Journal Contagion mod 1, main

The speaker chose the film "Contagion" because they are interested in realistic movies about diseases and catastrophes that affect the mass population. They mention how the movie shows the rapid impact of a pandemic and how human behavior can change. The film depicts social issues such as the spread of a deadly virus through physical contact and everyday objects. The speaker discusses how functionalism and conflict theories can be applied to understand the movie's issues and solutions. They also reflect on the influence of social media and news on human behavior. The speaker expresses interest in the symbolic aspects of the film, the role of the journalist character, and the personal trauma experienced by one of the main characters. The film of my choice is Contagion. I've chosen this film because I find interest in realistic movies that affect the mass population in the world, such as diseases and catastrophes. Movies like Contagion give me insight of how something can affect us all, such as the pandemic of COVID. COVID has impacted everyone worldwide, even after four years, in many ways. A movie like this gives me insight on how human behavior can suddenly switch and how rapidly our lives can change. The movie starts with individuals feeling sick in Chicago, Hong Kong, and London. The major social issues shown in this movie are how sick individuals are coughing and spreading an unknown deadly virus by just touching each other, touching a doorknob, a credit card, and elevator buttons. As we're going about our day, we do not realize how we spread germs and how we impact everyone we encounter throughout the world. As the medical community in this movie tries to figure out what is causing the death of multiple people, a journalist starts blogging to the public about his own thoughts and assumptions. This movie is a notable example of how functionalism and conflict theories can be applied for better understanding of the issues and solutions. For example, through the functionalism perspective, I can identify that medical researchers and public health officials work together as they figure out what the virus is and how it affects the human system. They work together sharing vital information and testing. These individuals collaborate because they need each other's skills as they race against the clock. Through the conflict perspective, the highly contagious pandemic disease creates a loss of social order as society reacts in fright, violence, and despair. In the movie, the social issues spread faster than the virus because of the negative influence of advertisement, perceptions, and speculations of others. Watching this movie has made me understand how human behavior is highly influenced by social media and the news. It shows how the assumptions of one person can change the views and beliefs of others. I am interested in learning about the symbolic aspect of the film that I might have missed as I watched it. The symbolic theory can help also identify how symbols play a big part in how I view the movie and how society in the movie was impacted by symbols. I am interested in the role of Alan, the freelance journalist who had a significant role in this movie and how bloggers are influencing us now in our current lives. What influenced this journalist to react and publicize such matter and what exactly he wanted to accomplish? I question the role of the cook who prepared the contaminated pig and Beth, the main character which could have prevented the spreading of the virus further by washing their hands. Lastly, I find interest in the role of Mitch played by Matt Damon, whose wife and stepson died in the beginning of the movie. He goes through tremendous trauma and has made me question my own trauma as I start analyzing my own life and behaviors.