Epidemic Films To Die For: A Chronicle of the Covid-19 Plague Years

(Hardback)

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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.

Reviews

Part history, part filmography, part cultural and social analysis, Tom Zaniellos 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 *

Author Bio

Tom Zaniello is Professor Emeritus at Northern Kentucky University, USA. He has been active as a film programmer for the Hill Center in Washington DC and for the London and North West (Liverpool) Labour Film Festivals. His publications include Californias Lamson Murder Mystery (2016), the story of the wrongful conviction of a Hollywood screenwriter for murder, Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor, 2nd ed. (2003), and The Cinema of Globalization (2007).