(1995), directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Drawing from interdisciplinary fields including literary studies, film theory and medical humanities, the study highlights moments of systemic and existential responses to contagion. It explores recurring themes such as fear, denial, governance, death, mortality and resilience, demonstrating how epidemics serve as meaningful moments for both existential reflection and systemic analysis. I argue that epidemic stories function as cultural scripts, that literature subtly allegorises contagion through introspection, and that cinema vividly dramatises urgency by depicting collapsing systems. Overall, these works highlight how societies narrate and remember solidarity during crises, rearticulating collective resilience in the face of devastation.
Bhatt et al. (2026) studied this question.