoms since the 1930’s, sexism remains prevalent in America. This film offers an illustration when men went to war and big business men utilized women as temporary replacements in factories, sports, and so on. Here, course concepts, such as gender socialization, gender expressions, role stereotypes, emotion expressions, and language, correspond to the film’s characters and themes.
There's an epidemic sweeping the country. It's not your typical virus, but rather a /highly contagious disease of epidemic
One of the most popular social networking websites today is none other than Facebook. People use Facebook in order to stay connected with their friends, family and the people around them, to discover what’s going in the world, in addition to share and express what matters to them. The Social Network is a film on how Facebook was created. There was a series of events, character development, relationships and a series of different emotions that are shown throughout the film.