H1N1

2010 | Charcoal, Stop-Motion Animation | Stereo Audio | Black and White | 00:06:21

An experimental stop-motion animation exploring paranoia and delusion through media portrayals and misconceptions of swine flu outbreaks in Mexico and the United States.
Preliminary media interpretation of swine flu was cataclysmic, and lack of clear information led to public outcry, as well as a surge of fear-based assumptions about the disease.  Initially little could be said about the cause of the illness, how it was spread, who it affected, and so on. Certain media outlets described immigration along the Mexican border as the key threat to national security, and the political climate of this particular media frenzy inspired this work. H1N1 combines a wide variety of elements to satire and comment on this unique time in world history. Actual contemporaneous Center for Disease Control press release excerpts are contrasted with rendered images of pork products.  Our protagonist dreams of the disease moving northward through Mexico after it emerges from slaughterhouses in the form of ravenous, living-dead pigs.

Watch trailer for H1N1 here: https://vimeo.com/37393512