Imagining Bio-disaster, Reproducing Social Order

Sundaram, Neeraja

doi:10.1177/0973258613501065

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Most critics investigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the individual's body, society, and economy. For example, Sundaram (2012) studies the representation of the biological disaster caused by pandemics in contemporary film narratives, including Soderbergh's Contagion. She studies the viral invasion of the individual's body, which is "seen as a permeable system, one that is unable to withstand viral invasion and also unable to contain it" (p. 147).…”

Section: Stephen Soderbergh's Contagion (2011)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Positive Impact of Pandemics in Two Selected Speculative Narratives

Khashashneh

Al‐Shetawi

2022

tpls

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines Stephen Soderbergh’s film Contagion (2011) and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014) as a critique of the uncivilized culture of our modern society, which depends on fragile connections and lack of solidarity. Although global pandemics annihilate the world and shatter families, this study demonstrates how they are depicted as a positive tool of change, serving as a force that exposes then undermines the deep-rooted cultural flaws in society and finally offers lessons that help in rebuilding a new civilized world based on human values. Such representation of pandemics in these selected narratives is allegorical, functioning as a mirror that reflects our COVID-19 reality, teaching moral lessons, and contributing to our understanding of the crisis and how we think and act in response.

show abstract

Section: Stephen Soderbergh's Contagion (2011)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Positive Impact of Pandemics in Two Selected Speculative Narratives

Khashashneh

Al‐Shetawi

2022

tpls

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Esto es, las narrativas del contagio epidémico hablan sin duda de los estragos de la enfermedad, y argumentan la necesidad imperiosa de desarrollar mecanismos sociales para combatir la amenaza, reforzando y legitimando los dispositivos de control y disciplinamiento de la población que acompañan a los protocolos de prevención del contagio. Pero al hacerlo ponen también en escena otros miedos que no tienen que ver directamente con la enfermedad sino con otras amenazas más difusas, que carecen de narrativas claras para ser expresadas (Sundaram, 2012). Dicho de otro modo, los relatos del contagio biológico abastecen a las sociedades modernas -y muy intensamente a la cultura actual-de marcos narrativos solventes para dar cuenta de miedos y angustias difíciles de definir, que carecen de marcos narrativos y cuadros de sentido que puedan explicarlos convincentemente.…”

Section: Imaginación Del Desastre Y Estado De Excepción Narrativaunclassified

Ficciones inmunitarias. Sobre la lógica de la inmunidad en la cultura contemporánea

Blanes

2018

Papeles

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Palabras claveInmunidad Contagio Epidemia Zombi Shock ResumenEste trabajo desarrolla el concepto de "ficción inmunitaria" tomando como ejemplos paradigmáticos relatos de epidemias y narrativas zombi, que comparten la idea del contagio como matriz principal de la narración. El artículo trata de abordar la siguiente pregunta: ¿de qué modo estas ficciones, y otras similares, participan del imaginario de la inmunidad y escenifican, a la vez, algunas de sus contradicciones internas? Para ello reflexiona en torno a un conjunto de productos culturales de difusión masiva (novelas, series televisivas, obras cinematográficas). En primer lugar, analiza cómo estas ficciones ponen en relato los miedos y angustias sociales vinculadas a las tensiones del "paradigma inmunitario" y representan las relaciones complejas entre la comunidad, su amenaza y las formas posibles de inmunización. En segundo lugar, describe cómo generan una experiencia narrativa de impacto que busca producir un miedo derivativo en su público que, sin duda, refuerza y consolida la lógica social de la inmunidad y legitima sus múltiples formas de violencia ante la amenaza. KeywordsImmunity Contagion Epidemics Zombie Shock Abstract This article develops the concept of "immunitarian fiction" taking as paradigmatic examples epidemics and zombie narratives, which share the idea of contagion as the main matrix of their narrative. The article tries to address the following question: in what way do these fictions, and other similar ones, participate in the imaginary of immunity and, at the same time, show some of their internal contradictions? For this, the text reflects on a set of cultural products of mass diffusion (novels, television series, cinematographic works). We analyze, in the first place, how these fictions highlight the fears and social anxieties linked to the tensions of the "immune paradigm" and represent the complex relationships between the community, its threats and the possible forms of immunization. In a second moment, the text describes how they generate an impacting narrative experience that seeks to produce a derivative fear in its audience that reinforces and consolidates the social logic of immunity and legitimizes its multiple forms of violence facing threats.Peris Blanes, J. (2018). Ficciones inmunitarias. Sobre la lógica de la inmunidad en la cultura contemporánea. Papeles del CEIC. International Journal on Collective Identity Research, vol. 2018/1, papel 183, CEIC (Centro de Estudios sobre la Identidad Colectiva), UPV/EHU Press, http://dx

show abstract

“…Research on entertainment media depictions of disease and other health threats in movies, television, and novels has explored the presence of apocalyptic narratives or anxieties (e.g. Gerlach and Hamilton, 2014; Ironstone-Catterall, 2011; Sundaram, 2012), often connecting particular tropes, signifiers, and imagery with public understandings of science and health or presenting them as evidence of broader cultural narratives (Haynes, 2006; Kirby, 2003; Levina, 2015). Virus discourse often draws on a system of signification, or particular imagery, to conjure specific narratives or processes (Mayer, 2007; Rosenstone, 2003).…”

Section: The Visual Culture Of Contagion 23mentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing at apocalypse: Reading Plague Inc. in pandemic culture

Mitchell

Hamilton

2017

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plague Inc. is an enduringly popular mobile video game in which players create diseases and attempt to eradicate humanity; it has been downloaded more than 60 million times and been met with largely positive critical reception, with many reviews praising the game as a ‘realistic outbreak simulator’. This article explores Plague Inc. as both an artifact, and productive, of ‘pandemic culture’, a social imaginary that describes how the threat of pandemic increasingly shapes our day-to-day life. Ludic and narrative elements of the game were identified and selected for analysis, along with paratexts surrounding the game. Three aspects of Plague Inc. were used to structure the analysis: its politics of global scale, its viral realism, and its visual culture of contagion. The article examines how the ways in which Plague Inc. articulates ideas about pandemic may not only explain the game’s immense success but also provide insights into public perceptions and popular discourses about disease threats. The article argues that the game is an incomplete text that depends on preexisting familiarity with other disease media. It concludes that the popularity and longevity of Plague Inc., as well as its broader social relevance, can be explained by placing it within the context of public anxieties about vulnerability to infectious diseases.

show abstract

Imagining Bio-disaster, Reproducing Social Order

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

The Positive Impact of Pandemics in Two Selected Speculative Narratives

The Positive Impact of Pandemics in Two Selected Speculative Narratives

Ficciones inmunitarias. Sobre la lógica de la inmunidad en la cultura contemporánea

Playing at apocalypse: Reading Plague Inc. in pandemic culture

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About