re: #80 Yeah Sure WhatEVs

So there is this self-published author I like (who is extremely successful) who sent out an email blast last night that his latest book is available. He won’t put COVID into any of his stories because he sees his writing as escapism (he writes action books). He went off on all the TV shows who have incorporated the pandemic into storylines, especially the sitcom The Connors.

What I find offensive is shows like The Masked Whatever CGI’ing large crowds into the non-existent audience without a word that they’ve done that, giving the impression that all is well and normal. Much like what was done for the Super Bowl… Except they had real people interspersed with cutouts, the same effect only ickier.

What do you think?

I think this whole time period is absolutely insane from a pop culture perspective. On the one hand, social responsibility would suggest that you should, at the least, acknowledge the situation, and in some capacity, leverage your market to encourage people to pay attention and be safe. I also feel that anything that’s either rooted in the present or in a future that is derived from the current reality, or makes a reference to it, should acknowledge that it is a thing that happened - else, potential viewers or cultural researchers in post-pandemic times will not have that context. However, the argument made in the author’s statement about media as escapism is also perfectly valid, and in the current stressful times, the last thing we all need is for our favorite escapes to continue saturating us with the news we’re trying to escape from. No matter what, something is going to be weird, so I feel like it basically comes down to the individual show and how they choose to approach social responsibility, escapism, and the reality of their in-show universe.