Fight the Odds and Become Invincible: The Depiction of Human Resilience in I Am Legend

Abstract

The research paper “Fight the Odds and Become Invincible: The Depiction of Human Resilience in I Am Legend” illustrates a discourse related to human resilience in the face of a pandemic. The paper explores human resilience in the face of the pandemic through two trajectories namely physical and psychological. The context is provided by the film I Am Legend (2007) which helps to examine the various parameters related to human resilience such as ability to cope effectively with internal and external stresses, a dynamic process characterized by positive adaptation to significant adversity and finally, the negotiations between individuals and their environments to define them as healthy amidst adverse conditions. I Am Legend is a film directed by Francis Lawrence and is based on the 1954 novel of Richard Matheson of the same name. The film is a post-apocalyptic thriller and revolves around a US Army virologist Robert Neville. The film is set in New York City after the spread of a mutant strain of measles virus which was originally created as a cure for cancer but is instrumental in causing a pandemic wiping out 90% of mankind except for those who are naturally immuned to the virus. Among the humans who have been afflicted by the virus, there are some survivors who are nocturnal mutants called the “Darkseekers”. Lt. Col. Robert Neville works and develops a cure for the virus thereby saving humanity from the pandemic. The film is a media text foregrounding the politics of human resilience in the form of a cure for the genetically re-engineered measles virus that causes the pandemic. The cure is developed in the context of a particular scientific discursive formation which is historically situated in relation to the society and culture of the times and is acceptable to the established power structure of the day. The “Darkseekers” who have become nocturnal mutants after being afflicted by the virus are dominated and excluded as the “other” or “sick” by the monolithic power structure of which Lt. Col. Robert Neville is a part. The film projects a discourse that is significant during the contemporary times of COVID-19, a pandemic which calls for human resilience for its effective extermination.