People are dunking on that “why isn’t Covid represented in entertainment” take and I get it. But there is something to be said on how we are contributing to a return-to-“normal” by not seeing any of the new normalcy of mask wearing or other mitigation tactics that should become standard. Idk idk.
Not that I think we need like a militant COVID HAS TO EXIST IN EVERY FICTIONAL WORLD. But idk there’s a world that exists where you’d see masked extras on a plane. But maybe the discussion is too nuanced for the internet lol.
I feel like there's potentially a useful discussion to be had, and also that saying "creatives are complicit in the spread" is absolutely not the way to go about having that discussion.
I really appreciate that Dropout, which mostly does unscripted shows, lets the audience see the masked crew and also talk about testing procedures in their behind the scenes stuff
I totally agree. I hate how flat this discussion is. Like yeah we can have art that deals with metaphors for covid but also we can have art that actually addresses covid both directly and indirectly!
Right? Like obviously "creatives are too blame for covid erasure" is extreeeemely bullshit and inflammatory, but I do want to have a conversation about HOW we rep it!
Been binging Evil lately and they mention it multiple times as just like, any other big event that happened in the world. It doesn’t seem hard to not be weird about it and yet
*sigh* I really hate how America has twisted a simple international shorthand for the common cold into some sort of personal attack against their beloved "FUCK GUARDRAILS! I'M NOT A BABY!" era...
For a while romance authors actively avoided it since it was what a lot of people were turning to romance to escape *from* — but now four years in I feel myself losing trust in a contemporary if they *never* talk about masking/testing when a character gets sick.
Yup. The eagerness to erase the memory of trauma has meant that a. High risk people are at even higher risk; and b. None of the positive lessons from the pandemic are sticking. We don’t do well with working through trauma.
It would definitely be harder to pretend Covid is gone if people were wearing masks on tv/in movies/etc.! I get why people don’t want to but also, we don’t have to pretend it isn’t true 🤷🏻♀️
One reason for no masks, I suspect, is concern it'll make the work in question look "dated," especially in reruns? ("Ah someone's in a mask, that's so 2020... but this film was made in 2024/2030/etc!")
Going to keep this in mind for my action thriller. I don't know if there is any place in the plot where characters would care enough to sport PPE, but if I find a scene along the way I will include it. (Most of the characters are villains who would be anti mask tbh)
It’s been pointed out how little fiction there is about prior pandemics like the 1918 flu, and I think that points to people having an aversion of the problem that is taking away our means of processing such tragedies and our ability to teach future generations.
I understood not including it at first, because pub lead times are long and nobody knew how the new normal would shake out. But at this point it's disorienting, like I'm watching an alt universe.
I do wonder how many people shy away from setting their work during the height of it all solely based off of how politicized a lot of the signifiers of that time have become. Can imagine more than a few people skipping accurate depictions of mask-usage just to avoid unnecessary culture-war backlash.
