Hollywood Films Portray Virus Outbreaks; Epidemics In Literature: Boccaccio, Defoe & Camus

'How Hollywood films portray virus outbreaks.' Quarantines, strict hygiene rules and panic buying have been observed since the coronavirus COVID-19 started spreading. A few movies depict similar situations. DW, March 6, 2020.



The typical ingredients of a Hollywood apocalyptic scenario are well known: It starts with a threat first revealed by alarmed scientists, while decision-makers aim to downplay the problem. The main protagonists aim to save themselves or their community — and ultimately the entire planet.

But do these films provide any meaningful lessons on how to deal with the outbreak of a virus?

- On quarantines: In Wolfgang Petersen's thriller Outbreak from 1995 (top picture; actress Rene Russo), which was released during the real-life outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire, a monkey imported from Africa transmits a new virus to humans. Virologist Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) and his team set up a lab in the town where the epidemic broke out. The military seals off the city. Sam Daniels tells his manager: "We can't stop it."

In the post-apocalyptic thriller I Am Legend (2007), a quarantine is enforced on Manhattan island and a US army virologist (Will Smith) is the last surviving human in New York. In Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, it's the entire British island that's quarantined.

Today's new coronavirus, which was first detected in China at the end of December 2019, has been spreading rapidly around the world despite initial attempts to isolate the city of Wuhan. Around half of the 11 million inhabitants of the city fled before the Chinese province was sealed off.

- Hygiene tips: "The average person touches his or her face three to five times every waking minute. In the meantime, we're touching doorknobs, water fountains, each other," says Kate Winslet in the role of epidemiologist Erin Mears in Steven Soderbergh's medical action thriller Contagion (2011). The film is about a virus imported from China, which contains genetic material from pig and bat viruses. It's initially transmitted by a chef who shook hands with other people without having properly washed his own hands after handling slaughtered pigs.

In the film as in reality, the most important protective measure against the new coronavirus is to frequently and thoroughly wash hands, as the World Health Organization advises...

More, https://www.dw.com/en/how-hollywood-films-portray-virus-outbreaks/a-52665150



- Kate Winslet hopes to curb the spread of a new virus in 'Contagion.'
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- Epidemics in literature. Boccaccio, Defoe and Camus: Over the centuries, many world famous writers have told stories involving deadly infectious diseases. DW, March 3, 2020.



Giovanni Boccaccio: 'The Decameron' (1349-1353)

Seven women and three men flee the plague to a country house near Florence. As cruel as the descriptions are at the beginning, the 100 novellas in the collection are surprisingly entertaining. To pass the time, each of the fugitives determines a topic per day and everyone has to tell a corresponding story. Subtle or crude, tragic or comical — a whole world unfolds.

More, https://www.dw.com/en/epidemics-in-literature/g-52658507