GOING VIRAL

Zombies,Viruses,and theEnd of theWorld

DAHLIA SCHWEITZER

WEEK 2: THE OUTBREAK NARRATIVE

1. Describe the basic template or structure of the outbreak narrative.

2. What are the three types of increasingly ineffective boundaries that outbreak narratives explore?

3. In what ways has globalization intensified our fears of disease/contagion?

4. Why is Safe (Haynes, 1995), a film not at all about a viral outbreak, important to this class?

5. Why was the AIDS outbreak so deeply traumatic to Americans?

Discussion Questions, Going Viral Introduction

6. Why did Dr. Langmuir popularize the term “surveillance” and what does his brand of “surveillance” entail?

7. What is the significance of the study done by Brigitte Nerlich and Christopher Halliday in 2004?8. Why is popular entertainment particularly effective in educating audiences?9. Why has it become increasingly hard to distinguish between film and television these days?

10. In what way was coverage of the attack on Pearl Harbor different than coverage of the terrorist attack of 9/11?

cycles vs. genres

Film cycles, like film genres, are “a series of films associated with each other through shared images, characters, settings, plots or themes.” However, unlike genres, cycles “are financially viable for only five to ten years. After that point, a cycle must be updated or altered in order to continue to turn a profit.” —Amanda May Klein, American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, and Defining Subcultures

Another characteristic of film cycles, keyed to their need to refresh and reinvent, is their play between dominant and subordinate traits. At any given moment, there will be a dominant narrative convention. However, repetition and predictability eventually become wearisome, so a subordinate trait…moves to the dominant position.

six key thematic tropes: 1. the idea of the necessary accident 2. the othering which creates the “them” in the first place 3. establishing and policing security where these others pose a threat 4. contagious diseases bringing us together 5. a constant emphasis on making the invisible visible, using maps, charts, or microscopes 6. a fear of progress withglobalizationasoneformofthepro

1. the idea of the necessary accident:- in the outbreak narrative, security no longer means protection but containment, keeping the infected away from the uninfected - the crux of the outbreak narrative is this tension between the desire for containment and an opposing and powerful desire for accidental exposure and infection

The Andromeda Strain Trailer (1971)[video clip]

2. “othering”- a way to reflect on how a disease would (and could) spread- a way of placing blame and indulging implicit racism and stigma- a way of creating reassurance that the virus is only meant for “at risk” people, enforcing a sense of difference and distance

3. establishing and policing security where these others pose a threat:- contagious diseases instill fears of sharing bodily fluids, bodily contact, or even just air space with potentially infectious creatures - one way to establish security is by literally drawing a line between “good bodies” and “bad bodies” - while it may be unattainable, distance from disease is an aspirational ideal

The Andromeda Strain Decontamination Sequence (1971)[video clip]

4. even though it separates us, contagious disease can also bring us together:- on the one hand, a traumatic event can isolate - on the other hand, a large-scale traumatic event can unify, creating a bond or community amongst those affected

5. the emphasis on making the invisible visible… - stems from the fear of the seemingly healthy carrier- stems from the fear that what you cannot see can kill you- fetishizes the close-up to expose that which would otherwise remain unseen

The Andromeda Strain Magnification Sequence (1971)[video clip]

Outbreak Magnification Sequence 1 (1995)[video clip]

Outbreak Magnification Sequence 2 (1995)[video clip]

6. Fear of progress combined with the development of an integrated “risk society.” - Progress is the issue, with globalization as one form of the progress. - Globalization also exacerbates the speed with which disease—and panic—can penetrate what borders are left.- While the Muslim, African, or Asian “other” is often to blame for instigating the outbreak in the Western world, the extent and speed of the spread is attributed to human development, “progress” often critiqued for causing if not the outbreak itself, then its spread.

“This is what happens when men go chopping down trees where no man should be. The gods got angry. This is punishment.” —Medicine Man, Outbreak (1995)

Heather Schell, however, sees the issue of responsibility a little differently. She interprets the drive to posit humans as the ultimate cause of epidemics as a way to maintain a fiction of general human control.

conspiracy: • government conspiracy • corporate conspiracy • corporate + government conspiracy

three key visual tropes: 1. maps 2. charts 3. masks

Outbreak (1995)

MAPS

MAPS

Contagion (2011)

Outbreak (1995)

CHARTS

Outbreak (1995)

CHARTS

MASKS

MASKS

Contagion (2011)

The Film Cycle Arc

Black Death Intro Sequence (1992)[video clip]

Formula for Death Intro Sequence (1994)[video clip]