CONTAIGION FILM
Summary
- Shows the various impacts of a virus outbreak on the lives of government officials, professionals, and everyday people. 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 the panic and chaos start to arise in society. The processes of quarantine, research, and tracing along with the spread of fake news show the many agents at play during the crisis like a pandemic.
Analysis of eco-horror themes
- Chaos
- Films such as this show the breaking down of order by forces out of the control of humans. Chaos spreads both in society and within the persons mind from being bombarded with many restrictions and changes as well as different leads on the best way to protect themselves and others.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Trust
- Trust is also shown to be a major factor at play. From the people going to different lengths and various forms of society trusting different groups. The journalist having 4million followers, the co-researcher in Taiwan kidnapping a US researcher to get a shipment of vaccines to his village. That and the consistent importance of WHO and the CDC with the press to maintain public order.
Relation to diseases and mutations
- This covers the strongly on the theme 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.
- Virus jumps from animals to people
- Contagion kills 20% of the people infected
- Shows plausibility and not greatly exaggerated
- Emphasizes the touch points and the spread of the virus
- The mass burial does emphasize when to promptly bury the diseased
- Efficacy rate of the vaccine was not included in the film even though it would have been a crucial part in determining the affects after the vaccine was released.