Contagion: A Movie Review
The current state of world politics is characterized by the rise of interconnectedness among societies, or globalization. In 2011, a film titled Contagion sheds light on the pros and cons of a globalized world in terms of worldwide health crisis. One advantage of globalization is the collaborative nature of producing solutions: countries tend to work together to deal with global threats. This is illustrated in the scene where actors from Hong Kong and the United States work together and investigate how Beth Emhoff contracted the infection. As a result of the cooperation between states, they were able to produce a vaccine within 133 days. Nevertheless, globalization still played a role in the dissemination of the virus because it was spread worldwide through travel and open borders. In addition, the interconnectedness due to the internet made it easier to spread misinformation.
Another aspect of the movie worth discussing is their portrayal of the state enforced policies and how it reflects their actions. For instance, to prevent the public from panicking and causing chaos, the US government hid information related to the severity of the virus. When this failed and a chaotic response from the US citizens ensued, the government enforced strict military supervision over their people. Another example of their policies and actions was their management of food supplies: as the economy struggled, the government supplied people with controlled amounts of food to ensure everyone had equal access to food (considering that most markets in the film shut down).
Different International Relations theories can explain some of the occurrences in the film. For example, the Realist notion that people prioritize their national interests first over cooperation can be extrapolated to the accessibility of vaccines—the more sovereign or stronger nation has better access to the vaccines than less sovereign nations. Furthermore, the border restrictions may highlight the selfish nature of states. On the other hand, liberalism can also be used to illustrate the interdependence in the economy; as trade restrictions got stricter, the quality of life of citizens got worse. Furthermore, liberalism is demonstrated through the collective effort for progress of humanity.
There are parallels between the film and the COVID-19 in terms of how it played out. For instance, the development of a miracle unscientific drug that could cure the virus: in the film, forsythia; in real life, Trump’s hydroxychloroquine. The other part was the loss of livelihoods due to the lockdown. As we can see in the film, most workplaces became empty as rules on quarantine were enforced. In connection with this, Lyle Haggerty and Dr. Ellis Cheever had plans involving the development of online jobs, something that became increasingly ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Next would be the chaotic public response to the severity of the virus. Around the start of COVID-19, there were a lot of people hoarding supplies, like toilet papers. Another example would also be the increasing distrust in the government and pharmaceutical companies; anti-vaccine conspiracy theories became more popular, especially as the quarantine got longer. Like in the film, social distancing was also frequently ignored during the pandemic. Lastly, the burning of corpses to prevent the infection from spreading also happened during the COVID=19 pandemic.