Homeopathy in Panic Film Contagion

Panic Cinema: the epidemic Contagion and homeopathy as an enemy

11/25/2011

Disaster Cinema with top-class star ensemble: Steven Soderberghs (director and camera) Epidemic Contagion impresses with a high-caliber cast. Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet are just some Hollywood greats to tell the story of the undoubtedly devious virus MEV1: After a woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) after a trip to China As mysterious virus dies and similar events occur across the planet, it quickly becomes clear that an epidemic is spreading. The number of deaths is growing rapidly. However, the virus mutates faster than scientists can decode their DNA to develop a vaccine. And it spreads very fast in our world of global mobility. There is panic in big cities with streets full of garbage, the state of emergency is declared and medical staff refuse to work. Flight, chaos, looting and food shortages are direct consequences of the MEV1 pathogen. The deadly danger is omnipresent, the contagion - the infection - can be triggered by the next kiss or handshake, by the touch of a doorknob or the embrace of your own child. The virus destroys social life as well as the individual human body. The scientists at the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), trying to find out more about the virus and develop a cure. Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) travels from the World Health Organization in Geneva to Hong Kong, where the source of the disease is believed.

The role of the only villain takes over in this piece of fanatical blogger and freelance journalist Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), which causes panic worldwide with its Internet articles. Krumwiede is supposed to embody the archetype of demagogic evil: he pretends to fight for freedom of opinion and spreads windy conspiracy theories. He accuses governments, WHO and the pharmaceutical industry of complicity in preventing homeopathic remedies. And he even recommends one explicitly in the movie „homeopathic“ called remedy (forsythia). He had healed himself after the infection with the virus. In a TV discussion
is the showdown between CDC and Krumwiede: „The CDC conducts research on forsythia and other homeopathic medicines. So far, all these approaches are not scientifically substantiated“, Soderbergh leaves his dr. Ellis Cheever from the CDC say. „Or not desired“, counters Alan Krumwiede. „To get infected with fear, the contact with the Internet is enough. What Mr. Krumwiede spreads here is far more dangerous than the disease itself“, This brings the enemy image of homeopathy and freedom of expression and information Cheever brought to a climax.

Süddeutsche Zeitung: Authoritarian Doctrine
When Krumwiede calls for a boycott of the finally found vaccine and continues to recommend forsythia, he is arrested. A blood test shows he never had the virus. In Contagion, a reference to the swine flu (H1N1) is made several times. The mistake of raising alarm too fast and terrifying people should not be repeated with the MEV1 virus. Rather, the reluctance of explosive information is viewed positively. Why does Soderbergh and his fanatical blogger-journalist despair so much of the Internet and the freedom of expression and freedom that it offers?
For example, during the 2003 SARS epidemic, the Chinese authorities censored all press reports for a long time - counter-information via the Internet would have been life-saving.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung puts it in a nutshell: „The crux Soderbergh is that he puts a good, faith-believing lesson in scene. More dangerous than the MEV-1 virus is the social virus of fear-panic. As if Soderbergh wants to say to a catastrophic America: With all the loss of confidence in politics, where science comes into play, everything is fine, and from there, order is restored.“

Despite all legitimate criticism of the Hollywood blockbuster, he was a promotional film for the vaccine-producing industry without any critical reflection or he had been launched directly after the vaccine failure in the swine flu from the pharmaceutical industry. Or he divides medicine and science into a good and evil. Contagion makes it clear that homeopathy has arrived in Hollywood - and only those who are relevant in Hollywood is constructed as an enemy image. (German Central Association for Homeopathy)