CONTAIGION FILM
Summary
- Shows the various impacts of a virus outbreak on the lives of government officials, professionals, and everyday people. “The movie’s creators worked to strike a balance between entertainment and accuracy” (Krisberg, New movie puts Public Health, infectious disease in spotlight: Behind the scenes of 'contagion' 2011)) Mitch, her husband seems to be immune to the virus, but it does take the lives of his wife and son. Along with this we see the deaths of other characters through the journey to find a vaccine as well as the panic and chaos that start to arise in society.
Analysis of eco-horror themes and motifs
- Chaos
- The Authors of the reference Articles describe how “The tension and even enjoyment of reading or watching arises from the vicarious experience of the human struggle to manage the disorder” (Krisberg, New movie puts Public Health, infectious disease in spotlight: Behind the scenes of 'contagion' 2011). This in addition to “The disease being a catalyst for chaos is the thrill that users seek but also carries with it a possible reality to avoid.” (Sartin, Contagious horror: Infectious themes in fiction and film 2019. This shows how the breaking down of order by forces out of the control of humans causes chaos to spread both in society and within people’s minds from being bombarded with many restrictions and changes as well as trying to discern fact from fiction.
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- Infection
- This motif is critical in understand the psychological impact such viruses have on society more than its physical impact which can lead to more death, destruction, and carnage than what the virus would have done. Sartin describes this as “Horrible acts, whether natural or manmade, produce a kind of cultural sickness that must be isolated, analyzed, and disarmed” (Sartin, Contagious horror: Infectious themes in fiction and film 2019). This presents how many threats cause humans to fall back to primal instinct and become less civilized which spreads at a faster rate than the virus.
- Isolation
- The Separation of Mitch from his daughter and then later her from her boyfriend along with many other cases of the inspector having to isolate herself after realizing she may be carrying the virus. “When an epidemic hits and things begin to deteriorate, lives depend on the ability of the community to care for itself and each other versus isolating individuals out of fear or stigmatizing people.” (Krisberg, New movie puts Public Health, infectious disease in spotlight: Behind the scenes of 'contagion' 2011). In disease films there is always an ongoing battle between caring as a community vs isolating individuals by class, race etc through either stigmatizing or only willing to look out for themselves.
- The unknown
- The movie never reveals the name of the virus which can put forth the theme of the unknow in the way people have no idea who is and isn’t carrying the virus to how fast it infects people and its incubation period. All these factors of unknow are what shows to be the primary cause of fear in the film and contributes to the spreading chaos. The movie may appear to end on a happy note, but it also leaves a cliff hanger to the process to vaccine distribution and how the world may have changed from this event.
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- Realism
- The Realistic nature of the film presents an aspect of horror as well that lingers on “The scariest thing about the movie is its realism.” By a reviewer on IMBD (IMBD reviewer, Contagion). The very fact that an almost identical event (COVID-19) occurred less than a decade after this movies release does present how a =n exaggerated horror film can be just as effective if not more in encouraging more action to be taken than a fictional tale that is far out of grasp from current reality.
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Relation to diseases and mutations
- “Infectious diseases have been a preeminent part of literature since the earliest human writings.” (Sartin, Contagious horror: Infectious themes in fiction and film 2019) does present how the silent killing nature of diseases have been an integral part of ecohorror as in the past and now there is a lot left unknown and possible about them. This covers strongly on the aspect of disease for this scalar but also on the psychological mutation it has on people. The different ways people react from the Inspector being worried on all the people who she may have infected to the hoards of people raiding grocery stores and the spread of fake news and conspiracies on cures as well as the government. The film really tried to mirror the possible outcomes without much over exaggeration and dramatizing of the scenes. Here are various accounts of what people thought of the drama. “One can hope that confronting our contagious fears in fiction will allow us to manage them better in real life. (Sartin, Contagious horror: Infectious themes in fiction and film 2019) “I think entertainment has the ability to influence people’s points of view and regardless of whether a piece is accurate or inaccurate, the scientific community can use those pieces of media as teaching tools” (Krisberg, New movie puts Public Health, infectious disease in spotlight: Behind the scenes of 'contagion' 2011). This movie uses ecohorror not simply for thrill seeking but to provide warning and a call for preparation both physically and mentally if such an event were to happen which it did.
Fun fact - To promote this film, Warner Bros. Pictures Canada built two giant Petri dishes treated with bacteria and fungi and set them in a Toronto storefront window. Over several days, the bacteria and fungi specimens grew to spell out the name of the film and form biohazard symbols.