Using films as an example to express your feelings and thoughts is a common practice for every movie lover. That’s why I’m sharing my fears about the post pandemic world with three great films.
Thank god, the Pandemic is almost over. We should be extremally happy about it, but.. Those terrible times had such a sharp impact on our lives that some reflections of lockdown still exist.
Film 1 – Ready Player One
The first movie I can recall as a reflector to the post-pandemic world is the sci-fi film “Ready Player One”. Directed by my the most favorite director Steven Spielberg in 2018.
In this movie, Mr. Spielberg tells us a story about the world in 2045, when the virtual world took over the real one. Characters of the movie are spending most of their lives in a virtual reality. They play virtual games and enjoy unreal world, because their virtual life is way more interesting and entertaining than the real one.
I believe, addiction to the virtual world is one of the problems that lockdown is gonna leave in our lives.
Staying at home directive forced people to spend more time with their VR headsets. Now many of them have two different lives, life in the real world and a life in virtual reality. The saddest part of the story is that in some cases virtual reality is more joyful than real life experiences. Some people choose to stay in the graphic world. I am quite concerned about this situation. There are people no longer in the habit of going out and spending time the way they did before 2020.
…virtual reality is just as damaging as drug or alcohol addiction.
I believe that watching “Ready Player One” is an useful decision for the post-pandemic society. Movie has characters who are utterly cut off from reality. They are spending hours with their VR headsets. These characters are gonna help us realize that virtual reality is just as damaging as drug or alcohol addiction.
Just like other addictions, virtual world addiction is able to steal the time. I am talking about the time that could be used for more beautiful and healthy activities.
P.S.
Another common line of today’s reality and the movie “Ready Player One” is poverty. As a matter of fact, some groups of people became poorer after the virus. Even more many of them took loans to survive the Pandemic, to bring the food on the table or to save their businesses. Now their lives are much like playing with the fire. They need to work tenfold to pay loans.
Film 2 – Bicycle Thieves
Many people lost their jobs, many carriers have been ruined, and many businesses have gone bankrupt because of Covid 19. It means that a lot of families are left without proper income. Economic crisis took new levels in most of the countries. Therefore I believe that Italian Neorealism is gonna be relevant for the modern world. That’s why the second movie I want to mention is “Bicycle Thieves”. Italian drama, directed by Vittorio De Sicca in 1949.
I believe, all over the world, there are people who will see themselves in Antonio Ricci, the main character of “Bicycle Thieves”. Just like Antonio, today people are looking for a job and are ready to do anything to support their families. In addition, world media claims, crime has increased in many countries. In other words, Covid has increased the amount of the thieves.
Covid looked a lot like World War 3. There was no guns, bombs or visible enemy, but still… It was a fight for life and we were all together in this devastating process. Therefore I assume many post-war films could contribute to a Post-Pandemic world.
Film 3 – WALL·E
I strongly believe that we all should be extremely thankful for being able to go back to normal again. We should realize that the world persevered against major threats. Human kind survived. People have been given a second chance. We must start appreciating the life we have. We must start appreciating the freedom of face to face communications we’ve been dreaming about during lockdown.
People should always remember that the results of this pandemic could have been more destructive. As the best demonstration of possible consequences I can name another favorite film of mine, animation movie “WALL·E”. Directed by Andrew Stanton in 2008.
start appreciating the freedom of face to face communications we’ve been dreaming about during lockdown.
Human characters of the “WALL·E” are spending their lives on the comfortable sofas located on the spaceship. They are doing nothing and communicating with one another online. Meanwhile the planet is abandoned and has zero sign of life.
This cute animation is narrating the story that takes place 700 years from now. It shows the depressing look of the planet without human beings. Core storyline of “WALL·E” is to demonstrate the catastrophic results of Pollution. It has nothing to do with Covid 19, but since the results could have been the same. I assume this movie can help us to understand what we avoided.
Conclusion
I want the world to go back to normal completely! I want to watch films in theaters or at home with a big group of friends. I’m terrified of the possible future where we are watching movies alone while eating food delivered by robots instead of going to the restaurant with friends to discuss the movie we enjoyed together.
Just for the record…
I have a feeling that lockdown’s impact on the world is going to change the movie business. Now everyone is more involved in social media, where it’s very popular to make short videos.
Some groups of people, especially teenagers, are watching YouTube, TikTok and Instagram Reels more often than Netflix, HBO or Hulu. It simply means that films have new and quite strong competitors.
Influencers create their own short films to entertain their followers. For now it’s mostly funny content or something like talent shows, dancing, singing. But some influencers are posting scripted, staged videos. So who knows, maybe the movie making business is going to shape itself in an absolutely different form. Maybe it is going to turn into something that has never existed before.
