Narratives of Outbreak and Survival in English-Language Cinema Prior to COVID-19

Abstract

Efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic were hampered by the tendency of some Americans to disbelieve its seriousness, distrust social institutions, and defy public health recommendations. To contribute to understanding these responses, I look to one facet of the discursive environment faced by public health communicators: the last 25 years of commercially successful, English-language, epidemic-themed feature films. I coded a sample of 34 films for competing “outbreak narratives” and content related to evidence of serious disease, the trustworthiness of social institutions, and the prevention of infection. I find characters in films usually encounter diseases with alarming symptom profiles and infection and death rates nearing 100 percent. Social institutions are overwhelmingly portrayed as negligent or manifestly evil. And the primary method of protecting oneself and others from infection is murder. I conclude that the content of these films could influence public culture and sow disbelief, distrust, and defiance.