“Alfred Hitchcock was a devout catholic” (Salai, 1) and believed that a dead body could bring both horror and tranquility. The Ebola virus is one of the most deadly viruses that has killed nearly thirty thousand. Hitchcock once said “A glimpse into the world proves that horror is nothing other than reality” (Hitchcock, 1). Ebola is a horrific thing that has made itself real and caused many people to die. Hitchcock would be both fascinated and horrified by the effect that Ebola has on people.
Hitchcock was known for his use of dark themes and trauma to give audiences a sense of dread and fear. The Ebola virus spreads quickly and kills quickly, but with such horrifying effects, it may feel like it takes forever. The symptoms include a “rash, cough, shortness of breath, red eyes, hiccups, impaired kidney and liver function, and internal and external bleeding” (Ebola: Overview, 1). In this sense, the Ebola virus builds up dread and fear the same way Hitchcock does with his movies. Because of this, he would have been intrigued by the Ebola virus. Hitchcock said “There is no terror in the bang of the gun, only in the anticipation of it” (Hitchcock, 1). Just like a gun, the fear that comes from the ebola virus is mostly from its symptoms rather than the final death it brings. Hitchcock also had a twisted sense of humor, saying that a director should “always make the audience suffer as much as possible” (Hitchcock, 1). He may have found some sort of ironic amusement in the many dramas that unfolded during the outbreak, and the events leading up to, and after it. Though, he most likely would have been mostly horrified by the events. He had respect for human life. Because of this, he most likely would not have exploited the tragedy. Instead, he would focus on the people who were suffering from it. Alfred Hitchcock used dark themes in his films to give audiences dread, but he would also have been fascinated by it.
However, Hitchcock would not have agreed with the quarantine that happened to people who came in contact with Ebola. When he was young he went to a catholic school that was heavy on discipline and was raised by a strict father (Barson). It was during this time that he developed his fear of authority; “Catholic education gave Hitchcock a great fear of authority figures like policemen” (Salai). Also he supposedly developed a “fear of enclosed spaces and a strong concern for wrongful imprisonment” during one event where his father had the police lock him in a cell for “misbehaving” (Barson). Because of these events, he most likely would not have agreed with the mass quarantine that was mandated during Ebola outbreaks.
A common theme in his films is wrongful imprisonment, or people being on the run for false accusations. He might have seen the quarantine as a form of wrongful imprisonment because it was common for the people in quarantine to not be infected. Hitchcock also saw an opportunity in death. Many times in his work, death was the catalyst for the events of the film. In Vertigo, Scottie is so obsessed with the death of Madeline, that he ends up confronting his fear of heights to figure out the mystery of her death. Also, as a Catholic (Salai), he saw reasoning in death. That is not to say he would not be saddened by so many people dying, but he would be more sad about people being locked up for something that they rarely had control over..
Lastly, Hitchcock most likely would have made a film similar to the events of the outbreak. He once said “The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them” (Hitchcock). Since he would most likely fear an outbreak like this spreading to him, he would have made a movie about it. The movie would most likely be about a man who lived in an area affected by the Ebola virus and came into contact with an infected person. The man would not be sick, but the authorities would hunt him down to make sure he can not spread it. The people around him would treat him like he could kill them with one cough, which would lead to him becoming lonely and afraid. During all this, the man would fall in love with a woman who was also avoiding the quarantine, just to find out that she was sick. This fits Hitchcock’s common themes of a man on the run, loneliness, and finding love and death. We see these themes in films that he directed, such as Young and Innocent, a film about a man who was falsely accused of murder and falls in love with the constable’s daughter, and The 39 Steps, a film about a man who falls into a plot about spies and can not trust anyone. This also aligns with his work due to the dark subject matter that he was famous for. However, the film would have been a challenge to make. This would only increase his desire to make it. We see him take on challenges and create new techniques in films like Lifeboat, where Hitchcock figures out how to film an entire movie on a lifeboat. By making this movie, Hitchcock would have confronted his fears again, and been intrigued by the challenges that come with filming a film like this.
Hitchcock would have been both horrified and entranced by Ebola. He would have been saddened by the deaths of so many but also would have been intrigued by it. He also would have feared the crackdown by authorities in the area more than death from the virus. Lastly, he would have tried to make a documentary about it to face his fears.
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