Event 3: Contagion

For my third event, I went to the watch party where we viewed the 2011 action-packed movie, Contagion. This movie hit very close to home because it is about a pandemic that struck causing global panic and a lot of chaos. In the movie, scientists and doctors try to figure out who or what caused the pandemic. This showed similarities to real-life because when COVID-19 started, world leaders tried putting blame on groups of people in the world when in reality it is very hard to pinpoint the cause of one person. It was very interesting how an artistic approach, cinema, could capture and demonstrate the traumatic events of something as severe as a pandemic.

The movie also demonstrated how the arts and sciences can be related to the medical field. When the doctors were trying to analyze and come up with a vaccine for the virus, they had a screen where they developed what the virus looked like and used it to explore the components of the disease. I thought this was cool because I know that scientists use models like this in real life to conduct research, and I am assuming they have for the Coronavirus. It was crazy how the emotion of the people in the movie actually somewhat portray the fear and confusion as well as the science we have experienced as a result of our own pandemic. 


If you do not enjoy intense and sort of scary movies or if you are over the pandemic and everything revolving around the pandemic I would not recommend this event. However, if you are interested in learning how sciences and arts combine in movies and stories this event would be a great one to attend. Overall I would rate this event and movie a 7.5/10.










Resources

“5 Reasons the World Needs WHO, to Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic | | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061412.

“Contagion (2011 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 May 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(2011_film).

“Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

“Countries in the Americas Notified of First COVID-19 Vaccine Allocations through COVAX.” PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization, 31 Jan. 2021, www.paho.org/en/news/31-1-2021-countries-americas-notified-first-covid-19-vaccine-allocations-through-covax.

Jabr, Ferris. “How Realistic Is Contagion? The Movie Doesn't Skimp on Science.” New Scientist, 6 Apr. 2020, www.newscientist.com/article/2239913-how-realistic-is-contagion-the-movie-doesnt-skimp-on-science/.

Kritz, Fran. “Fact-Checking 'Contagion' - In Wake Of Coronavirus, The 2011 Movie Is Trending.” NPR, NPR, 16 Feb. 2020, www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/16/802704825/fact-checking-contagion-in-wake-of-coronavirus-the-2011-movie-is-trending.

Lapid, Nancy. “Virus Variants Found to Be Deadlier, More Contagious; Some May Thwart Vaccines.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 17 Mar. 2021, www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-science-idUSKBN2B92U7.

Soderbergh, Steven, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, Gregory Jacobs, Scott Z. Burns, Marion Cotillard,             Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston,
         Sanaa Lathan, Jennifer Ehle, Elliott Gould, Chin H. Ng, and Cliff Martinez. Contagion. , 2011. 

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