Event 3 Contagion

 I chose to participate in the watch party for Contagion for week 8, the 2011 film about a virus all too similar to the one we have experienced for the past year and more. The disease in the movie is also transmitted from bats in China as well, and is spread from human to human contact. terms such as "social distancing" and "quarantine", which we all have familiarized ourselves with by now, were also thrown around here and there. However, the disease transmitted in the movie was much more deadly and the resulting chaos and riots were on an extreme level.

Contagion (2011 film) - Wikipedia
movie poster

        In the context of nanotechnology, the movie brings up many ethical questions about the exploitation and selfishness involved with developments of something like a vaccine for these deadly viruses. Alan Krumweide, a character reminiscent of the recent Q-anon conspirators, spreads misinformation about a false remedy. The doctors in charge of developing the vaccine also had questionable behavior, with one doctor secretly informing his family before the news publicly broke, and another giving herself the vaccine before it had undergone proper trial. With the development of powerful nanotechnologies, everybody is in a rush to prioritize themselves rather than the greater good. 

Experts reveal how similar coronavirus is to Contagion, Outbreak, more | EW.com
conspiracy theorist Alan Krumweide in the movie


In addition, there is also the situation of the scientist held hostage in exchange for vaccines in China. This kind of a result caused by the demand of nanotechnology is something that cannot be beneficial to any part of the world. Rather than abuse and exploit the situation, nanotechnology such as a vaccine should be made available and distributed to all in order to prevent conflicts from arising. Much like today’s current Covid-19 situation, the vaccine knowledge and stockpile that the United States has should be shared with the world in able to avoid such terrible scenarios. 

Contagion is relevant in 2020, and not just because of coronavirus - Vox
lack of vaccine distribution worldwide leads to sticky situations



Nepales, Ruben V. “Why 'Contagion,' out in 2011, Accurately Foretold Coronavirus Pandemic.” The Jakarta Post, Asia News Network, 26 Apr. 2020, www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/04/26/why-contagion-out-in-2011-accurately-foretold-coronavirus-pandemic.html.   

Soderbergh, Steven. Contagion. Warner Bros., 2011.

“Covid: Contagion Film Shows Lessons around Vaccine Supply - Hancock.” BBC News, BBC, 3 Feb. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/uk-55917374. 

 McGuire, Kelly. “COVID-19, Contagion, and Vaccine Optimism.” Journal of Medical Humanities, Springer US, 15 Feb. 2021, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10912-021-09677-3. 


“Makers of Contagion Knew Covid-19 Was Only a Matter of Time.” South China Morning Post, 14 Mar. 2020, www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3075032/how-makers-2011-film-contagion-foresaw-covid-19-coronavirus. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Event 2 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Image
  This week I attended the watch party for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the 2004 film exploring the concept of memory erasure. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie I have heard and seen a lot about but never really got around to watching it, and I was glad to have the opportunity to watch it for class. Though I really enjoyed the pacing of the story and the developments, I think I should write more about the connections between the movie’s fictional technological use and this week’s topic, neuroscience and art. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the female main character, Clementine, decides to willingly erase her memories after going through a rough breakup. After she receives her procedure, the male main character, Joel, meets her and is horrified that she seems to have no recollection of him. This week’s topic of neuroscience was heavily centered around the ethics of tampering and tweaking with one’s brain function, and the artform that is this movie...
Read more

Week 3 Art and Robotics

Image
For this week’s blog, I would like to take a closer look at the automatization of industry, as well as the impacts of such industrial advances on art and the new world. For as long as civilization has existed, humankind has pushed for efficiency in their work. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440 was only the initiation of manufacturing’s transition to the increasingly automated, repetitive, and robotic systems of production that we now see today.  Printing Press As our world becomes more and more automated, with everything now identically mass produced down to the finest specifics, the value of art has diminished with the increasing abundance of nearly identical replicas. Benjamin Walter stressed this idea in his book “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”: “Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art”(XII). Walter then proceeds to detail how artworks themselves can have their values changed as a direc...
Read more

Week 2 Art and Math

Image
From this week’s lecture and material, I gained a lot of insight towards the importance of mathematical models in the real world, as well as the world of art. I learned about the historical precedent surrounding art and maths, such as the basis behind the Vitruvian Man, as well as the mathematically structured things in nature. I learned of the real world applications of mathematics in the field of arts. The TED talks in particular were fascinating to me, showing how complex artworks can be boiled down to the basic mathematical principles that make up their foundations. Vitruvian Man Robert Lang’s TED talk on origami was especially interesting to me. Origami was a pretty big part of my childhood, but I never had a good grasp on the deeper implications of mathematically designed Origami. One vivid memory from my youth is of an origami book I had, Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa. In it, Maekawa details many formulas involved in his folding processes, as well as the rationale behind them....
Read more