• Contact Us
Monday, July 14, 2025
  • Login
  • Home
  • The Sound of Asia
  • Living in Asia
  • Top Stories
  • Entertainment News
  • Celebrity News
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • The Sound of Asia
  • Living in Asia
  • Top Stories
  • Entertainment News
  • Celebrity News
No Result
View All Result
Sound Asia
No Result
View All Result

Zombies and vampires: How Hollywood handles viruses

by Sound News
April 6, 2020
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Zombies
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

Media playback is unsupported in your system

Media captionSpeaking Films seems to be at how Hollywood depicts pandemics on display screen.

There may be one a part of the movie business booming after the onset of Covid-19 – films that cope with infections, notably on a world scale.

Docuseries similar to Pandemic: The way to Stop an Outbreak on Netflix, and movies similar to Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion from 2011 have been having fun with unprecedented streaming numbers as audiences search to know present occasions.

That includes an ensemble A-list forged together with Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Legislation and Marion Cotillard, Contagion paperwork the unfold of a virus which originates in Asia and causes world lockdown. Nonetheless, its sober tone is the alternative to the bombast of the normal “catastrophe” film, and it was made with the enter of medical specialists at Columbia College.

  • Contagion cast share Covid-19 advice

“I did not wish to present 200 folks dropping useless on the similar time in a single scene,” director Steven Soderbergh defined on the time of the movie’s launch.

“As quickly as you make it really feel like a film, you give the viewers the flexibility to step away from it, and put a barrier in between them and what they’re seeing – and we did not wish to do this.”

Picture copyright
Twitter/Columbia Public Well being

Picture caption

Kate Winslet is one among 5 forged members who filmed themselves providing Covid-19 well being ideas

Contagion might have set a gold customary when it comes to film realism – however, traditionally an entire movie subculture has traditionally been rooted in concern of an infection and illness.

The “monster” film, a part of the broader horror style, has acquired new relevance. It is in regards to the concern of being bitten, and so contaminated with a contagion that is irreversible.

“Should you take a look at werewolf movies, similar to 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, that is in regards to the concern that one thing will chunk you and you may go the an infection on to another person,” says BBC Tradition movie critic Nicholas Barber.

“Then you definately’ve bought vampire movies, that are much more intently linked to illness and epidemics. Within the 1922 Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, there is a scene the place rats pour out of a coffin, and other people begin dying within the village they usually blame the plague. Vampire movies actually are about an infection and plague and illness.”

Picture copyright
Getty Pictures

Picture caption

Max Schreck (r) and Wolfgang Heinz in F. W. Murnau’s horror movie, Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens, in 1922

Audiences watching zombie films similar to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, or Marc Forster’s 2013 epic World Battle Z, starring Brad Pitt, may discover they resonate in a brand new manner.

In a single scene at first of 28 Days Later, actor Cillian Murphy stands in a abandoned London, silent after being ravaged by a mysterious, incurable virus.

“Zombies was these shambling, reanimated corpses that lurched by means of graveyards they usually tended to touch upon consumerism and social unrest, “explains Barber.

“That basically modified with 2002’s 28 Days Later. In that, zombies are literally referred to as ‘the contaminated’, they’re not reanimated corpses, they’re individuals who have been contaminated by a virus.

Picture copyright
Getty Pictures

Picture caption

Brad Pitt starred in World Battle Z

“World Battle Z, however, is basically about globalisation, and the way these infections do not simply take over a metropolis, they unfold all through the world, as we’re seeing now. That was the zombie film that coated it, and that is what is so unprecedented about what we’re seeing now.”

The loneliness of isolation after an infection has additionally been coated by Hollywood – most famously by 2007’s I’m Legend, directed by The Starvation Video games’s Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith.

RELATED STORIES

Kim Soo-hyun: Actor denies allegations by Kim Sae-ron's family – BBC

That Visa ad is real, Blackpink's really coming to Singapore, Entertainment News – AsiaOne

June 2, 2025
Kim Soo-hyun: Actor denies allegations by Kim Sae-ron's family – BBC

2nd Asia Star Entertainer Awards Day 1 winners: aespa leads Grand Prize race, Enhypen bags Album of the Year – financialexpress.com

May 29, 2025

An adaptation of a 1954 novel by Richard Matheson, Will Smith appears to be the one uninfected survivor in New York Metropolis after a virus, initially a brand new remedy for most cancers, kills billions of individuals and turns almost everybody else into cannibalistic mutants referred to as Darkseekers.

Maybe creating the horrible and fantastical in movie has been the human manner of coping with our vulnerability to viruses as a species.

Picture copyright
Getty Pictures

Picture caption

Will Smith holding palms (again when it was allowed) with crowds on the I Am Legend premiere in Mexico Metropolis in 2007

Nonetheless, the concept of the victory of the human spirit – which might defeat and outsmart even a lethal virus – was seen most not too long ago in 2016’s 93 Days, a movie directed by Steve Gukas and starring Danny Glover. It was based mostly on a real story of how a devoted medical workforce managed to stop an Ebola outbreak in Nigeria by containing it, even when it meant sacrificing their very own lives.

That concept of human triumph towards not possible odds is prone to be a recurring theme within the movies that emerge from screenwriters’ self-isolation.

“There’s loads popping out of the coronavirus to encourage numerous screenplays to come back,” says Nigel M Smith, films editor for Individuals journal.

“Should you take a look at what occurred after 9/11, it was solely a yr or so when Hollywood started making movies out of those tales. The business tends to do issues like that.”

However maybe it is simply as nicely that a sequel to World Battle Z was cancelled final yr. Would the general public pay to observe a pandemic filled with contaminated zombies, after residing by means of the time of Coronavirus?

This report is a part of a particular BBC Speaking Films programme on the consequences of Covid-19 on the movie business. It can broadcast on BBC World Information, the BBC Information Channel and BBC i participant from three April 2020. Comply with @talkingmovies on Fb and @BBCTalkMovies on Twitter.

Comply with us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. When you’ve got a narrative suggestion e-mail leisure.information@

[ad_2]

Source link

About Us

We bring you the best Premium Website that perfect for entertainment, celebrity news, living in Asia and music blog, etc. Check our categories blogs for details.

Recent Stories

  • Asia’s Brightest Stars: The Women Who Served Couture and Culture at Cannes 2025 – MEGA Magazine
  • How To Make Your Own Sound On Tiktok 2020 – mis-asia.com

Categories

  • Celebrity News
  • Entertainment News
  • Living in Asia
  • The Sound of Asia
  • Top Stories

Follow Us

Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Contact Us

© 2024 Copyright - Premium Website for Sound of Asia news & blogs.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “ACCEPT ALL”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsREJECT ALLACCEPT ALL
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • The Sound of Asia
  • Top Stories
  • Living in Asia
  • Entertainment News
  • Celebrity News