New entries go at the bottom.
A functional placebo?
- This question I ask because it was asked in the The Nostalgia Critic review of this movie, but if Drix is a placebo, how is he able to successfully stop the symptoms? Wouldn't he be more likely to try using a psychological approach?
- The Critic took the Mayor's statement too literally. Here's the full conversation:
Mayor Phlegming: Son, do me a favor and read what it says on your arm.Drix: 'For the temporary relief of symptoms associated with... 'Mayor Phlegming: Exactly! Temporary. You're nothing but a wannabe, a placebo, a generic brand. Marked-down, over-the-counter, useless Tic-Tac!- Long story short, Drix isn't a placebo; he's most definitely a functional pill, as demonstrated numerous times in the film. But he is temporary relief like most over the counter brands, while Drix has been thinking of himself as a permanent cure designed to kill viruses.
- "For the temporary relief of symptoms..." He can relieve the symptoms of disease, but he can't kill the disease himself.
- It plays into Drix's "ice" powers as well. They're good at easing things like fevers and pain, but they're never shown being very effective at harming viruses or bacteria. The most we ever see him do to them is temporarily incapacitate them, like what happens to the Spanish germ; it's left up to Frank's immune system to actually defeat a disease for good.
What exactly is Thrax?
- He goes by the name Thrax, which obviously comes from the bacteria anthrax, infamous for causing Amerithrax in the aftermath of 9/11. However, he also goes by "La Muerte Roja," or "The Red Death," also a nickname for Ebola. Thrax has absolutely no similarities to either of these things, so why would he go by their names, and which illness is he supposed to represent in the first place?
- I'm pretty sure he's not meant to be analogous to any real-world disease regardless and was just made up for the movie. As for why he would take those names, he's pretty bent on getting noticed by the medical community, so borrowing names from already well-known lethal illnesses could be him trying to piggy back on them to get his foot in the door, so to speak.
- I think "La Muerte Roja/The Red Death" is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death, while also reminding of Scarlet Fever (a disease named after a colour. As above mentioned, Thrax is borrowing names to "get his chapter in medical books"
- According to Word of God, he's a souped up version of H5N1.
- I kinda figured he was anthrax, going by his name and how his zoonotic nature, however, anthrax doesn't tend to kill that quickly. That said, the directors probably didn't want to go with an actual disease for obvious reasons.
