Plague - Present

I have been looking up plague in media and have listed what i have found in my research


In films there was "Daybreakers" which is set in a world where everyone has been infected with vampirism and as per usual has to drink blood to survive. There are blood factories where humans are slowly bled dry as food for the people while they try to develop a blood substitute. Eventually they find a cure to vampirism but also a blood substitute that works so it ends down to a cure for the disease or a cure for the symptoms with the big blood organisation wanting to get money through the substitute.

Poster of the movie.

The really interesting thing about this film i think is that it treats vampirism as a disease in a more modern sense instead of the old tradition mythical curse way. Another interesting thing i feel is the film plays and uses the idea of plague in the way associating it with corporate greed.

A good example of plague again in media is the classic book "I am Legend". in the book it deals with a man who is the sole survivor of a strain of bacteria that effects the living and dead. this disease give the host the effects similar to vampirism. Spending years alone battling the infected, he meets a woman who turns out to be infected saying that people are starting to adapt to the disease and can spend short periods of time in the sun. She says that people are trying to rebuild but they fear and hate him for killing so many. After he is captured and on his way to his execution, he contemplates the fact that he as the last man, after killing so many has become the thing feared by the infected that they tell to their children, he had become a legend. .

Front cover of the book

This book is very interesting i think for the theme of Plague because it reverses the view as he realises the infected are not mindless and that he had just been judging them on their illness, thus turning the whole idea of infected vs uninfected on it's head.

In the very popular table top game Warhammer, there is a god in the lore named Nurgle who is considered "The plague father" he is a demon god of illnesses and diseases. His followers are usually bloated with disease, unable to feel pain. This is represented in the figures as plague marines and demons of Nurgle. The plague marine figures look the same as the normal marines that are the main good guy of the universe apart from they are swelled up and bloated from the disease.

Nurgle Deamon Prince from Games Workshop

Squad of Plague Marines from Games Workshop

Also in the demon figures there are several different figures. There are Plague bearers, who look like one eye trolls with the same bloated and rotting, there are demon princes that are big demonic demons that are festering and rotting with disease. There is an Epidamious who is being carried along by lots of smaller demons.

Plague Bearers from Games Workshop

Epidamious From Games Workshop

Greater Deamon of Nurgle from Games Workshop

The grizzly look of the plague marines and deamons are rotting apart and green colour feel gets the Plague feeling across really well i think. It takes the whole human disgust of disease and plays on it as so to make the player feel the idea of physical corruption.


It is interesting to note as well that Plague has been present inside media in the form of a plague inside a game. In 2005, in the game World Of Warcraft the developers created a new section of a dungeon named Zul'Gurub in which a boss would release a disease called Corrupted blood which would damage the player for a while but would also pass to nearby players if they got too close but was only meant to be contained to the boss area. After a while players realised they could use teleportation methods to take the disease outside the area they were meant to and spread it around the virtual world of Azaroth. This caused a massive spread of panic as people characters kept dying over and over causing player to avoid main towns and other highly populated areas. Eventually the Developers were forced to clean up the mess fixing the exploit.

Screenshot of a major town that was struck from the Plague

Despite not being an intentional use of Plague in media i still feel this is relevant because this incident caused attention from the likes of epidemiologists recording how it accurately portrays humanities reactions to a deadly virus and also anti-terrorist organisations studying the plan set of the ones who abused the exploit in the first place and how they planned it. Thus i feel it shows how the use of media has been used to help further epidemic research and prevention.




In general after looking at Plague in modern media i have seen that the idea of a plague being a metaphor for consumerism be utilised as well as showing the idea of plague in stories be more twisted in interesting new ways which keep the idea of plague fresh. Also on top of this i have seen how plague is being used as art style for some things with the idea of rotting flesh being used to shock and horror people.

Voodoo - Present

 

In terms of voodoo there was a range of media i have found which has been relevant and in the public eye as of present.

one example i have found is a site named pinstruck.com this site is unique and interesting because it offers a service where a person can send a joke voodoo curse to someone else through email anonymously. The site allows the person to custom make there curse with the victim with their name and description.

Personalised curse on pinstruck.com

 

This is a nice media piece related to media i think because This is a fun play on chain mail where people can send curses to other people when cursed, making a harmless fun version of the Voodoo doll curse.

There is a product that is available for purchase called the Revenge Voodoo Doll. This doll is linked to the old voodoo belief that if you make a doll of someone and stick needles in it, you can make someone feel pain or be cursed. This toy marks itself as a light hearted toy to mess around with.

Revenge Voodoo Doll from find-me-a-gift.co.uk

It’s quite interesting therefore i feel how they have managed a light hearted spin on what was originally a dark voodoo spell as with the last example but with this one being a more direct approach as the user has an actual physical doll to play around with.

Another really interesting item is the voodoo knife block. The knife block is a knife holder but interestingly shaped like a person as to make it resemble a voodoo doll but replacing the pins with knives.  

Voodoo knife block from ideas.me.uk

This item again another play on the idea of the Voodoo doll but this time in a more practical manner. This i therefore feel is a good example because it shows how the manipulation of voodoo ideas have stay in media as reprisented in household objects

 From this i also note that there is a good amount of popularity in Voodoo dolls in different media forms. It seems that the idea of Voodoo dolls plays well to numours media types and captivates peoples interests.

also found when looking that there are a series of bikes being released from a company called "Voodoo Bikes" This Company sells mountain, bmx and other bikes that are all named after Voodoo related names. The company is set up from a famous bike mechanic Joe Murrey who amongst others engineer these bikes

The Wanga from Voodoo Bikes

this i think is a good example of how the idea of Voodoo and Voodooist witchcraft is being used to represent products that make them sound more appealing as it really brings character to the goods.

There is an American based bakery company called Voodoo Doughnuts, which utilises its voodooist name as they produce more out of the ordinary bakery goods. The company such pastry’s as the "Voodoo Doll" which is a doll shaped pastry.

Sign outside Voodoo Doughnut and Stain glass Door.
 Pictures by Katrina Taylor 

Voodoo Doll from Voodoo Doughnut

 

This i definitely think is a good example of using the tag names of Voodoo to make for a more interesting appearing business especially with the more fun style baked good making it more out the ordinary then usual

 

I have also found that the manufactor DeMarini that makes baseball related goods have a bat named the Voodooseries that was manufactured this year. These bat has seen proffestional baseball as some big named stars have used it.

Baseball player using one of the Voodoo bats.

I think this is another good example of the name of Voodoo being taglined onto a product to make it seem more mysterious. This shows expesally as its a major league standered bat that its used and respected well in its field.

From some of these examples ive seen that the name of Voodoo often gets taglined onto comemrsial products to help create a more mystic and supernatural feel around the product making the user feel as if they will achieve better due to unforseen forces. Therefore i feel these are good examples of how the idea of Voodoo still gets used in media today.

Looking into voodoo I found that zombies which are a voodooist belief is very big at present in media so i looked into zombies for present.

In books there has been "The zombie survival guide" (Max Brooks Three Rivers Press 2003) which is laid out like an instructional booklet explaining all the necessary tools and tactics to survive if there was a zombie apocalypse.

 

Front Cover

This book is a really good example because this book really plays on the fear people have gained from the rise of zombies in media, that someday an experiment gone wrong by the government or some sort of disaster would cause real life zombies because the fear to do with zombies is that it seems possible.

There also has been the book "World war Z" (2006) is another book released by Max Brooks. In this book it follows an interviewer after the zombie outbreak as he follows people’s stories of how they survived the outbreak.  This book is even being turned into a film due to release in 2012.

Front cover

This book is very interesting because it’s heavily researched with everything being influenced by real military tactics and political policies. also it follows a very political theme as the author details how the outbreak started throughout the country’s and how each country faired in the end of it due to their governments decisions which were influenced by how the countries have reacted in real life to previous disasters and such.

In comic book form there is "The walking dead" (Image Comics 2003) which is a comic that has risen into popularity recently that focuses on a group of survivors after the apocalypse.

Illustration from the comic

this entry is interesting i think because unlike previous zombie themed media, this one is a lot more grim dealing with how the survivors have to adapt to this new world. The comic constantly deals with survivors dying, committing suicide or even being murdered which adds a very dark theme to the comic.

Recently "The walking dead" has been adapted into a TV program which has had worldwide acclaim. This has caused the comic series to hit mainstream and raise popularity. The TV series has a lot of changes from the comic but still has the dark theme.

Still shot of a scene from the first episode.

 

This is good because it shows that there is a rising in popularity due to the fact that the comic book was adapted into a TV show form and thus bringing it out into a much more mainstream light which means more people are exposed to zombies in media.

In films there has been "Shawn of the dead" (Edger Wright 2006) which brought a new approach to zombies and zombie films, by having it more as a comedy then a serious element in the film follows Shawn an average guy as a zombie outbreak happens in his local town. Although a comedy, the zombies are portrayed seriously even though the characters are more comedic as the zombies are shown killing off characters quite violently.

Glamour shot of the main cast

This film was interesting i think because it portrayed a world more used to the idea of zombies through their own media and so the characters are more prepared, making lots of zombie pop culture references.

From this i have seen that zombies in the present have become very much a cult classic as many types of media are portraying the horror of a zombie infestation. This in turn has become so deep set in our culture that it has people making make believe plans on what they would do should the impossible event happens and it even has seeped back into the media itself as the media portrays characters pre aware of zombies existence prior to the start of the infestation which is not normally done in horror.