Buffering Anxiety of Pandemics: A Post-pandemic Perspective to Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion

Abstract

This interdisciplinary study aims to explore the psychological impact of pandemics in cinema with a special reference to Steven Soderbergh’s movie Contagion.  The study refers to Orhan Pamuk’s essay, “What the Great Pandemic Novels Teach Us” (2020), about Pandemic novels where he traces the common initial responses to the outbreak of a pandemic by comparing the current coronavirus pandemic and the historical outbreaks of plague and cholera pinpointing the traits attributed to pandemics and suggesting other psychological defense mechanisms.  In this respect, the study attempts exploring the re-contextualization of Pamuk’s ideologies in cinema through shedding the light on the functions of camera angle shots, colors, sound effects, point of view, and flashbacks.