Contagion Movie » Bloggers During A Pandemic: Voice of Sanity Or Scaremongers?
I watched the “Contagion” movie premiere at Greenbelt last night. Although it is a star-studded humanity-in-peril movie about a lethal virus, it didn’t strike me as entertaining. It just felt rather bland, and it failed to really bite me. For me, it lacks the necessary tension-action twist. But don’t blame me because I’m a Star Wars kind of movie buff.
What caught my attention was Jude Law who played as a kind of mad blogger railing against the pharmaceutical industry and government. His raging posts against big pharmacies and the government turn provocative when people start dropping like zombies.
His character (the blogger named Alan Krumwiede) allows the movie to take digs both at traditional media (described as slow, bias and politically controlled nowadays) and blogging. As the world goes into chaos and the Government tries to control information, Law’s blog posts preaches homeopathic cures and Government cover-up, which provokes riots outside drug stores and health food shops.
What caught my attention was Jude Law who played as a kind of mad blogger railing against the pharmaceutical industry and government. His raging posts against big pharmacies and the government turn provocative when people start dropping like zombies.
His character (the blogger named Alan Krumwiede) allows the movie to take digs both at traditional media (described as slow, bias and politically controlled nowadays) and blogging. As the world goes into chaos and the Government tries to control information, Law’s blog posts preaches homeopathic cures and Government cover-up, which provokes riots outside drug stores and health food shops.
And yet, what I found interesting was that the movie didn't judge or conclude whether Alan Krumwiede is corect or not. The movie didn’t show whether Alan is necessarily a bad guy. Maybe he was correct all along, who knows?
I love that it's left open for the viewers to decide. Is Alan Krumwiede a voice of sanity in the chaos and dread, or a nutter?
Bloggers: Voice of Sanity Or Scaremongers?
I love that it's left open for the viewers to decide. Is Alan Krumwiede a voice of sanity in the chaos and dread, or a nutter?
Bloggers: Voice of Sanity Or Scaremongers?
Although bloggers generally are a selfless lot, many bloggers can be a paranoiac and scaremongers during a pandemic. They can also be a voice of sanity in the chaos and dread. Bloggers, especially those influential bloggers around the blogosphere, have a responsibility to themselves but they also have a responsibility to everyone around them especially to their readers.
Newspapers continue to perform an incredibly important function as informational gatekeepers. But traditional media, as they say is slowly dying. Their articles are sometimes full of their editor’s bias and are always subjected to political maneuverings.
Nowadays blogs could also be journalism – sometimes. There is always this question now whether blogs can be journalism.
I don’t have any answers to these questions. This issue will have to be addressed personally by all professional bloggers and the public.
When a pandemic comes, we will all be faced with hard decisions. Information will be presented to us via newspapers, television, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs.
Which one will you believe?
Newspapers continue to perform an incredibly important function as informational gatekeepers. But traditional media, as they say is slowly dying. Their articles are sometimes full of their editor’s bias and are always subjected to political maneuverings.
Nowadays blogs could also be journalism – sometimes. There is always this question now whether blogs can be journalism.
I don’t have any answers to these questions. This issue will have to be addressed personally by all professional bloggers and the public.
When a pandemic comes, we will all be faced with hard decisions. Information will be presented to us via newspapers, television, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs.
Which one will you believe?
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Notes and Citations
» "Contagion" (2011) film is released today September 9, 2011.
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