Epidemie jako metafora. Pandemiczne lęki w kinie popularnym

Abstract

The article treats popular cinema as a very sensitive “seismograph” of social moods. Not only is it an escapist entertainment, but also an accurate commentary on today’s world and its problems. Certain film genres – horror, thriller, science-fiction, catastrophic films – depicting global pandemics prove the thesis well. Many films have shown that fear of an unknown disease, destroying human mind and/or body, is one of the basic human fears. It is often the case that it is not nature that is guilty of global annihilation. It is mankind that is responsible, especially the military, multinational corporations and mad scientists: greedy, cunning, egoistic and uncaring about others. Film works depicting epidemics are usually a warning and a morality play.