Something weird is happening. As COVID-19 spreads and our fears mount we all seem to be doing the same thing: running towards the abyss, not away from it. Drawn to consuming all manner of pandemic related content, not just news broadcasts.
As Wired puts it, “Open Twitter and you’ll likely see people talking about Contagion, Outbreak, and The Andromeda Strain. On Netflix, the docuseries Pandemic is trending. The cause of this is obvious. Coronavirus news has everyone on high alert, fretting about what could happen if it turns into a global health crisis. Watching epidemic entertainment will likely lead to one of two outcomes: being fearful that things could get even worse or being comforted that, in the end, life will find a way.”
Adds the New Republic, “The coronavirus disaster is messing with the boundary between fantasy and reality, leaving us feeling somewhat fictional ourselves, adrift in the enormity of the crisis and the volume of surreal information before us. What pandemic cinema offers is not an escape, exactly, but a refreshing variety of ways to frame or process that information.”
Personally, I was hesitant to get on the pandemic bandwagon for all the standard reasons you might expect. After all, TV is supposed to be escapism, not something that eerily mirrors the real world. But I recently decided to go against my better judgment and give into the trend, wanting to see for myself if there was something to the science of pandemic pop culture. And I sure am glad that I did. For I discovered my new all-time #1 favorite TV show, 12 Monkeys.
Based on the Bruce Willis movie of the same name, 12 Monkeys is all about using time travel to stop a pandemic from occurring with the show getting heavier and heavier into time travel and Sci-Fi as the seasons move along. Quite frankly, 12 Monkeys has everything I look for in a show – a rich mythology, complex mysteries, massive plot twists, really good action sequences, and laugh out loud moments based around interesting characters. And as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who fell in love with it.
As Slash Film puts it:
“I love SYFY’s 12 Monkeys and I want you to love it, too. Because I fully believe 12 Monkeys is one of the best TV shows out there and it hurts me that more people don’t know about how truly unique and amazing it is. I take it personally, people.
Those of you who haven’t watched 12 Monkeys, aren’t caught up, or stopped along the way and haven’t returned, I’m telling you – you need to watch. It’s a moral imperative.
I hear you over there saying it. ‘There’s so much TV out there already.’
I get it. In the age of Peak TV, finding room for new shows is hard. Especially when you’re juggling work, friends, kids, bowling teams, etc. And I know people are always throwing out statements like, ‘You need to watch this show!’ and ‘It’s one of the best shows out there’ about, well, everything these days. But this time it’s true.”
I couldn’t agree more. Both in regards 12 Monkeys and the sentiment that watching shows and movies about pandemics during a pandemic is a good idea. Based on my own experience I can now confidently state that there really is something to it. A low-risk way to face your fears and come out on the other side less scared and better prepared for what is really to come.
Digital Trends reported on the science of why that is:
“According to Julie Norem, associate professor of psychology at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the answer may well be control. Games, movies and TV shows allow us to excerpt a modicum of control over something which, at least right now, seems scarily uncontrollable.
‘In most of these movies, the virus/bacteria/alien invasion is much more dramatically deadly than COVID-19,’ Norem told Digital Trends. ‘Yet humanity — and, specifically, at least one of the main characters — triumphs in the end … There’s an implicit implication that if ‘we’ can beat those more serious threats, surely ‘we’ can get through COVID-19. That has a lot of potential appeal.'”
Indeed it does. So I highly recommend that you give it a try as well. Especially considering how easy it is to do with dozens of streaming options out there for you to choose from. Besides, what else do you have to do?
Is watching shows and movies about pandemics during a pandemic a great idea?
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