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Friday, March 20, 2020

The mist

1. Just in passing, I'm sure everyone has already heard California has declared a state of emergency and is on mandatory lockdown. The governor mentioned the possibility of martial law, but later issued "clarifying remarks". I guess California is taking Italy's strategy.

2. It's interesting how life imitates art in our coronavirus pandemic. I'm sure examples could be multiplied.

A recent one is the film Five Feet Apart. I've only seen the trailer. The main characters appear to have cystic fibrosis, but that's where the analogy breaks down, because cystic fibrosis isn't infectious. Rather it's a genetic disease. But the social distancing fits.

3. Of course, movies like Contagion and Outbreak are obvious. There's likewise some overlap with the apocalyptic genre in general.

4. I suppose the pandemic has some parallels with Stephen King's The Stand. Thankfully COVID-19 isn't Captain Trips.

5. Perhaps one of the more apt parallels is Stephen King's The Mist.

Basically the film is about a group of strangers stuck together in a supermarket while an impending mist gradually surrounds them and traps them inside.

Man-eating monsters lurk outside in the mist. So people can't venture outside without taking their life into their own hands. Without risking death.

However, as scary as the mist and its monsters are, there are monsters lurking inside with them too: their fellow human beings. Which monsters are worse? Both are bad, but one is in the open, while the other is hidden. The difference between a massive fire-breathing dragon and a slithering snake in the grass.

We can sympathize with their confusions and frustrations at the beginning. No one seems to know or understand what's happening. They're thrust into their predicament after a storm hits the town.

Some immediately take on a "survival at any and all costs" mentality. Others are more selfless at first, but that changes too.

As the story progresses, we begin to sense increasing mistrust and distrust. We begin to see the heightened fear in their eyes.

We feel the growing panic. The fevered paranoia. It breaks out in yelling and screaming and fighting. People take sides. Form factions.

So, in the end, one by one, individuals are picked off. Either by the monsters outside or by the "monsters" inside, as people realize there's no escape. Death - or a worse fate - awaits them all.

6. In short, it's instructive to witness how some people are responding to this pandemic.

It's like they're stuck inside a locked gas chamber with the gas diffusing across the room and inching toward them by degrees. There's nowhere to run, but some people will still claw and scratch one another to savor a few more moments in the corner farthest away from the steadily approaching poison.

It's also somewhat reminiscent of Camus' The Plague as well as Sartre's No Exit.

By contrast, Christians need not fear death. We know this life isn't all there is. Death isn't the end - or worse. There is an exit. There is a door. His name is Jesus: "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved..." (John 10:9).

4 comments:

  1. I hate that movie, if only for furthering Thomas Jane’s career.

    Hawk, you’ve been remarkably measured and fair in your comments on the current insanity. I was curious about this analysis. Is this a case of someone cold applying numbers when there are so many other factors that can curb these numbers? I realize you’re not an epidemiologist, of course, but it seems like the numbers from actual epidemiologists are not so hard and firm...

    https://twitter.com/donnellymjd/status/1240838018489028609?s=21

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    1. "I hate that movie, if only for furthering Thomas Jane’s career."

      Lol! :) I had forgotten he was the lead in the movie! Wow.

      And thanks, Derek! I appreciate your kind words about me.

      I have to admit I don't really trust epidemiological models in general. Not that I necessarily distrust them. But I mean they have their limitations. As I think I put it in another post, it's like trying to predict the weather. Not that weather reports or meteorological models are necessarily wrong, but they're not always right either. At least that's how I see things as a non-epidemiologist.

      However, even someone like John Ioannidis who is an epidemiologist has likewise recently criticized these things. Same with Nate Silver who isn't an epidemiologist, but who, of course, famously makes predictions about political elections on his 538 website. See here for both of their (far more informed) opinions.

      As far as this Twitter thread is concerned. Well, I mean, on the one hand, it does look like NY is the new epicenter of the coronavirus in the US. Also, it's true exponential growth is a key factor. So in this respect these numbers may well be "accurate" inasmuch as any place that's a hot zone is certainly likely to have this kind of exponential growth.

      On the other hand, NY can do take steps to curtail the exponential growth. If they do, then the predictions won't necessarily come to pass. I guess that's a simplistic way of putting it though.

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    2. (By the way, I know you've already seen the post I mention, but just putting the link there for others who might not have.)

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  2. One movie I was really looking forward to seeing was a quiet place 2. I don't know when it will open now.

    There is a line in the trailer - the only people left alive aren't worth saving.

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