Speaking of manufactured realities, I'm curious to see how books, TV shows and movies deal with this chapter -- possibly a very long series of chapters -- in global reality.
Is the entertainment sector going to fork off into an alternate timeline where COVID-19 never happened, where people don't wear masks, where we pretend what was normal 6mos ago is still how we live our lives? Is 2020 a blip that we can ignore without any jarring sense of disconnect, the way we (mostly) ignore Trump and the dismantling of our democracy?
At what point are the stories we tell about ourselves going to reflect this episode in American history? How many bodies will have to pile up for this to become so interwoven in our lives that it simply can't be ignored by writers and artists?
British soaps are generally slightly more grounded in external reality than American ones, though not much (a bit like our respective countries' governing parties, I guess), but this is how the producer of Coronation Street, Britain's longest-running TV soap, plans to handle it
"The Coronation Street that we love is the one that reflects modern Britain, albeit in a more heightened way sometimes," he said.
"And it just felt that if there were to be no coronavirus in Coronation Street, it would stop being a reflection of modern Britain and would instead be a parallel fantasy land. So we took the view that it has to exist in our world.
"However I am also aware that people also tune in to Coronation Street for escapism to some degree, and to see drama and stories that they'd never normally experience in their own lives, and stuff that they'd never normally see in their own living rooms played out on screen.
"So while the virus will exist in Coronation Street, we were also keen that it wouldn't dominate every single story and every single scene.
"Coronavirus is pretty much the only topic of conversation in my house, but people wouldn't want to tune in to Coronation Street and see every scene was people talking about coronavirus.
"It'll be there, it'll be handled with a light touch, but other than that our storytelling will be business as usual."
The TV soap's characters will be seen dealing with life during the pandemic when filming resumes.
www.bbc.co.uk
The BBC also say that
Episodes of EastEnders that were in the can before the pandemic have been rationed by BBC One. But when existing episodes run out, there is likely to be a gap before the new ones reach screens.
Coronavirus is expected to be referenced as part of the storylines, although not in a prominent way.
The stars will be socially distanced and will have to do their own hair and make-up.
www.bbc.co.uk
However, since the local pubs, the Rover's Return and the Queen Victoria, and cafes play such a big role in both series, it's going to be interesting to see how they work round social distancing.
I suspect what's going to happen is that, when the series return, they'll have jumped from the pre-Covid-19 world to a post-lockdown world where everyone's wearing masks and socially distancing, or not, without the initial crisis or lockdown.
What happens if (or, I fear, when) we start to see a second spike, is another question, though that would presumably disrupt filming, too.
www.evernote.com
