Comparing Sheffield Scuffle's Contagion And Hotel Rwanda

English poet, satirist, lawyer, and cleric John Donne once said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” In this, Donne is expressing the innate interconnectedness of the world, which is also applicable when considering the effects of international relations. In this day and age, the world exists in a very interconnected web. What impacts one nation impacts another directly, in a matter of seconds. Much of this is due to the evolution of globalization, a factor that has been capitalized on by Hollywood. However, beyond Hollywood, the effects of the interconnectedness of the world are felt on deep and personal levels by many people. Through the movies Contagion and Hotel Rwanda, as well as the public events of the Sheffield Scuffle and a rally
for former Governor Quinn which President Obama spoke at, the impact of globalization is evident. The movie Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh, follows the path of an epidemic as it spreads throughout the world. The movie starts with Beth, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, as a business woman who is infected by a sickness in China, and then travels to Minnesota by way of Chicago. Once she reaches Minnesota, her symptoms escalate from coughing and fever to a seizure, and then death. Due to the contagious nature of the disease, her son is also infected with the disease. However, before he realizes that he is sick, he goes to school, infecting other children. This is just one instance of one person and the domino effect that the disease presents. There were also other specific instances when the disease was just beginning, from a man on a boat in Hong Kong to a model in London, each of them sweating and coughing. The disease (MEV-1) continues to progress throughout the movie, affecting people worldwide, and is it does, the movie follows the lives of people directly involved with the disease. This includes people who work at the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and even people who have family members who are sick. By detailing such a myriad of different people affected by the disease, it allows for a somewhat more realistic overview of pandemics. Contagion did a very effective job of showing one of the negative aspects of globalization. Disease and infection have the capability to spread as quickly as the ideas that globalization is praised for, a concept that was captured well in Contagion. Overall, I thought that the movie was entertaining. Even though the scientific aspects of the movie left something to be desired, the effects of globalization were extremely evident, and I imagine those concepts are ones that would be picked up on even by a viewer who knew nothing of globalization. Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George, details the life of Paul Rusesabagina and his life living in Rwanda during the Rwandan Genocide.
The movie starts out with Rusesabagina and his job as manager for Mille Collines, a luxury Belgian hotel in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. In a country wrought with bribery and corruption, the tension between the Hutus and the Tutsis rises, and intrastate conflict ensues. Rusesabagina is a Hutu and has powerful connections, so he is relatively okay, but his wife is Tutsi, which puts her and their children in danger. After the tensions and conflict escalate quickly within a few days, Rusesabagina takes his wife, children, and friends from his community to the Mille Collines to keep them safe. By bribing the military, he is able to protect refugees as they arrive at the Mille Collines. As more and more refugees arrive, including over twenty Tutsi orphans, Ruesesabagina tries to continue bribing the military, get help from outside sources because the United Nations peace keeping officials are not helping, protect his family, and maintain the illusion that the Mille Collines is not, in fact, a refugee camp. After much violence and death, Rusesabagina and his family and friends make it mostly intact to a refugee camp and eventually make it to Zambia. Hotel Rwanda did an amazing job of giving an accessible look at the effects of genocide, as well as the impact of globalization. Due to globalization, people were actually aware of the problem. At the Geneva Convention, the Genocide Convention was signed, and all the signatories were legally bound to intervene in the case of genocide. This coincides with R2P, or the responsibility to protect, stating that if states do not respect or are inflicting harm on their state or citizenry, then the international community has an obligation to intervene. The United Nations did intervene in Rwanda, at least somewhat, by sending in peace keeping officials. However, when peace keeping officials
started being slaughtered, the United Nations pulled them out, and people kept being slaughtered. In the span of about three and a half weeks, over 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by the Hutus, but the conflict was deemed a civil war, not genocide, so there was no legal obligation to intervene. Overall, I thought that Hotel Rwanda was an incredible movie. The acting was phenomenal, and even though I felt empty inside after watching it, the emotional and factual facets of the movie were very well done. The Sheffield Scuffle, which was the debate between the DePaul University Democrats and the DePaul University Republicans, was an event which encompassed many ideas discussed during the course. The event consisted of four main topics, including education, the economy, the environment, and crime. There were five debaters for each side. For the DePaul Democrats, Michael Rance, Joe Arcus, Nassir Faulkner, Kevin Brooks, and myself debated, and for the DePaul Republicans, Nicole Been, Nick Oviatt, Frank Schmitt, Trey Cobb, and Elan Modilevsky debated. Each side had the opportunity to write one question for each topic, and all questions were debated throughout the course of the night. Even though the debate was a small one between two campus organizations, the debate ties directly to topics discussed throughout the duration of the course. For instance, the environment was one of the main topics debated in the debate. Not only is environmental degradation a transnational issue, but the existence of globalization means that environmental issues world wide impact everyone, to the extent that the issues can be discussed by a group of college students at a small liberal arts school in Illinois. Even with my bias towards the event due to my involvement in it, I thought that the event was great. It was fascinating to be able to see my peers debate topics so eloquently. It was also really interesting to be able to be involved on such a deep level, and I felt that I understood every topic better just by being at the debate. In the weeks leading up to the election, President Barack Obama came to speak on behalf of former Governor Pat Quinn at a rally. Earlier that week, First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were also both in town in order to promote Quinn. The event took place at Chicago State University, off the 95th and Dan Ryan stop on the El. After waiting about four hours, people began to get seated in the gymnasium of Chicago State University. Once everyone was in the gymnasium, there were three speakers. First, US Senator Dick Durbin spoke. Then, former Governor Pat Quinn spoke, and finally, President Barack Obama spoke. President Obama spoke a lot about the necessity of getting involved and staying hopeful, stating that, “Cynicism didn’t send a man to the moon”. One of the main topics of the event was one that was discussed during class at great length, which is Friedman’s table of separationists/integrationists and let them eat cake/social safety nets. Former Governor Pat Quinn falls into the bottom right hand quadrant of the chart, with being integrationist and wanting social safety nets, while Governor Bruce Rauner falls into the upper left quadrant, which is seperationist and let them eat cake-er. The strict divide between the two parties in the gubernatorial race in regards to this issue illustrates the deep-rooted effects of globalization as was discussed in class. I thought the event was very interesting, and I was thankful that I got the chance to see President Obama speak. As John Donne once said, “No man is an island, entire of itself”. The visceral interconnectedness of the world is evident within Donne’s quote, an interconnectedness that is amplified with the existence of an international stage. The events in one country has an immediate and profound impact on all other countries, which is partially in due to the existence and evolution of globalization. Through the movies Contagion and Hotel Rwanda, as well as the public events of the Sheffield Scuffle and a rally for former Governor Quinn which President Obama spoke at, the impact of globalization is evident.