As far as shedding a light on anything, horror and scifi movies really don’t say much of what we haven’t heard each and every day for the last couple of months, but they do remind us that things could be worse since we don’t have the kind of problems that such movies had to deal with, such as killer robots, aliens, and parasites that were intent on dominating the human race. Oh no, we just have a disease that freaks everyone out so bad that it’s brought the world just about to its knees by spreading so quickly and killing in a manner that makes people continually argue with one another about the cause of death considering that it tends to greatly affect those that have pre-existing conditions and affects a certain age group more than anyone. Using horror movies as a manual for this is kind of like watching disaster movies when the earth starts to shake and the oceans rise in an effort to figure out just which way to turn and how fast to run. In other words, the movies aren’t going to give you much no matter how predictive they appear since they’re entertainment and only loosely based on facts a lot of the time. Even those movies manage to bungle things a bit since like it or not the outcome usually only occurs after great sacrifice and a whole lot of nonsense. Well, we’re getting there on the sacrifice part and the nonsense has been ongoing, so maybe we’re on the right track. I kind of wonder if Zak Wojnar of Screenrant would agree with that assessment or counter with another point of view.
It’s amusing to realize how many of us, myself included, look at horror movies and assume that we’d do things so differently when it comes to any given situation. Allie Hayes of Buzzfeed has more on this. Of course we wouldn’t just run from the threat as some of us might say, we’d be getting our hands on the biggest gun or weapon possible and taking that thing that’s chasing us down. Or we’d do what was needed to survive a pandemic by….oh wait. That’s where the breakdown occurs, when the threat is something we can’t really see or recognize, and therefore don’t always take seriously until it comes time to realize that getting sick is not like outrunning some bloodthirsty creature that’s bearing down on us. The coronavirus, unlike other epidemic movies, isn’t offering up any secrets or ways to fight it other than to overload the hospitals and divide people further as some folks believe it’s a hoax while others are doing their best to follow the guidelines that are being laid down and watching as the world goes to its knees in an attempt to simply ride this thing out. Some folks appear to have forgotten that humanity has earned the right to survive through many upon many generations of sickness, disease, and threats that we can’t even name fully that have done their best to eradicate our species. Humanity has found a way to survive, and will continue to do so, which is about the only message the movies ever really get right.
To be fair that’s not much of a boon to those that have already lost those they care about to the disease, or to something that was exacerbated by the disease, but it’s the ironclad and messy truth. If the movies teach us anything it’s that as a species were damned stubborn and don’t just go away in the blink of an eye. Even losing thousands as has already been done, humanity keeps pushing on because we’re determined that there’s a purpose to life, even if we have to make it up from time to time. Plus, the coronavirus isn’t the cause of every death that’s occurred since it arrived and began to spread. Those that have passed away unfortunately have died of a wide variety of diseases or conditions that they’d already been suffering from, and that the coronavirus only worsened. Were the real numbers of those actually killed by the coronavirus released it might make people realize yet another component of a scifi or horror movie, that facts and data are often hidden and fabricated to make things appear much differently in order to manipulate those that don’t know any better. Like it or not, that’s what is likely happening at this point, whether it be done with good intentions or with malice aforethought that is aimed at controlling people for one reason or another. Yes, that is cynical, and yes, it is problematic, but too many people in this world are simply accepting everything they’ve been told by anyone with a stake in the current world climate, and are being convinced to either not think for themselves and let others handle it, or wake up and call out those that are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the masses. Now THAT is in keeping with a movie theme.
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