Monday, October 24, 2005
Outbreak
Outbreak (1995) is about an Ebola-type virus that makes its way to the United States where it immediately spreads death and destruction, not to mention conflict and chaos. There are some wonderful scenes in this movie: a woman reporter tells her television audience that the army has the virus contained in this one town and that there’s nothing to worry about. Of course the audience knows there is a lot to worry about, which is ironic. How many times have we all listened to an official spokesman tell us we have nothing to worry about? How many times have we wondered if he or she was telling the truth?
I am reminded of John Gummer, former agriculture minister in the UK, who "publicly fed his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a beefburger in a bid to calm public alarm over mad cow disease." I don’t need to comment on that further. We all know now the horrors of mad cow disease. And while spokesmen may claim they are not trying to protect this interest or that interest, how many of them can we believe?
Outbreak is in the science-fiction section at the video store. And while there are many science-fiction elements in it, a good case could be made for its placement in a different section: action, comedy, drama, docudrama. But perhaps its best place would be in the horror section: horror to think this sort of thing could really happen; horror to think our government, like that in the film, could be less than truthful. Things like this have happened in other places. For those who say it can’t happen here, why not? Did anyone read The Hot Zone? You might want to give it a try.
2001
I am reminded of John Gummer, former agriculture minister in the UK, who "publicly fed his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a beefburger in a bid to calm public alarm over mad cow disease." I don’t need to comment on that further. We all know now the horrors of mad cow disease. And while spokesmen may claim they are not trying to protect this interest or that interest, how many of them can we believe?
Outbreak is in the science-fiction section at the video store. And while there are many science-fiction elements in it, a good case could be made for its placement in a different section: action, comedy, drama, docudrama. But perhaps its best place would be in the horror section: horror to think this sort of thing could really happen; horror to think our government, like that in the film, could be less than truthful. Things like this have happened in other places. For those who say it can’t happen here, why not? Did anyone read The Hot Zone? You might want to give it a try.
2001
