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ENGLISH 20 Literature and Composition

Published : 24-Sep,2021  |  Views : 10

Question:

Write about the Contagion: The End of Humanity as We Know It.

Identify and assess the relevance of the disease-driven plot of the considered film, which is Contagion to the cause-effect relationship between a contagious disease and a society of human individuals.

Answer:

The following paper will make a profound as well as an arguable discourse regarding the cause-effect relationship between a contagious disease and the society. More precisely, the aim of the paper is to elaborate the role and impact of an unknown disease on a society that has been presented in the plot of a film named – Contagion. The concern will be therefore to evaluate the relevance of the disease-driven plot of the considered film in the contemporary society and its significance related to the cause-effect relationship between a contagious disease and the society. Therefore, the following paper will specifically concentrate on identifying and analyzing the significant message conveyed by the film and the particular message has become a potential “point of reference” for evolving the cultural understanding of illness. At the same time, the aesthetic, cultural and historical significance of the disease-driven plot of contagion will be also analyzed.

Henceforth, the thesis statement of the paper would be to identify and assess the relevance of the disease-driven plot of the considered film, which is Contagion to the cause-effect relationship between a contagious disease and a society of human individuals.

Prior to identify and analyze the relevance of the film, it is required to note down that directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film Contagion is considered to be a “medical-thriller – disaster” film that has aptly attempted to make a realistic depiction of a hypothetical medical condition in a society (Dailymail.Co.Uk). The disease-driven plot of the movie creates a pandemonium world, where human immunity is shown to be repeatedly decreasing due to the emergence of an unknown disease. Apparently, the plot is about a deadly virus that is spreading on a fast pace around the world but beyond the surface level, it has been understood that the director has aimed to display a broader view that is prevalent to any society in the world. Besides showing a panic-stricken society that is driven by extreme fear of painful death, the movie has simultaneously shown the consequences, which the public health officials as well as medical researchers ought to face in a phase portrayed in the movie (Wahlert). It can be said that through giving a realistic indication about a consequence that can possibly take place in the world if an unknown epidemic would break out, the movie has efficiently drawn the cause-effect relationship between an epidemic and the society (Colt).

In this context, it is required to mention that according to Priscilla Wald, fictional creations of epidemic outbreak have been considered from a long time for appropriately conveying as well as reflecting the fundamental lessons taught by science (Wald). Most significantly, not only lessons of science, fictional accounts most of time portrays a true consequence that can take place in a society due a particular social, cultural, historical or political cause (Wald). Therefore, following the distinct acknowledgement, it can be said that the movie has shown relevant contents regarding the true attribute of humanity in the contemporary world. The movie shows that while a huge extent of people is living with fear of losing their life, another number of people are there who are taking opportunity of the pandemic condition for making money.

The movie has attempted to depict a true consequence or impact of an epidemic on the markets. The film bears relevance in the contemporary socio-cultural context by showing how normal people are becoming violent and aggressive to each other only to acquire a limited extent of medicine that is found to be the cure for an unknown epidemic (Wald et al.). For example, in Contagion, when a huge number of people are being killed by an unknown airborne virus infection that is identified to be MEV-1, an evil theorist and online blogger named Alan Krumwiede is shown to take the opportunity of the panic by declaring that he is overcoming the same infection with the use of forsythia.

Later in the movie, the particular character is shown to be arrested for conspiring against a UCSF professor named Ian Sussman and for making security fraud. The movie again depicts a similar picture of society where even the legal authorities could not punish frauds like the character of Alan Krumwiede, who can easily walk out of the jail due to having financial potentiality, brought a huge number of blind supporters (Clark). The movie shows how people driven with fear and contamination of a terrible airborne virus struggle in an almost primeval way for mere existence. On the other hand, through drawing characters like Mitch, and his relationship, love and struggle to save his teenage daughter – Jory, the films depicts a true picture of struggle for existence and love and responsibility of a father.

In this context, it can be however argued that the picture of growing isolation due to constant death and the worldwide spread out of the airborne virus MEV-1 is initially hard to accept (Dailymail.Co.Uk). Though the movie teaches a realistic lesson in the epidemiology as well as virology, it escalates the fundamental question about how a single airborne virus can kill people overnight in a huge extent. On the other side, it is also to remark that the particular consequence can be judged considering the truth that until now the proper cures for HIV and cancer have not been recognized. Therefore, occurrence of such a consequence is possible and not at all ignorable (Lynteris).

In this context, it is required to be mentioned that the outbreak of Nipah virus as well as one of the emerging infectious disease, known to be SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome, have influenced the mind of the director to design of the disease-driven plot of Contagion. Therefore, it can be stated that the role of disease is highly significant for the considered movie, as the entire picture and the story shown through it have evolved around a single unknown epidemic (McFadden). It can be also said that the movie has drawn influence from one of the stock scenes of fiction in Outbreak by Wolfgang Petersen, which is the desolation of a place that is exterminated by an unknown epidemic virus. In terms of cultural understanding of illness, the movie shows how self-isolation arises among those who have still not caught the infection in the society. The plot is dominated by the theme of epidemic in such a way that it highlights self-isolation to be an emerging part of the culture of a society that is caught in a global pandemic (SCHWEITZER). Furthermore, it can be said that with the help of criticizing social and behavioral factors like greed, hypocrisy as well as self-centeredness of the panic-stricken mass, the film has successfully addressed the contemporary culture.

Instead of having, cultural and social significance accompanied by realistic depiction of occurrence of MEV 1 and SARS, in several section the pandemic plot line has lacked realistic and rational justification. For example, the treatment procedure of Emhoff or the patient zero of Contagion is not adequate. On the other hand, it is not at all justified that in a society that is gradually running out of food, in what exact way characters like Mitch and Jory were never been out of foods in an isolative condition for more than 4 months (Dailymail.Co.Uk). However, such flaws can be ignored considering the fact that the movie is a fictional creation and not a documentary one. Nevertheless, having a pandemic plot line it is expected that a movie like Contagion should have better involvement of health organizations like WHO (World Health Organization) and other international health chains. The movie majorly involves activities of CDC investigators and researchers, which is justified.

The film gives importance on the roles of health investigators and health researchers as at the initial stage of the film the reason behind the epidemic shown to be unknown. It is justified based on the reason that, prior to find out a cure for a particular disease, it is required first to determine the primary source of the outbreak (Wilkinson et al.). Therefore, the predominant roles and contributions of two types of public health professionals – researchers and the investigators shown in the considered film are justified. At the same time, through the portrayal of these two designations of public health highlights the significance health investigators and researchers hold in the society.

On the other hand, in terms of having aesthetic significance, it can be said that by taking a relatively unusual topic and unusual contents, which teach lessons of life more than entertain, the film has not given much consideration upon the aesthetic importance. It is because, rather than showing images and contents, which would address the human sensations in a beautiful or melodious way, Contagion establishes itself as more of an informative film indicating what can actually happen if an unknown, epidemic virus takes place in a society.

It is however an arguable fact that whether realistic approaches in movies can be considered as aesthetic or not. However, it could not be ignored that the plot of the movie gives a serious jolt to the health scientists to rethink whether they could handle such a realistic threat of a “global flu pandemic” or not. No one can deny the fact that the disastrous scenario is may be hypothetical and not may be up to the mark of aesthetic consideration, it successfully draws the cause effect relationship between disease and a society (Lynteris).

The aforementioned realization is true as per the reason that the movie shows how in the realistic framework of Contagion, people within a society change their priorities. From living casual contemporary life to pursue primeval struggle for mere earthly existence, the movie fruitfully draws that the distinct transformation taken place in the lives of the characters portrayed in the movie, is the after-effect of an outbreak of an unknown virus.

The plot highly revolves around the theme that is the cause-effect relationship between a lethal disease and the behavioral, social and cultural aspects of a society. It is understandable from the movie that because of the growing impact of the epidemic outbreak, people simultaneously start to prioritize over their existence and the sudden discrimination between infected individuals and the healthy ones take place. The two most significant situations of the movie, which are the chaotic situation in the society and the growing seclusion of the infected and the non-infected individuals of the society are drawn by the single cause of outbreak of the virus of MEV-1. As stated by (Wald), a fictional interpretation and outbreak narratives can be called successful only when they would fruitfully amalgamate the transformative strength of myth and the authorial power of science. Following the illustration of the disease-driven plot of Contagion, it can be said that the movie successfully accomplish the aforementioned statement through designing a realistic framework.

In the penultimate stage of the present paper, it is to denote that the movie has a more “ultra-realistic” interpretation of the relationship between health of public and the scientific response and approach to a pandemic. Such an interpretation efficiently addresses the cause-effect relationship between society and disease and successfully presents evidences of crowd psychology as well as collective behavior that can lead to the destruction of social order (McFadden). Besides catching up the cause-effect relationship between disease and society and the dominance of the outbreak of an epidemic on the cultural, social and behavioral aspect of human life, the plot of the movie has balanced personal purposes against the professional responsibilities. Through the form of existential threat and limitation of responses of public health and most significantly the pervasiveness of the interpersonal connection, the plot of Contagion has shown how these factors help to spread an epidemic.

Therefore, from the above discourse, it can be said that the movie has indicated that an epidemic can play the role of a potential determinant for unveiling the primeval and ugly attributes of human society. Thus, strongly it can be stated that the disease-driven plot of Contagion has significant relevance to the contemporary society and has successfully referred the cause-effect relationship between disease and human society.

References

"Contagion May Only Be A Film, But Can Scientists Handle The Real-World Threat Of A Global Flu Pandemic? Read More: Http://Www.Dailymail.Co.Uk/Home/Moslive/Article-2048223/Contagion-Film-Scientists-Handle-Global-Flu-Pandemic.Html#Ixzz4fllxcxm5 Follow Us: @Mailonline On Twitter | Dailymail On Facebook". N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

"FILM: Contagion (12A)". Leader Live. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

Clark, Steve. Liberating Medicine, 1720–1835. Routledge, 2015.

Colt, Henri. "Movies and Medical Ethics." Ethics and the Arts. Springer Netherlands, 2014. 67-78.

Hooker, Claire, Chris Degeling, and Paul Mason. "Dying a Natural Death: Ethics and Political Activism for Endemic Infectious Disease." Endemic. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016. 265-290.

Hsu, Hsuan L. "5 The Dangers of Biosecurity." Eco-Trauma Cinema 33 (2014): 113.

Lynteris, Christos. "The Epidemiologist as Culture Hero: Visualizing Humanity in the Age of “the Next Pandemic”." Visual Anthropology 29.1 (2016): 36-53.

McFadden, Daniel. Viral Possibilities: Media, the Body, and the Phenomenon of Infection. Diss. The University of Western Ontario, 2015.

SCHWEITZER, DAHLIA. "Going Viral in a World Gone Global." The Last Midnight: Essays on Apocalyptic Narratives in Millennial Media 53 (2016): 79.

Wahlert, Lance. "“I Caught It at the Movies”: Reflections on Medical History, Movie Theaters, and the Cinema of Contagion." Journal of homosexuality 63.3 (2016): 323-328.

Wald, Priscilla. "Afterword:“Global Health” and the Persistence of History." Imperial Contagions: Medicine, Hygiene, and Cultures of Planning in Asia (2013): 215-25.

Wald, Priscilla. "Cultures and Carriers:" Typhoid Mary" and the Science of Social Control." Social Text 52/53 (1997): 181-214.

Wilkinson, Annie, and Melissa Leach. "Briefing: Ebola–myths, realities, and structural violence." African Affairs (2014): adu080.

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