I Am Legend Response

The United States was changed forever on the morning of September 11, 2001; the day that foreign Iranian terrorists planned and executed the first major domestic attack on the United States homeland. The planes that attacked New York City, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania (that was possibly en route to the White House or U.S. Capitol building) did more than just demolish infrastructure across the United States, kill nearly 3,000 Americans, and injure 6,000 more; it damaged the entire nation by destroying the collective American psyche for years to come. This damage was reflected in a variety of disciplines, from sports, politics, literature, and movie production, among others. The film I am Legend, based on the novel written by Richard Matheson …show more content…
The film begins by showing an interview with a scientist, who had developed the “cure for cancer” by researching and creating a virus known as the Krippin Virus, which supposedly did not harm the human body. Instead, the virus was designed to remove cancerous cells from the body, and could be put in a vaccination, therefore ending the threat of cancer to humans across the world. However, something went wrong with the virus very quickly. Over a span of only a couple of months, New York City had turned into a chaos zone, full of people who were becoming deathly ill from the same “good” virus, and began dying at rampant rates. The virus soon had become airborne and became an epidemic throughout the city, and killed thousands of people who were not even initially exposed to the virus. Citizens demanded to be able to leave to try and escape the sickness, but many could not, as the only possible way of leaving were the bridges that left the island, which were intentionally destroyed by the military to attempt to force quarantine on the island. It was believed that the virus could not be spread to any further parts of the world if New York City was quarantined. This was not the case, as although the virus was first introduced in New York City, it quickly diffused across both the nation and world, and infected 99.9% of the world population, according to the film. Those that …show more content…
Robert Neville was the only known survivor in the entirety of New York City. “The city that never sleeps” was dead. Neville, played by Will Smith, an African American man, is alone in the world with no one but his dog, Samantha (Sam), who was the only remaining connection he has to his wife and daughter, who were both killed in an accident while trying to leave the city in an aircraft just before the quarantine of the city. When Neville’s wife tried to convince him to leave the city before things became too dangerous, Neville said that he could not, as New York City was “ground zero” for the spread of the illness, and that he could “still fix it.” Neville himself was immune to the virus in all forms, and believed that he was the only individual who would be capable of providing some sort of anecdote to cure those infected with the