(This first image looks more like the TV Drama series Containment than Contagion. However, I watched them both. Cried lots of tears over Containment, The Painted Veil, and I Am Legend. Every time I think that he had to kill the dog, I start crying!)
Viewership of virus movies has surged significantly during this COVID-19 outbreak, according to reports, and while that might seem counterintuitive to our tendency towards escapism, it could actually have a psychological explanation. Exposure therapy, a behaviour therapy sometimes used to treat anxiety disorders, involves exposing a patient to the source of their anxiety without the intention to cause them any harm or danger, thus alleviating their stress or fear.Image Credit:
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For instance, someone who is afraid of snakes might be asked to hold a snake — or, someone who is afraid of a disease outbreak, might watch a film about viruses that can’t hurt them. This (and our morbid curiosity) could be the reason why you’re reaching for movies with titles such as ‘Virus’, ‘Contagion’ and ‘Outbreak,’ during your self-quarantine. While some still prefer light entertainment involving romance, comedy and idyllic plot lines, we revisit a list of movies that deal with outbreaks and post-apocalyptic themes, and their effects on society.Image Credit: Supplied picture
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Daybreakers (1993): In this sci-fi horror, a plague begins to turn everyone into vampires. They must farm the surviving humans, while researching a substitute for human blood, which is becoming scarce. Ethan Hawke is a vampire haematologist, while ex-vampire ‘Elvis’ (Willem Dafoe) attempts to save humankind.Image Credit:
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12 Monkeys (1995): In this sci-fi thriller set in the future, the world is wrecked by disease, and a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made illness, which erased most of the human race. Starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe.Image Credit: Supplied
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Outbreak (1995): A deadly epidemic, carried into America by a monkey from another continent, hits a town in California. Meanwhile, army doctors struggle to find a cure to the virus. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman.Image Credit:
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The Faculty (1998) : After a series of bizarre incidents, students at the rundown Harrington High begin to suspect that their teachers are infected with something abnormal and must save the world from alien domination. Starring Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Clea DuVall, Salma Hayek, Usher and Jon Stewart.Image Credit:
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Resident Evil (2002): The Umbrella Corporation’s bioweapons trigger a zombie apocalypse and covert operative Alice (Milla Jovovich) takes them on. The highest-grossing movie franchise based on a video game, ‘Resident Evil’ has a total of six films.Image Credit:
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28 Days Later (2002): In this post-apocalyptic horror, a mysterious virus wrecks the United Kingdom, leaving a group of survivors to deal with the fallout of the disaster — while avoiding those who were infected by the virus. Starring Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris.Image Credit:
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Dawn of the Dead (2004): A remake of the 1978 film, Zack Snyder’s directorial debut follows the survivors of an epidemic, which causes those who are infected to transform into flesh-eating zombies.Image Credit:
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Children of Men (2006): It’s 2027 and for 18 years, infertility has plagued the nation, leaving humanity on the verge of collapse; until one woman becomes miraculously pregnant. Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine.Image Credit:
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The Painted Veil (2006): In this period drama based on a 1920s book, scientist Dr Walter (Edward Norton) finds out his wife Kitty (Naomi Watts) is cheating on him with another man (Liev Schreiber). The couple goes to China, where Walter fights a cholera epidemic, and Kitty embarks on a journey of self-discovery.Image Credit:
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I Am Legend (2007): A plague has killed most of humanity and turned the remainder into monsters, but a single survivor (Will Smith) in New York City battles to find a cure.Image Credit:
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The Happening (2008): In this apocalyptic thriller directed by M Night Shyamalan, a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and their daughter fight to escape an airborne toxin that causes its victims to commit suicide.Image Credit:
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Quarantine (2008): The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) quarantines a building after its human inhabitants begin to turn into zombies after getting infected by a virus — and reporter Angela (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) are stuck inside. The film is a remake of the 2007 Spanish horror flick ‘Rec’.Image Credit: Supplied
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Doomsday (2008): Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) and her specialist team are deployed to Scotland, which has been ravaged by zombies, to retrieve a cure for a deadly virus known as the Reaper.Image Credit:
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Carriers (2009): In this post-apocalyptic body horror, four friends — Danny, Brian, Bobby and Kate — try to flee a pandemic sweeping America, but one of them gets infected by the virus. Starring Chris Pine and Piper Perabo.Image Credit:
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The Crazies (2010): A toxic virus spreads through a quaint farming town after an unusual plane crash, and everyone — except for Sheriff David Dutton, his wife and two others — turns into a violent psychopath. Starring Radha Mitchell and Timothy Olyphant.Image Credit:
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Perfect Sense (2011): A womanising chef (Ewan McGregor) and a shy scientist (Eva Green) fall in love, as a viral epidemic begins to strip people of their sensory perception.Image Credit:
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Contagion (2011): Panic and chaos erupt around the globe when a woman and her son die, leading to the discovery of a fatal virus. Meanwhile, the CDC in America tries to stop its spread. Starring Matt Damon, Lawrence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet and Jude Law.Image Credit:
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World War Z (2013): A former UN employee (Brad Pitt) races against time to save humanity from a vicious zombie pandemic that’s toppling governments.Image Credit: Great, Great movie!
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Warm Bodies (2013): In this paranormal romcom, a zombie saves a human girl from an attack, and the two form an unlikely relationship. Starring Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer.Image Credit:
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Flu (2013): This South Korean film follows a lethal strain of the H5N1 virus that kills its victims within 36 hours, as the airborne disease hits a city less than 20km from Seoul. Starring Hyuk Jang, Soo Ae and Roxanne Aparicio.Image Credit:
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Maggie (2015): In the Midwest of America, teenager Maggie (Abigal Breslin) is infected by an outbreak of a disease that gradually turns its victims into flesh-eating zombies, but throughout her transformation, her father (Arnold Schwarzenegger) stays by her side.Image Credit:
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It Comes At Night (2017): Few survivors remain in this post-apocalyptic horror film. After an unnatural threat disrupts the world, two families are forced to share a home in a reluctant alliance to keep evil forces outside — only to realise that evil lurks among them. Starring Joel Edgerton.Image Credit:
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The Cured (2017): Years after a zombie plague hits Europe, society grapples with how to reintegrate former zombies into their ranks. Starring Ellen Page and Sam Keeley.Image Credit:
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A Quiet Place (2018): In a post-apocalyptic world, one surviving family hides out in silence and near-isolation from a deadly threat that attacks at any hint of sound. Starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.Image Credit:
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Virus (2019): In this Malayalam medical thriller based on real events, Kerala is up against a massive outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus, but a group of courageous individuals risk their lives in hopes of containing the spread. Starring Tovino Thomas, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Madonna Sebastian.Image Credit: Supplied
Where are the other boys who came across the border with Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, the young teen boy who died in border custody? Continue reading →
When an immigrant arrived at Ellis Island, they were processed in and given a physical.
If they didn’t pass that physical, they were denied entry into the United States. They either stayed on Ellis Island until they were well or, they were sent back home.
Do you think anyone in this picture got a physical before or after they crossed the border?
Do you think the troops, out in the fields of Syria, are giving these people physical before they’re sent to the United States?
And a few weeks later, they are stocking the shelves of the local grocery, or cooking your food in the local restaurant, doing your nails, or babysitting your children.
And those American citizens, living in Tent City, in the state of Washington are also working in nursing homes, offices, restaurants, etc.
I’m not anti-immigration, in fact, I’m all for it. Just done the right way. Or, we can do this – shelter in place, again.
Also, can we make it a law that the President can’t just go around firing people with key jobs like – Matthew Doherty, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, whose job it was to oversee these camps – just he didn’t like him.
And I, too, felt that Trump’s war with China and the Covid-19 Virus, supposedly starting there was too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. Continue reading →
I left the house, this morning, for the first time in nine days.
Before I’d gone into isolation, I’d, thankfully, bought a big 12 roll pack of toilet tissue and stocked the freezer with meat. Except, I neglected to buy enough chicken and booze (SmirnoffVodka). So, today I went out in search of both. Continue reading →
Thank you Laura for the link. Believe it or not, it was very helpful. I’m currently reading, A Gentleman in Moscow (in the book, he’s on permanent isolation because of his writing) and one of the things he dreams about is a millefeulle pastry.
I had no idea what that was until I got your link.
But, there is a secret about me that only a few people know. And here it is:
Do you remember when the show Designated Survival, yes that again, premiered on ABC? Well, if you do, you are probably one of the thousands of people who rushed out and bought the book below.
And it’s a really good book. I’ve even read it. Because it got better ratings than mine. Also, it’s opening scene of the shoot-out in the Capitol Rotunda is fantastic. But, and I’ve heard people say this, it doesn’t contain the scene where the Capitol Building is blown up.
Of course not! Because it’s in this book.
It starts with Chapter 42 but Chapter 18 tells you a bit about the bomber.
And remember yesterday I wrote about how Hollywood will change your story to suit what the director thinks is best for the story he wants to tell. Well, they did in this one also. They used drones instead of a weather machine. And all I can say, to this day, about that is, “Darn! I wished I’d thought of that.”
And the last thing I’d like to share with you new writers is, let Hollywood ‘steal’some of your work. Don’t be adverse to it. Just make sure everyone knows its yours. Because, that way, they’ll know where to come when they need a scene.
But, start saving now, before you’ve written anything, the incredible $2,500.00 fee that’s required to join the Writers Guild of America, East or West. https://www.wga.org/
Otherwise, you will not get paid for your work! And that, not the theft, is the hardest pill to swallow.
And keep writing.
Don’t let the world dissuade you. There were several things said to me when it first became known that I was actually the writer behind the elizabooks logo. And they were, “It can’t be you. You don’t know anything about writing a book.” Or, when Thou Shalt Eat Dust came out, “You’ve never been to Phoenix. And the mayor is White.” But the best one, said to me repeatedly, and that I still think about sometimes was, “You don’t look like a writer?”
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A Tiny Kitten With A Big Mouth 