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The virus had resulted from the mutation of a genetically engineered measles virus previously created by Dr.Alice Krippin for cancer treatment. Neville is immune to the virus but the bloodthirsty and vampiristic humans are hunting for any survivors. Neville keeps sending radio messages to track any survivors as he continues with his research, his only companion being his German shepherd. The vampires keep hunting for him but he eventually manages to trace two more humans that are normal and finds an antidote for the virus. This paper is a review of the film Am a Legend directed by Francis Lawrence and scripted from Richard Matheson's 1954 novel bearing the same title.
The film shows some unwillingness to venture into preceding happenings and offers a limited portrayal of issues like bioethics. The film somehow portrays the dangers that modern scientific research practices may pose to the future of humankind. Most current researchers especially in the medical division carry out a lot of drug trials using human subjects as guinea pigs believing that such actions cannot result in a pandemic since the research are meant to help people. To them, the film is mere fiction and full of utopian ideologies.
However, the movie can be considered both utopian and dystopian at the same time. It is Utopian when it depicts Neville as a legend who is immune to the disasters that wipe out everybody else. The dystopian aspect is demonstrated by the unimaginable circumstances faced by the actors, or the entire New York (Matheson 22-30; Scott Web; Jolin Web). The movie somewhat puts forward the impacts that modern medical practices such as genetically modified crops which are susceptible to gene mutation could cause.
Pandemics such as food insecurity could result are capable of wiping out a large percentage of the population like in the film, which is not fiction (Adams Web). Other research such as in biotech which entails experimenting with the human genome in an attempt to create drugs aimed at altering the human genome to cure diseases could result in a dystopian world (Adams Web). The film depicts a lot about our future. Humans might not turn into literal vampires like in the film but serious problems could result in scenarios comparable to those envisioned in I Am Legend.
Modern research could result in monumental blunders that could devastate humankind (Adams Web).In my opinion, I Am Legend is not just a fiction film, it also foreshadows and cautions of the possible disasters that could result from current studies that are being done by the scientist. The future of humans could be parallel to that of Neville who has to hide for three years from vampiristic humans. In this case, the enemy might not be vampires but catastrophes such as starvation, and untreatable diseases, just to mention but a few.
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