A Physician Reviews Pandemic Movies
A review of a review of pandemic movies just published in a major medical journal — some ring so true, some look passé at first glance
(Note: minor spoiler alerts here)
When I opened the usual email blast coming from a major medical journal, expecting more scientific bad news (and cautiously hoping for some good ones too), the article labeled “arts and medicine” caught my eye.
While mainstream news portals have described the return to popularity of these old pandemic movies, this paper was written by a professor specializing in infectious diseases in children. Written in the typical dry tone of an academic paper (down to exactly how he found these movies, which search term and which movie database), the findings were anything but! And too good not to share with a wider audience.
First, he grouped the movies into “common themes” in these movies. The commonest theme was labeled “dehumanization”, where the infected transformed into something less than human (e.g. zombies). Among the cases of Covid-19 reported to date, there have indeed been a minority of tragic cases infecting the brain. However, going by the headlines from major media outlets, the reports on the change in human behavior resulting from Covid-19 are largely focussed on the uninfected (toilet paper hoarding, for example), to the extent that China’s biggest toilet paper manufacturer just posted a record quarter.
The remaining themes he found were: Failed leadership, Biowarfare, Stigmatization of the other, Social class and disparities, and Selfless physician.
Next, the comments on these themes — for Selfless physician, he notes “Emphasizes the sacrifice of typically male physicians”. In a world where, for example, all the Canadian (national and provincial) chief public health officers are female, I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw when the movies were made — almost all were made pre-WWII.
In real life — there are many sites honoring the frontline workers who have already succumbed to Covid-19, and the casualties have occurred across the genders.
In a world where the pandemic has exposed the socioeconomic fault lines across many societies, social class and inequalities were also major themes in the pandemic films. “Elites successfully self-quarantine; some groups receive privileged access to protection not available to others” was the author’s eerily prescient summary.
Stigmatization of the infected was another prominent theme in pandemic movies. Anyone who has worked in Ebola-affected regions will recognize the stigma of the recovered, relieved somewhat by good communication and confidence in the healthcare system. Closer to home in New York City, an emergency medicine doctor who had traveled into NYC to help in the frontline was barred from entering his brother’s apartment.
To round up, let’s focus on this theme featuring in many of the movies: Failed leadership. Some of the spoilers in the article (eg, in “The Alpha Incident [1978], citizens infected with a Martian plague were given lethal poison misrepresented as a cure by the government”) will remind historians of real incidents eg the Tuskegee study.
Looking at media articles on leadership, one theme emerges. Angela Merkel was praised for putting her scientist origins (she has a doctorate in quantum chemistry!) to work. Jacinda Ardern used social media, empathy, in addition to science and rugby-speak to reach out to New Zealanders in what was the earliest lockdown in the English-speaking world.
In a world where non-scientists are learning epidemiology quickly, and where scientists like myself are suddenly finding ourselves trying to be writers to get our messages across — surely, leadership has to involve bridging our divides.
