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