Epidemic Films to Die For

A Chronicle of the Covid-19 Plague Years

Epidemic Films to Die For

A Chronicle of the Covid-19 Plague Years

Tom Zaniello (Author)

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Description

Epidemic cinema remains an enduring genre of contemporary film, ranging from medical dramas to post-apocalyptic thrillers. Using a vast filmography, Zaniello not only details the incredible variety of epidemics and their role in popular culture, but also demonstrates how epidemics, as a rule, have been confronted without proper preparation or deployment of resources in different forms of media. Therefore, Epidemic Films to Die For is the first and the only book that extensively analyzes the history and deployment of films and TV series towards a chronicle of epidemic films. In addition to providing an overview of how widespread disease and illness have been historically depicted via film and media, this book skillfully contextualizes the contemporary ongoing moment in which filmmakers and producers grapple with the cultural imaginary surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of Figures

Introduction: Panic in the Streets
1. The Panther Behind Bars: Oliver Sacks and Parkinson's
2. The Heroic Doctors of the Pre-Apocalypse
3. Hollywood in the Polio Years: Playgrounds Without Children
4. A Diabolical Abecedary of Viruses
5. Plagues ... Black, Red, Yellow, and White
6. Bacteria in Lingua Latina
7. Fungal Nightmares, Pollen Poisoning, and Other Botanical Horrors
8. Creepy Crawlers and Other Things that Get Under Your Skin
9. HIV/AIDS and STDs: The Person is Not the Disease
10. OxyContin and the Opioids: A 10 on the Pain Scale
11. The Covid-19 Pandemic: We Told You So
12. Non-Pathogenic Epidemics: The Politics of Race, Class, and Caste
13. Androids and The Grey Man
14. Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) and The Human Mouse
15. Zombies R Us, Vampires R You
16. Imaginary and Idiopathic Viruses: As If There Weren't Enough Real Ones
17. Alien Sex and the Midwich Cuckoos
18. Standstill: A New (Post-Covid-19) Structure of Feeling

Afterword: Forever Epidemics
Appendix: Epidemic Cinema Database
Bibliography
Typological Index of Epidemic Films
Acknowledgements

Product details

Published	17 Oct 2024
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	1st
Extent	288
ISBN	9798765108550
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations	16 bw illus
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Tom Zaniello

Tom Zaniello is Professor Emeritus, having taught…

Whether it be in historical films or more futuristic, utopian idioms, the movie industry has – more often than you thought – responded imaginatively and dramatically to epidemics. In the wake of the Covid-I9 pandemic, brilliant researcher and writer Tom Zaniello's timely, personal and deeply original study shows how, from cholera to ebola to AIDS/HIV and beyond, makers of fiction and documentary movies have turned human sickness into entertainment and – sometimes poisonous! - food for thought.

Adrian Grafe, BA Hons. (Oxon), Professor of English, Artois University, France, and author of The Ravens of Vienna (2023)
We might see popular narratives about seemingly-uncontrollable diseases as a post-COVID cultural fascination, but Tom Zaniello's review of epidemic cinema makes clear that the genre has a long and varied history. Looking across eras and genres, this book helps us see how film narratives about flu variations, AIDS, zombies, the opioid epidemic, and climate change all reveal persistent anxieties about the body, the limits of governmental control, inequality, and morality. Zaniello serves as an entertaining and knowledgeable guide to a vast catalogue of films we might miss -- but shouldn't.

Sherry Linkon, Professor of English, Writing, and American Studies, Georgetown University, USA
In Epidemic Films to Die For, Tom Zaniello delivers a refreshing contribution to the emerging genre of Epidemic Cinema. The book will become a reference in Film Studies for its impressive compendium of epidemic films and for widening the genre's scope by including non-pathogenic epidemics like drugs, toxins, and radioactivity. Zaniello's energetic and down-to-earth style makes Epidemic Films to Die For a contagiously delightful, fun-to-read experience.

Julia Echeverría, Assistant Professor, University of Zaragoza, Spain
Part history, part filmography, part cultural and social analysis, Tom Zaniello's Epidemic Films to Die For is a rich and varied portmanteau of a book. Capturing a wide variety of celluloid dedicated to reflecting an ongoing fascination with disease, viruses and epidemics it will be a bench mark for understanding the cultural impact of natural and human made pathogens.

Tim Strangleman, Professor of Sociology, University of Kent, UK