Art and Literary Considerations

Art and Literary Considerations

 If your curious about how viral epidemics have been portrayed in art and literature, here are a few suggestions to check out if you are bored. Note: do not let this cause you stress or make you panic. Not everything on here is realistic and is meant for entertainment and to spark thought only. Do not take this medically or scientifically sound!

Literature

  • Last Town on Earth (Thomas Mullen): During WWI, a small, fictional logging town takes drastic measures to close itself off to the outside world in the midst of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. It depicts the impact on supplies, quarantines, and the psychology of those in town.
  • The Stand (Stephen King): More horror than realism, King crafts a story about a strand of influenza that has been modified for biological warfare. 
  • Severance (Ling Ma): It is very interesting to see a viral outbreak novel written by a Chinese author while in the midst of an outbreak that originated in China. Ma's novel follows a pregnant woman's survival as society collapses around her. It also depicts the tyrannical rule of those trying to rebuild.
  • The Andromeda Strain (Michael Crichton): Much different than what is occurring now, a research satellite crashes to earth leaving a town dead from a mysterious viral strain. Now, a team of scientists are left to investigate!
  • The Plague (Albert Camus): Philosophical in nature, Camus explores the existential aspects facing people in Algeria during a devastating outbreak. It provides an interesting observation on the human condition as the virus brings out the best and worst aspects of humanity.
  • Pale Horse, Pale Rider (Katherine Ann Porter): The author, who contracted the flu during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, writes a story of a young girl who falls in love with a soldier during the same epidemic. The young girl falls ill and is tended to by the soldier who, as a result of caring for her, also contracts the flu.

Video Games

  • Tom Clancy's The Division: Set in New York City, a terrorist cell modifies a virus and contaminates money with it right at the height of Black Friday shopping! Order is lost and Division agents, covert operatives tasked to do anything it takes to bring order, are activated. The game is an interesting look at government response and use of force to restore order and civilization. Check the intro here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSNNyHzmc4
  • Plague Inc. Evolved: This is a mobile game that allows players to create and mutate various diseases and watch the global response as it spreads. Granted that it is for entertainment only, the Center for Disease Control has even looked at this game for it's educational merit.
  • World of Warcraft: Arguably the most popular MMORPG, viruses are nowhere near the main focus of the game; however, experts have studied various interesting events that have occurred throughout the years. The CDC and virologists studied a glitch in the game where characters, within a certain quest, could contract a virus-like condition from a certain enemy that would spread if they were in close proximity to other players. While this was meant to be contained within one certain instance of the game, a player found a way to glitch out of it and into the open world while "infected". Within 24 hours, the game had crashed with massive amounts of dead characters and the developers began quarantining characters until they could fix the glitch. Experts have also studied the game world's economy and market systems.
  • Foldit: This game, created by the University of Washington, is a puzzle game that allows players to provide input and solutions in order to create vaccines and treatment for real-world diseases. Even the corona-virus is actively listed and players are scrambling to test ideas. The game involves folding proteins and manipulating cells in various ways. University of Washington states that it will put forth the most promising ideas to laboratory testing.

Cinema

  • Outbreak: Currently on Netflix! After the military secretly bombs a small village in Africa as a means of eradicating an extremely deadly virus, a small monkey carrying the virus is smuggled into the United States to be sold at a pet store. One small bite and scratch later, the virus is spreading at a rapid rate in a small American town. The military forces a quarantine and proposes to bomb the town in order to prevent further death while a team of scientists race to find a cure. 
  • Contagion: With an all-star cast, this movie follows a viral outbreak sweeping the world and killing people days after being infected.
  • Zombie Movies in General: There are more than I count! Virus, crazy zombies, and so on... Completely unrealistic, but entertaining!
Have a suggestion that I didn't list, leave a comment for all of us to see!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NTI Writing Prompt

NTI Writing Prompt Directions Copy and paste the template below into an email or Google doc. Once completed, send or share it to me.  For each day of the week, write down what pages you read. For example: Monday: Pp. 1-32. Next, write a short response for each survey question. Please provide as much information as possible! Your responses will help me in planning future independent reading assignments. Also, since you guys had the most variety in projects (Major Works Data Sheets, Interpretation Triangle, Project Chart), I really want to hear your thoughts! This is due today and you must also read your book for approx. 15-20 minutes and log it for today as well! Assignment Template Week of Mar. 16-20 Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: What did you like best about how Independent Reading was organized or set up? What area do you feel needs the most improvement? Do you feel the reading logs and MWDS/Projects are too much, too little
Read more

NTI Days 19-23: Apr. 13-17

NTI Days 19-23: Apr. 13-17 NTI 19-20: April 13-14 For Monday and Tuesday this week, please complete the survey below. At the end of each school year, I ask all students to complete a brief survey over my course. You do NOT have to provide your name. Please respond honestly and with as much detail as possible. I take your feedback seriously and continuously strive to improve as a professional. Your responses will have an impact on how I teach next year. Lastly, this is only for my personal use and is not shared with the school or administration. Only I will see your responses. Student Survey Link: https://forms.gle/FSKgv4ks4UuQU5MP6 NTI 21-23: April 15-17 For Wednesday through Friday, the entire school will provide time to make up late NTI work. This is also an excellent time to make up any late or missing work in general that you may have. If you wish to make up late work, feel free to email me and I will send you the work along with directions!
Read more

Fall Break Travel Information

 Fall Break Travel Information Below is a release from the district regarding travel, especially out-of-state travel, during fall break: Scott County Schools will be on fall break on October 5-9, 2020.  There will be no virtual classes during this time.  We anticipate that some students and staff members will travel during fall break and wanted to address questions related to expectations for travel and self-quarantine recommended by government officials. In July, the Kentucky Department for Public Health issued a travel advisory with the recommendation of a 14-day self-quarantine for travelers who go to any state reporting a positive testing rate equal to or greater than 15% of COVID-19 testing.  An up-to-date listing of these states is posted at  www.kycovid19.com .  This list changes frequently but, at the time of this printing (9/28/20), the following states were included in the travel advisory: Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.  The Department of Public Health also
Read more