The corona virus has halted almost all of the activities of the world. People are restricted to the closed four walls of their homes. Even the people from different governments of the world. The movie Contagion explored something similar and people are quick to point out the similarities from the movie and the real world.
Contagion perfectly shows the world amidst an outbreak
Contagion was released in 2011 and is about a man trying to keep afloat his family and himself in times of a deadly virus outbreak. The movie became one of the most popular movies on iTunes last week. It was the only one on the list which was not released last year in 2019.
The director of the movie Steven Soderbergh and the writer Scott Burns wanted to the make Contagion realistic. They consulted specialists on epidemiology to give an the most accurate representation of an outbreak.
How did they make it realistic?
Laurie Garrett was one of the consultants for the movie Contagion. She penned down the book The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance which went on to become a bestseller in the year 1994. She said that they were hoping to use a flu virus related to the Spanish influenza of 1918. But then they moved on to use a theoretical and imaginary virus.
The virus started in Hong Kong by a fruit dropped by a bat which was then eaten by a pig. The pig was consumed by humans and then the virus spread through them. Scientists have also theorized that coronavirus also could have originated from bats.
Many people conjure up conspiracy theories when it comes to outbreaks. Senator Tom Cotton suggested that COVID-19 was a work of biological weapon from China. Garrett argued that we were not prepared for a pandemic like this and that people can gain guidance by watching Contagion.