CONTAGION (2011) AS A PREDICTION OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC OF COVID19

  • SANAA SAEED MERZA Dept. of English, College of Languages, University of Duhok
Keywords: COVID 19, Coronavirus, Pandemics, Contagion, Communist, Capitalist, Prediction

Abstract

Contagion film (2011) is a fictional account of the spread of a global pandemic MEV-1 virus. It draws attention to a situation potentially similar to that of the recent events of the outbreak of pandemic coronavirus. The study aims at detecting how Contagion chillingly predicted the global pandemic COVID 19 for nearly a decade ago, and how the filmmakers try their best to portray scenes closer to reality than to imagination. The study also aims to shed a light on the racist political discourse of the film that depicts the third world (represented by the communist superpower, China) as an underdeveloped, dictatorial, and dangerous regime compared to the free and advanced regime (represented by the capitalist superpower, America). Contagion assumes that the trade, tourism, and mobility to the third world countries lead to the possibility of spreading horrific epidemics.

The study is divided into three sections. Section one presents a brief study of an apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction. Section two sheds a light on Contagion as a prediction of pandemic coronavirus with reference to the racist political discourse that the film conveys. Section three presents a conclusion that there is a possibility of a pandemic that wipes out the human race despite its vulnerability, and the purpose behind portraying China as an endemic place is to authorize America to intervene to maintain global health security by restricting trade and mobility. The study ends with a list of references, in addition to Arabic and Kurdish synopses

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Published
2021-05-31
How to Cite
MERZA, S. S. (2021). CONTAGION (2011) AS A PREDICTION OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC OF COVID19. Journal of Duhok University, 24(1), 9-18. https://doi.org/10.26682/hjuod.2021.24.1.2
Section
Humanities and Social Sciences