Coronavirus Film Festival -- movies that suddenly became relevant!

[Sepiatone]

Funny(odd, not ha-ha)  thing I read about the bubonic(black) plague  was that it was caused by the bite of a particular flea that was primarily found on rats, but people back then, who stupidly always associated cats with evil, blamed the CATS for spreading the disease and killed as many cats as often as possible to the point there weren't enough cats to kill enough of the rats to slow the spread of the plague, so.........

Sepiatone

[Bogie56]

The water pump associated with the 1854 cholera outbreak in London is still there on Broadwick Street in Soho.  It isn't used now!

[speedracer5]

In London (I think it was), didn't people throw their garbage out the window, which then ended up being one of the root causes of the Bubonic Plague?

[SansFin]

1 hour ago, Sepiatone said:

Funny(odd, not ha-ha)  thing I read about the bubonic(black) plague  was that it was caused by the bite of a particular flea that was primarily found on rats, but people back then, who stupidly always associated cats with evil, blamed the CATS for spreading the disease and killed as many cats as often as possible to the point there weren't enough cats to kill enough of the rats to slow the spread of the plague, so.........

Sepiatone

The latest research indicates that the black death was not bubonic plague. The spread was not consistent with Yersinia pestis  and the recorded symptoms are not an exact match. The black death was likely transmitted from person to person as it remained active even during times when there was minimal flea activity and it spread through areas which had no rats. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17223184-000-did-bubonic-plague-really-cause-the-black-death/ is an interesting read on the subject.

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, speedracer5 said:

In London (I think it was), didn't people throw their garbage out the window, which then ended up being one of the root causes of the Bubonic Plague?

That, and horses grazing by the water's edge...  💩

When the automobile arrived, not everyone was saying "Get a horse!"--Some activists praised that the lack of horses (and street sweepers) on our city streets would be a significant improvement in public health.

[SansFin]

2 hours ago, EricJ said:

That, and horses grazing by the water's edge...  💩

When the automobile arrived, not everyone was saying "Get a horse!"--Some activists praised that the lack of horses (and street sweepers) on our city streets would be a significant improvement in public health.

I read an article written in the late 19th Century which had dire predictions of the manure problem which London would face at its 'present' rate of growth. A large percentage of the population would have to be employed to clean the streets and there would be long trains of wagons constantly snaking through the city to carry it away. They proposed special taxes on every horse entering the city and forcing local owners to 'street-break' their horses so that they only went in their home stable. 

It was interesting to see that alarmists have been among us far longer than one might normally realize.

[Fedya]

20 minutes ago, SansFin said:

I read an article written in the late 19th Century which had dire predictions of the manure problem which London would face at its 'present' rate of growth.

[SansFin]

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data ...

[LonesomePolecat]

It's day 41 of LA's Stay at Home order, so I'm starting to feel like THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE

[slaytonf]

The Decameron (1971), directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Or, raunchiness in the time of pestilence.

[Bogie56]

[Fedya]

12 hours ago, LonesomePolecat said:

It's day 41 of LA's Stay at Home order, so I'm starting to feel like THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE

I'm sorry, the card says "Moops".

[LonesomePolecat]

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (spoiler alert!) At the beginning we see New York at a standstill after a huge percentage of people have been wiped out by Thanos. These images now just look like news but they are from a movie, such as this shot of an empty stadium:

[LonesomePolecat]

When I go out for a walk and see other people walking around I think of Bambi afraid of man being out in the meadow

[slaytonf]

So Long at the Fair (1950), with Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde.

The Great Exhibition of 1889.  Paris and pestilence.

[Bogie56]

[spence]

I can see the film aspect but why on the other area are sooo many infatuated with covid 19  I mean it chit chat & by any means don't mean to downplay people already suffering with it, but what about all THE REST?It's like CNN or something anymore

[spence]

And again I by no means direct that at folks that have it & ion this terrific topic, but MAN>

[slaytonf]

Even people who don't have the disease, or know someone who does, still suffer a psychic toll.  If a thread like this works to reduce that, it's worthwhile.  No one forces you to read this thread, or contribute to it. 

[EricJ]

6 hours ago, slaytonf said:

Even people who don't have the disease, or know someone who does, still suffer a psychic toll.  If a thread like this works to reduce that, it's worthwhile.  No one forces you to read this thread, or contribute to it. 

That could, in fact, apply to ANY thread on this board.  And often does.  🙄

I remember being on an Anime-related board right around 9/11/01, and for three solid days, nobody on the entire board could talk about anything but How Many Would Die in the New WWIII, and When Terrorists Were Going to Get Us, Maybe With Cool Biological Weapons This Time.   The mind finally rebelled (ie. mine, since I considered terrorists as immature trolling idiots and wasn't that traumatized about it to begin with), and after stories about Red Cross blood-donation drives started becoming the new "good" charity--sort of the equivalent of our "Free meals for frontline workers" charities--I remembered one well-known anime-series joke about blood donations, and made an anime-related joke about "How Anime characters are reacting to 9/11".  

That opened the floodgates:  A whole thread of in-jokes about how favorite characters were reacting to the tragedy--in tasteful, optimistic, supportive ways, of course--got us back on our favorite board subject and posting like normal Internet human beings again.   For us, it's a lockdown and movies, but it still works.

[LonesomePolecat]

10 hours ago, spence said:

I can see the film aspect but why on the other area are sooo many infatuated with covid 19  I mean it chit chat & by any means don't mean to downplay people already suffering with it, but what about all THE REST?It's like CNN or something anymore

It's like when 9/11 happened and I couldn't think of anything else, and was glued to the TV. This for me is like 9/11 lasting for 2 months. COVID is coloring everything I watch, hence this thread. It probably affects me differently since I live in L.A., the Ground Zero of the West where we have 50-80 deaths every day, just as it affects those of you in the New York area and other big urban centers. I'm sure those of you in small towns, the midwest, and other countries who aren't having dozens of new deaths every single day are wondering what the big deal is (the way I feel about every single hurricane). The rest of the time I purposefully ignore the news, but in a historic event like 9/11 or this, I have to know what's going on, and I just don't care about non-COVID news. I hope your states/countries never get to this level where it affects every aspect of your life, and I hope you guys all stay safe wherever you are.

 

[LonesomePolecat]

The next film in our Film Festival is SWORD IN THE STONE in which Merlin defeats Madam Mim by turning himself into a germ and infecting her! (Hey, I just traced COVID-19 to its true origin!)

[LornaHansonForbes]

since i derailed the I JUST WATCHED thread with my talk of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, I have to site the original (unhappy) ending of the film, which is set to the big musical finale in the stage show- DON'T FEED THE PLANTS!- which is just a GREAT SONG THAT GETS IN YOUR HEAD-

The final lyric:

Hold your hat and hang on to your soul
Something's coming to eat the world whole
If we fight it we've still got a chance
But whatever they offer you
Though they're slopping the trough for you
Please whatever they offer you
Don't feed the plants

[LonesomePolecat]

Another character who lived in quarantine: Quasimodo in HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Here's a song from the Disney version that sums up that old quarantine feeling:

 

[LonesomePolecat]

A lot of murder mysteries seem oddly applicable, especially the ones when you're trapped inside like THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE CAT AND THE CANARY, and....

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE -- people trapped on an island start dying like flies, and no one knows when the killer will strike next......