Infectious Inequalities Epidemics, Trust, and Social Vulnerabilities in Cinema

This book explores societal vulnerabilities highlighted within cinema and develops an interpretive framework for understanding the depiction of societal responses to epidemic disease outbreaks across cinematic history. Drawing on a large database of twentieth- and twenty-first-century films depictin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Han, Qijun
Other Authors: Curtis, Daniel R.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Directory of Open Access Books - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:This book explores societal vulnerabilities highlighted within cinema and develops an interpretive framework for understanding the depiction of societal responses to epidemic disease outbreaks across cinematic history. Drawing on a large database of twentieth- and twenty-first-century films depicting epidemics, the study looks into issues including trust, distrust, and mistrust; different epidemic experiences down the lines of expertise, gender, and wealth; and the difficulties in visualizing the invisible pathogen on screen. The authors argue that epidemics have long been presented in cinema as forming a point of cohesion for the communities portrayed, as individuals and groups "from below" represented as characters in these films find solidarity in battling a common enemy of elite institutions and authority figures. Throughout the book, a central question is also posed: "cohesion for whom?", which sheds light on the fortunes of those characters that are excluded from these expressions of collective solidarity. This book is a valuable reference for scholars and students of film studies and visual studies as well as academic and general readers interested in topics of films and history, and disease and society.
Item Description:Creative Commons (cc), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Physical Description:1 electronic resource (166 p.)
ISBN:9781003261667
9781032205205
9781000540765
9781032199665