A Dystopia in Disguise
Elsie Sheppard
The COVID-19 pandemic progressed faster than anyone anticipated. The world has begun to shut down during these devastating times. Borders closed, hospitals overwhelmed, struggling supply chains, and scared citizens are a result of governments’ drastic measures to flatten the Coronavirus curve. Our world has turned from a place of freedom and personal decision to one that lacks free will because of quarantines and self-isolation. Since Western University was shut down, I was unable to complete my interpretive dance with Prabi, so I decided to put together a photo essay of my experience of self-isolation because of the Coronavirus.
This project was not made to downplay the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, but to show how people can find hope in their lives, stay home, and make the best of the situation. Social distancing is the key to keeping society safe in the midst of this global emergency. A global cause for panic, COVID-19 has created a real-life dystopia. Our lives have become similar to those in the film Things to Come directed by William Cameron Menzies. The film takes place amid war and social breakdown, “a strange and terrible pestilence - the wandering sickness spread unchecked throughout the world”. Just as in Things to Come, today’s society was already struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Threats of a third world war caused by conflicts between the Americans and the Iranians, global forest fires burning our ecosystems, and now a virus with no cure introduced into society is seen as the start to a pessimistic year, and possibly a devastating decade. In the film, “only gradually did men realize that the epidemic was over and that social vitality was returning”. The film ended on an optimistic note; the epidemic seemed to eradicate itself and society had the chance to continue to progress. Right now, in March of 2020, thousands of cases of COVID-19 are reported each day, and the eradication of the virus is not in sight. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, says that “nothing is off the table” to slow the spread of COVID-19. There are still many people who choose not to exercise social distancing and do not believe the virus to be as dangerous as the news describes. Because of these naive people, our society may become even more of a dystopia. If people do not self-isolate, the Canadian government will have no choice but to invoke the Emergencies Act (previously known as the War Measures Act ). This Act allows the government to regulate all travel, even if that is just a step outside your front door, to regulate and ration all commodities, and to impose fines and jail time to people who break the rules. The government will leave no privacy or free will for citizens in order to slow the spread of the virus. Our world will turn into one large panopticon where military services will enforce the rules of the Emergencies Act : citizens being watched at all times and confined to their homes. This has not happened yet, and may not happen if people choose to self-isolate during these hard times. In Things to Come, the citizens never left their houses in fear of catching the wandering sickness, and miraculously the epidemic disappeared. People, in reality, can interpret and implement the practices of characters in the film in hopes of a similar outcome. This project brings to light the bad things caused by COVID-19 that should make people stay in their homes, but it also shows why people should want to self-isolate during this time. It can be hard to go through every day with the same routine at home, but it is important to stay hopeful. Even though stores are empty, schools and non-essential businesses have been shut down, and people are forced to exercise social distancing, there are also benefits to this time. Individuals are given a chance to spend time with their loved ones, learn and hone new skills, find time to relax from their busy lives, play board games with siblings, bake a new recipe, go outside for some exercise, or just sit back and watch TV. Students may never get another chance where they have so few obligations. My photo essay portrays how people can stay optimistic in a pessimistic time.
