i need an essay about the subject attatched below, MLA format 3 pages minimum of 2 resurces.
Contagion (2011)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Recent reports concerning the Ebola virus offer a ‘real-time’ example of the themes we have
been discussing in class. The virus is a bio-organic entity with the capacity to become a global
event. Its effects must be managed and contained in order to sustain normative levels of
health. Given its potential for mass fatality, information about the virus is volatile, and thus
subject to bias and misinformation. Contagious viruses are a public health concern, and the
intervention against such events, the managed response, is an inherently political question,
which exposes the raw linkages between power and knowledge. Who is responsible for
quarantining and controlling the ‘outbreak?’ What do such ‘outbreaks’ reveal about our
shared world and the systems that sustain its homeostasis? How does it bring into question
the movement of bodies across boundaries and borders? What kinds of moral judgments and
stereotypes circulate around the infected? What role does the media play in such events? In
what ways does Science, in its official capacity, consider itself exempt from the media?
Questions to consider during the film:
How does the film establish the rules of the world it is depicting? Do you believe its portrayal is
realistic? How so? What factors lead you to this conclusion? If it is our world, how then is it
our world?
The director Soderbergh is often praised for his narrative techniques involving perspectives on
multiple-characters. How is this so-called ‘hyper-linked’ narration used to portray the story of
the ‘contagion?’ Why are ‘disaster’ films so adept at revealing the world as we imagine it to be?
What is the role of fear and paranoia in the film (including you as the viewer)?
Resources about Ebola:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html?_r=0
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/ebolanomics
Richard Preston, The Hot Zone. Classic, popular account (originally a New Yorker essay)
Other Medical Disaster/Disease Films:
Outbreak (1995) Dir. Wolfgang Petersen
Andromeda Strain (1971)—based on Michael Crichton novel
The Satan Bug (1965)
12 Monkeys (1995) Dir. Terry Gilliam
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