Bibliography

Amazon. (2003). The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead . Available: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400049628?ie=UTF8&tag=rd0a7-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1400049628. Last accessed 5th Dec 2011.

Angeles voodoo. (2008). The place where the Party does not stop.. Available: http://www.angelesvoodoo.com/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Atom. (2008). Plague may ravage world again in case of another world war PART 1 . Available: http://enddays2012.blogspot.com/2008/12/plague-may-ravage-world-again-in-case.html. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Capcom. (2011). Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Gets Gameplay Video and Screenshots. Available: http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Resident-Evil-Operation-Raccoon-City-Gets-Gameplay-Video-and-Screenshots-11.jpg/. Last accessed 11th Dec 2011.

Channel 4. (2011). How to survive a plague. Available: http://puma.britdoc.org/films/47/view. Last accessed  12^th Dec 2011

Citadel. (2000). Games Workshop. Available: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/home.jsp. Last accessed 8th Dec 2011.

Cobos, F. (2011). Zombie. Available: http://thewordthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/zombie.html. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

David. (2010). Daybreakers. Available: http://howeswho.blogspot.com/2010/06/daybreakers.html. Last accessed 8th Dec 2011.

DeMarini. (2011). 2011 Voodoo Black -3. Available: http://www.demarini.com/demarini/product.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674755771&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302760028. Last accessed 5th Dec 2011.

Eck, C. (2011). The Haitian that Set Me Straight on Voodoo. Available: http://gatewaytogold.com/the-haitian-that-changed-my-life/. Last accessed 4th Nov 2011.

Elvis. (2011). 6 More Holidays To Celebrate The Dead. Available: http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2011/11/01/6-more-holidays-to-celebrate-the-dead/. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011.

Find me a Gift. (2010). Personalised Revenge Voodoo Doll. Available: http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/novelty-gifts-personalised-revenge-voodoo-doll.html. Last accessed 10th Nov 2011.

Forbidden Planet. (2011). B.P.R.D. . Available: http://forbiddenplanet.com/79862-bprd-plague-of-frogs-volume-1/#product-description. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Forbidden Planet. (2011). Baltimore. Available: http://forbiddenplanet.com/76402-baltimore-volume-1-the-plague-ships/#product-description. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Forbidden Planet. (2011). Walking Dead TV: Series 1 Action Figures: Zombie Walker. Available: http://forbiddenplanet.com/75242-walking-dead-tv-series-1-action-figures-zombie-walker/. Last accessed 12^th Dec 2011

Forbidden Planet. (2011). Year Of Infection: 2012 Calendar. Available: http://forbiddenplanet.com/78755-zombies-year-of-infection-2012-calendar/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Giant Bomb. (2011). Box Art. Available: http://www.giantbomb.com/the-last-of-us/61-36989/box-art/52-580557/6484069899_39fe8d2509_b/51-2079847/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Grigg, W. (2009). The "Practical Politics" of a Presumed Plague (Second Update, April 28). Available: http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2009/04/practical-politics-of-presumed-plague.html. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Harvord. (2009). Decameron. Available: https://coursewikis.fas.harvard.edu/aiu18/Decameron. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Hunter, D. (2004). Jet Fighter Planes. Available: http://www.military-aircraft.org.uk/jet-fighter-planes/index.htm. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011

Ideas. (2010). Voodoo Knife Block. Available: http://www.ideas.me.uk/voodoo-knife-block/. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011

Iline, M. (2009). Plague (aka M-3: The Gemini Strain) (1978, Canada). Available: http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/2009/04/plague-aka-m-3-the-gemini-strain-1978-canada/. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Janes, A. (2007). The Black Plague and the Secret of Thieves . Available: http://bourbonandtea.blogspot.com/2007/12/black-plague-and-secret-of-thieves.html. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Joel. (2011). WebOfCinema Making Comics?. Available: http://www.webofcinema.com/apps/blog/show/7071099-webofcinema-making-comics-. Last accessed 11th Dec 2011.

Martijn. (2011). Savage Messiah – Plague of Conscience CD. Available: http://www.massmovement.co.uk/wordpress/?p=13505. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Marvel. (2009). Plague (Earth-616). Available: http://marvel.wikia.com/Plague_(Earth-616). Last accessed 10th Dec

Mason, A. (2008). Quantum Director Helming Zombie Epic ‘World War Z’. Available: http://www.movie-moron.com/?p=1463. Last accessed 5^th Dec 2011

McWhertor, M. (2011). See The Walking Dead Video Game’s Superb Comic Book Look. Available: http://kotaku.com/5824043/see-the-walking-dead-video-games-superb-comic-book-look. Last accessed 11^th Dec 2011

Miwiki. (2009). Voodoo Lady. Available: http://www.miwiki.net/Voodoo_Lady. Last accessed 10th dec 2011.

MoviePosterDB. (2004). Live And Let Die (1973). Available: http://www.movieposterdb.com/movie/0070328/Live-And-Let-Die.html. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011.

Murray, J. (2009). Mountain Bikes. Available: http://www.voodoobikes.co.uk/bikes/mountainbikes/. Last accessed 2^nd Dec 2011

O'Leary, M. (2007). Hong Kong Bubonic Plague Epidemic 1894 & Discovery of the Plague Bacillus. Available: http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=462. Last accessed 4th Nov 2011.

Orland, K. (2008). GFH: The Real Life Lessons Of WoW's Corrupted Blood. Available: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18571. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011.

Outlaw, K. (2010). ‘The Walking Dead’ Review & Discussion. Available: http://screenrant.com/the-walking-dead-reviews-kofi-85345/. Last accessed 5th Dec 2011.

Rashid, H. (2009). Journal For Plague Lovers. Available: http://www.hoponbaby.com/journal-for-plague-lovers/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Reynolds, R. (2009). Rare 1st edition 007 book found in charity bin bag. Available: http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2009/09/24/9967-1871/. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011.

Roberts, K. (2011). Hammer artwork on sale in time for Christmas. Available: http://the-void.co.uk/film/news-hammer-poster-artwork-sale-christmas-188/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Roberts, L. (2004). Shaun of the Dead Answers the Eternal Question. Available: http://www.best-horror-movies.com/Shaun-of-the-dead.html. Last accessed 8th Dec 2011.

Romita, J. (2009). Brother Voodoo. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BrotherVoodoo.JPG. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Saxelid, C. (2011). The Rats book cover. Available: http://chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/zillaroars/2011/11/the-rats-book-cover.html. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Scott, K. (2011). News : World War Z to film in Glasgow, Scotland.. Available: http://thehorrorhotel.blogspot.com/2011/06/world-war-z-to-film-in-glasgow-scotland.html. Last accessed 11th Dec 2011.

SealMaiden. (2011). Or Whatever. Available: http://sealmaiden.tumblr.com/page/201. Last accessed 10th Dec 2011.

Silkstone, S. (2010). Top Ten Tuesdays: Zombie Games. Available: http://www.dealspwn.com/top-ten-tuesdays-zombie-games-35696. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

Smith, W. (1996). The Play that Electrified Harlem. Available: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/ftsmth00.html. Last accessed 9th Dec 2011

Steem, LLC. (1999). What is PinStruck. Available: http://www.pinstruck.com/whatispinstruck.htm. Last accessed 6th Nov 2011

Taylor, K. (2010). My big fat Voodoo wedding. Available: http://www.seattleissexy.com/my-big-fat-voodoo-wedding/. Last accessed 2nd Dec 2011.

The Infernal Bridegroom. (2006). Death and Plague in Art . Available: http://ibpkillinggame.blogspot.com/2006/12/death-in-art.html. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

The Woman In Black. (2011). AMC Reveals New The Walking Dead Season 2 Poster . Available: http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/47188/amc-reveals-new-walking-dead-season-2-poster. Last accessed 11th Dec 2011.

The Zombie Source Staff. (2010). The Walking Dead Comic. Available: http://www.thezombiesource.com/2010/11/the-walking-dead-comic/. Last accessed 5th Dec 2011.

Walking Dead Wiki. (2011). The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. Available: http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/The_Walking_Dead:_Rise_of_the_Governor. Last accessed 11th Dec 2011.

Wikipedia. (2011). I Am Legend (Novel). Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel). Last accessed 8^th Dec 2011

Winds of Plague. (2011). Winds of Plague. Available: http://www.myspace.com/windsofplague. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011.

IP Justification

After all my research into the media related backgrounds to both plague and Voodoo, i feel i can full justify why i feel they are both a good source for a IP in the future.

With plague i have researched a lot and have found that people naturally have a fear of the idea of plague with it being an inherit in all humans. Because of this i have found that the idea plague works really well in media because of this fear making a great theme when dealing with horror as with previous media the plague does not have to be of a realistic nature with media portraying a plague turning its victims into vampires for example.

Yet at the same time it is true that Plague can be a good theme in drama related media as the hunt for a cure is always a good objective of any story as it can be a gruelling journey

with Voodoo i looked into the past and present of it and realised that Voodoo came about fully in media in the 50's up to the 70's with Blaxploitation but since then it dropped a good bit in popularity though not completely. When looking more into it i realised that the offshoot of Voodoo, Zombies, have had a massive burst of media recently with it being popular in all different types of media.

Zombies have gone from cult classic films in the 50's to more recently in the last 20 years a big mainstream hit sweeping the nation with big hits like The Walking dead series many more to come i see.

Therefore i can see that creating an IP with the mixture of the zombies and plague would defiantly be a success especially as a horror based IP has the two work well when introduced in a horror environment as both play on fears evident in most people.

Movie poster for "The Plague of Zombies"

Plague - Forecast

After looking at Plague in media over the years leading to the present then to the future, i have seen its correlation and relevance in media.

When looking into the past with Plague, I've noticed how big of a impact that widespread pandemics have on the media of the time, noting how when the Bubonic plague struck in the 16th Contrary, it nearly wiped out a massive portion of the population at nearly apocalyptic levels which left a huge impact on the survivors especially in the mass burials that had to take place which lead to artists at the time depicting the horrors of the plague and disease in general.

Die Pest in Epiros by Pierre Mignard (1610-1665)

From there I’ve seen Plague be a introducing theme in a lot of horror based media in both more recent past and the present. A lot of the media in question portrays a horrifying alternate reality with a Plague has spread out with usually apocalyptic results.

I defiantly feel that the reason plague related media has always done so well is the inherent fear all humans have for disease and infection due to the invisible yet destructive nature of epidemics. The idea that a invisible force is at work around us that could strike at us at any time, being incurable and deadly with nothing we can do about it but sit and watch it consume us.

Album cover for Journal for Plague Lovers by Manic Stree Preachers

I have defiantly found this fear evident in the amount of conspiracy theory’s saying the end of the world will be brought about due to disease in 2012 due to prophesies and such only supports the fact that fear of the disease and infection can be just as easily spread as the illness they portray.

Painting whats known as the Danse Macabre.

due to all this evidence i feel that Plague in media has and always be a main feature due to the inherent build in fear all humans have of plague which lends to media relating to plague to more easily capture the audience solidifying plagues place in media i think for as long as there fear in disease.

Voodoo - Forecast

I have scanned media in both the present and the past in understanding the history and relevance of Voodoo.
From my research I’ve seen that although Voodoo as a religion was introduced around the 16th century, its media relevance did not show up for a long while after.


Through my research in the past I’ve been able to note that Voodoo made a first real appearance in media in the early 1940's where it increased in popularity quite rapidly where it hit peak around the 70's. In the early 50's was one of the main decades of its rise in popularity as comics and early books touched upon the subject. By the 70's Voodoo hit cinemas and comics mainly although this seems largely to do with the link with Blaxploitation being a massive hit at the time as people came to idolise black people and culture which by conjunction, lead to Voodoo becoming more popular in media of the time due to its orientation as a belief largely in black culture.



Image from angelesvoodoo.com 

In the present I’ve seen Voodoo still around in today’s media with fun idea for Voodoo dolls and other such being represented in original, interesting ways. Although i have noticed a sharp decrease in the way of Voodoo in media, although still relevant and still common enough to be found, a branch off from the Haitian Vodou belief has become more popular in the form of Zombies.

Photo of a person dressed as a Zombie.

Zombies in the last 20 years has exploded in popularity, going from cult classic in form of films and some comics, its gone to full on mainstream popularity. Since this, Zombies have been all over all kinds of media in TV programs, films, books, advertising and many more forms. Zombies have become a genre of horror in itself and has even been as far as to cause people to have debates about different aspects of zombies and their very own personalised survival guides they make for themselves. These shows how deep and in tune zombies are in the current media. For example a film adaption of the book World War Z is set to come out in later 2012, the game Resident Evil: Operation Racoon city is coming out early 2012, there is a Walking Dead third season to be coming out in 2012 as well as a video game based on it all the while the comic is still being published now with no plans for an end soon and there is so much more coming out with he theme of zombies. From this i can defiantly see that Zombies is not anywhere close to a stale point as more and more different types of media are being constantly churned out.

Promotional shot for the game Dead Rising.

Through this I've seen that Voodoo is fading in media focus for the time being and will most likely continue colliding. But at the same time i feel the branch off of Voodoo that is Zombies will continue to be a big media hotspot for many years to come as it is only just started to see the peak of it, therefore i feel Zombies are a very viable media for future. Although Voodoo wont disappear for a while, it will stay in recession but with the uncertain future, there is a good chance that maybe one day it will have another big hit in media sparking it's return but at current there is just no evidence of it.

Plague - Horizon

I have been looking into Plague and its related media in the future and posting what I find.



One of the most immediate things I found when looking over the internet at plague related media aimed in 2012 was an astounding number of sites dedicated to detailing how a plague will come down in 2012 which will wipe out humanity signalling the end of the world. This picture shows just one of the many sites that show conspiracy theory's dedicated to saying that the bible and or number theory's dictate that the world will end in 2012

Screenshot of header of enddays2012.blogspot.com

I feel these is a very interesting media piece as if anything it just shows how far spread the ancient natural fear of disease can spread, even now in the modern age, it is still feared greatly with the fear being almost as contagious then the diseases that are represented.

Every Year there is the Sundance festival which showcases new independent films each year. Next year the show in 2012 will feature a film called "How to Survive a Plague". This film is about the early days of HIV and how a group of HIV positive activists helped produce medicines that made it a treatable condition instead of a death sentence.

Still shot of a scene from the film.

I think this film is a great example of Plague in cinema because it captures the almost desperate nature of those infected and the struggle to find a cure or even just treatment.

Also it seems that music artists are releasing new albums and EP's using the name of plague or even in the name itself. Such examples are the upcoming metal band Savage Messiah with their new album out 2012 "Plague of Conscience", Winds of Plague are set to release a new album in 2012.

Album cover for Savage Messiahs upcoming album.

Album cover for Winds of Plague's album: Against the World

This is some good media examples of the plague in the music worlds, with a lot of the upcoming musicians who use the world plague being generally metal bands, each displaying the idea of the spread of disease.

In comic books there is B.P.R.D Plague of Frogs. This is a collection of the plague of frog’s series in one book which is to be released march 2012. This set of story’s are a off shoot of the original Hellboy series of which its based off, set when Hellboy left the B.P.R.D and what happened in between from the eyes of Abe Sapien, one of the support characters and Hellboys friend.

Cover to "Plague of Frogs"

Although this is not a new book in a series with all the parts of the Plague of Frogs series haven already come out, it still shows its popularity in the fact that they are republishing it so it can be in paperback instead of hardback. This shows that the publisher Dark Horse feel that it can sell just as well a second time.

Also there is a new comic to be released later this month called Baltimore: The Plague Ships. This comic is also done by Mike Mignola, the artist and writer of Hellboy but is unrelated to the Hellboy universe. This comic is about a alternate world war I as the war ended abruptly as a plague spread across the world. This Plague turns people into vampires and one soldier is on a mission to destroy all the vampires he can.

Cover for Baltimore: The Plague Ships

Alt Now also like the other one, this is it being printed into paperbound from hardback but like the other, only the success full books/comics make it to be republished into paperback which shows there is most defiantly popularity for it. It is also interesting for its idea of an alternate reality which has been hit with a widespread plague changing history.

A big upcoming game to be released in the future is a game called "The Last of Us" this game is being developed by the studio Naughty Dog. This game is set in a future where a fungus has started to spread to humans turning them into deranged creatures that attack humans. The game is set some years after the incident showing how the plague had almost wiped out the human race with the survivors fighting to survive against the creatures and other surviving humans. The environment is a new york that has been overgrown by nature again due to the total collapse of society.

Promotional image for the upcoming game "The Last of Us"

This game is a very good example of sustained media interest because this game is set to be a big hit when it comes out while still following the theme of a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a plague which easily plays on the fear of infection inherent in all humans

Voodoo - Horizon

As with the past and present, i have also researched on what is happening in the near future that will continue the media relations.



After finding different media in the past and present for Voodoo, i have determened by clear evidence that Voodoo in media is not anywhere near as bold and apparent as the off-shoot of Voodoo being Zombies which i have seen is right in the heart blood of media at the moment in all media forms as Voodoo is only scattered more scarcely in only small forms.



In early 2012, a new resident evil is to be released called "Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City". This game is set inbetween the 2nd and 2rd Resident Evil games which where some of the leading pionears of zombies in recent media. In the game you work with up to 3 other people as you work to either cover up the Umbrella company's involvement or reveal it. This game follows pretty closely to the game Left 4 Dead developed by Valve which also has the 4 player style zombie survival combat.

Sneak peak screenshot of ingame footage

I feel this is a good example of Zombies continued through media into the future as the first Resident Evil game came out in 1996 and thus 15 years since the first game with the main theme of zombies and still there is another one of the series coming out in the near future with no sign of ending.




There is also the film adaptation of the book World War Z to be released later on this month, which will bring the best selling book onto the movie screens as it shows the aftermath of a massive zombie infestation. The film rights where placed inbetween a bidding war between Leonado Decaprio and Brad Pitt's production companys untill eventually Brad Pitt won and thus he has the main role of interviewer in the film.

Movie poster

This is a very good example i feel of the fact that zombies are a big hit in media at the moment because not only did the book do well enough to become a big feature film, the rights to the movie where the start of a bidding war between two big name movie stars and there production companys, showing that they must too think that zombies are a media hit, wishing to also get in on the theme 




The hit Tv show The Walking Dead based off the comic is set to be continuing third series. This was announced just two episodes into there second season. The series continues to tell the story of a band of survivers as they try to live out there life safe from the threat of zombies.

Promotional advertisement for the second series

This TV series shows how well Zombie themed media can do on TV as the second season premiere recently broke records for how many viewers tuned in, which in turn caused the producers to announce that they would make a third season so soon after showing the very start of the second. This easily shows how well the theme handles mainstream TV.




The success of the TV series has also lead there to be a Wii game version of the idea to be in development. This game is set to be episodic with small parts to be released at a time making it a interesting way of publishing the game making it simular to comics. The game is about a different person in the same area as the main charicter as he trys to survive. The gameplay style is to be different to the normal games in the genre as its not about action and fast pased shooting like most but instead about survival and hard life choices to make. Even the style of the game is portrayed a lot more like a comic with the textures and visual styles matching those of the comic book origin.

First early released screenshot of the game.

This is a good example of the genre of zombies spreading into new diverse forms as even though it is another zombie game like so many before but in this one it is determined to break the mold and form a more involved story style like the comic and emmerse the player in the horror of the post apocolyptic world that zombies have create which i feel is mearly the first in many different types of media to push the idea of zombies to new places.






At the same time as the success of the TV series and video game adaptions of The Walking Dead, the comic of which it is all based off, is still seeing published copys today showing that the mainstream media success of the adaptions has done nothing to slow down the source of it all with no sign of the comic sales falling and infact rising due to new people seeing the Tv series and decided to read the origin of it.

Promotional illustration

The fact that still the series is going on strong in comic book form easily shows how the success of zombie themed media is nothing but on the rise showing comic books of which started to fade out of more mainstream view after the main real start in the 50's, have brought mainstream viewers back through the zombie themed comic.




Recently there was a book released also based on the series named "Rise of the Governer" as it regails the story of one of the main villians of the series. This is meant to be one book in a larger book series telling the tales of the backstorys of many other charicters in the series.

Book Cover.

This is a good example of how form of the media can spread to other as the theme gets a grip on people, thus making producers want to be on top of the theme of the time. This book is only one of many to come detailing the theme in more books.






Final media example on The Walking Dead is the figures that are soon to be released in early january which will modeled off the major charicters of the first season as well as some of the zombies featured.

Shambling dead figurine.

This i feel is a good example of the media theme spreading to more commersial products as these figures that are to be released. This is a good step as figures are often collectables which show that there will still be a market in the future of mint condition verstion of these figures.





Now you may notice that i have gone on a lot about The Walking Dead franchise. This is due to the fact that The Walking Dead is massive at the moment being the centre of media attention which is the biggest the theme of zombies has gotten in mainstream media so i feel The Walking Dead franchise is of great importance as it believe it to be a new herald of the theme of zombies in media not typically portrayed by fast paced action and guns but instead as a much more serious media form which will continue to rise in popularity.





Also there are a good few calanders for 2012 with the theme for zombies such as the one shown in the picture from forbidden planet.

Zombie calander for the year 2012

Although to be fair the calanders have already been released, the idea of themed calanders is that they last a whole year filled with the images of which you want to see each month as you go through so they are made with long lasting in mind with themed that people will still enjoy through out the next year.

Plague - Past

I started looking into Plague in terms of media in the past to link to the popularity modern day.


In books there is "The Rats" (James Herbert 1974) which is a book about a giant rat infestation that begin to kill people. In the book people bitten by the giant rats die of a mysterious disease 24 hours later. This leads to a pandemic like infections from people getting bitten by the rats. Later the government try to fight back against the rats by using another virus back against the rats which in the end fails but at least neutralises the rat’s toxicity.

The books cover

This book is interesting i think because its heavy use social commentary on how the government don’t take action on a crisis until it’s too late. It shows therefore that the idea of plague is a good metaphor for agendas of a more political matter as how a government responds to a disaster is one of the greatest tests of strength.

In 1983, The Uncanny X-Men had a series about the character apocalypse recruiting members to his "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" playing on the old mythical belief of the 4 horsemen who rule over when the end of the world will happen when they emerge forth. One of these characters who is recruited is named Plague who has the ability to absorb diseases being unaffected by them but modify them to be more deadly and spread them again by touch. She is originally an old woman but upon becoming one of the horsemen she goes through a major visual change while gaining a robot horse.

Plague before becoming  a horsemen

Plague after she becomes a horsemen

                                                           

I think this example is good because it portrays the ancient belief of the 4 horsemen and brings forth the fear inherent of the spread of disease. It is interesting as ancient biblical idea of the 4 horsemen brings forth the fear of the apocalypse due to their tie in with the rapture which shows the relation plague has with the end of the world as is feared making the character Plague more of a frightening foe.

There is a famous painting from the artist Arnold Böcklin done in 1898, from Switzerland that is currently being displayed in the Kunstmuseum in Basel. This painting is called "Böcklin" or "Plague" translated. This painting is very symbolic of war, disease and death. The painting portrays death swooping down taking lives at random. The painting is painted with a wide range of green colours which are symbolic of disease.

Arnold Böcklin 1898

This painting i feel is good because it shows that even more then 100 years ago, plague and disease where very relevant in media mostly due probably because of the lack of greater health care leading to more deaths by disease. It's also interesting how striking the painting is with death bold in the centre with the dead scattered in his wake showing the inevitable and destructive nature that disease can be especially in old times of bad health care.

This painting is a old era painting dipicting the mass burials that where required due to the large amount of people the bubonic plague claimed everyday. This left a massive impact on people even after the Plague stopped being a problem, due to the catastrophic number of deaths involved over a age leading to near apocolypic levels if it wasnt stopped when it was. This unsurprisingly lead to a number of paintings dedicated to capturing the horror of the plague.

Painting depicting mass burials

This painting i feel is a really good example because it is just one of hundreds of different paintings all on the same burial topic which shows the horror that was felt seeing hundreds get buried each day which did well to cement the link between pandemic and mass death which still lingers today as all have heard of the bubonic plague and how many it claimed keeping the fear of a pandemic still strong today.

In 1978, Edward Hunt directed a Canadian film called Plague or as it was titled internationally "M3: The Gemini Strain".

This film is about a genetic accident in a Canadian lab which accidently causes a very deadly strain of bacteria. As the deadly strain spreads killing millions, scientist Daniel Pilon works tirelessly trying to fix it.  

International movie poster

This film is good i think because it shows Plague being a theme in early cinema history as it was learned that the idea of disease scares humans so easily due to its invisible yet destructive nature. This also does well to show how the idea of a race against time to find a cure could be a interesting plot line which is later used more often.

This is a tapestry dating back to height of the bubonic plague as it was sweeping across England wiping out millions. This tapestry, like the painting depicting the mass burials that where going on at the time. This shows how much of a deep cultural impact this made as depictions of this where across different types of media in different forms.

Tapestry showing the mass burials

This piece of tapestry i feel is a relevant media example i think because of the spread of different media types showing just how much the distress caused by disease had.

By looking through media examples of plague in the past i have seen that real life pandemics that have happened centuries ago can still have a big impact on our fear today as the media examples show the deep seeded effect it has on media and how it in turn makes new media with pandemics as the main horror plot.