Movies like this one, I Am Legend, are categorized as science fiction. The Yahoo! Education definition defines science fiction as “a literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background” (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/science%20fiction). As modern science progresses, terms such as ‘fantasy’ and ‘speculative scientific discoveries’ tend to no longer hold true, as the possibility of certain events becomes more likely, thus becoming science non-fiction. This is shown in the film, as humanity discovers the cure for cancer, only to have that cure turn deadly and wipe out virtually every person on the planet. It may seem far-fetched, but there is still the chance of science going too far with its ‘miracles’ to the point of extinction.
From Emily Martin’s Flexible Bodies; “It seems to follow from a robust notion of an internal system of protection that the system exists to ward off continual threats. People focus their attention on the well-being of the system rather than on creating an environment that is free from threat” (Martin 67). In the video example, the doctor had found the cure for cancer by, metaphorically, altering the ‘well-being of the system’ by changing who was driving the car rather than focusing on eliminating the surroundings of the body’s highway. Essentially, if the ‘bad man,’ or virus, had nothing to crash into to cause damage, then that would be taking care of the external system of protection and not the internal, thus an environment that is free from threat.
In the movie, because the focus of a cure was an internal system of protection, it shows that humanity killed themselves from within, trying to change how the immune system naturally works instead of attempting to eliminate the measles virus externally. Is this something that can happen in real life? Or is the body flexible enough, or smart enough, to even adapt to a bad virus being controlled by a ‘good guy?’ It seems like a situation that should never be tested, but each new scientific breakthrough lands it one step closer to potential human damnation.
The idea of figuring out the immune system and disease appears to come from the notion of cheating death, or at least prolonging the inevitable. With human knowledge and skill, anything and every (known) thing is use in order to stay alive, no matter the cost. Could it be, then, that viruses on this earth aren’t the viruses? The following is a line from the movie, The Matrix:
“It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.” -Agent Smith (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes)
In a war, like the one that is generally accepted to occur in the body with the immune system, the good guys and bad guys all depends on the side one is fighting for. As the saying goes: “One country’s terrorist is another country’s freedom fighter.” Suppose humans are not the good guys, but are considered to be since that is naturally the side we fight on.
AIDS is not known to have been around for very long. Although the origin of the disease is unknown, recognition started taking place quite recently, in the last twenty to thirty years. For the sake of argument, perhaps this is when it first started. Clearly there have been many diseases before, going back to the beginning of mankind. If looking at the age of the planet, humans have been around for only a few thousand years out of billions. Looking at humans as a disease to the planet is not so different than looking at AIDS as the virus, since humans will effect the planet until, as Agent Smith put it, “every natural resource is consumed.”
When looked at the point of view of I Am Legend, if humans attempt to wipe out diseases like measles, or AIDS, then they risk eliminating the human race. When looked at from the opposite point of view, humans as virus, then the likelihood of annihilation is still possible. Either way, the most strongest virus will continue to survive until another one beats it out until there is no more left.
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