Why are outbreak movies so appealing at times of real-life outbreaks?

It was 3:29 AM. I was up (as usual) and wandering through my Netflix homepage when I came across this:

“Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.”

Another Netflix documentary.

Another bore.

6 episodes. 45 minutes each.

I had nothing else to do, so I gave it a shot.

I ended up binge watching the series until 8 AM. 

 

Although decent, it was something that I would’ve never watched under normal circumstances. How come did I find this outbreak documentary so appealing?

Surely, it wasn’t pure boredom.

It probably had something to do with the fact that there was a real-life outbreak going on.

You know, *cough* the coronavirus.

And I had the feeling that I wasn’t alone in this. 

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The entertainment industry has ground to a halt.

Reports of the coronavirus have put a stop to production on everything

(from an untitled Luca Guadagnino project to a high-profile Batman movie).

Movie theaters have shut down across the globe.

Studios have moved their big-ticket releases to a more “merciful” climate.

So it’s unlikely that we’re gonna get new movies anytime soon. 

​

Let’s be real.

Even if the theaters were still running, we would feel reluctant to leave the house.

In terms of movies, that can mean only now thing:

These.

Are.

Boom.

Times.

For.

Streaming. 

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Some have taken this opportunity to watch Friends for the god-knows-nth time.

Others have taken it as an occasion to revisit movies that speak directly to the issue at hand.

Stephen Soderbergh’s disaster thriller Contagion (2011) for instance.

An eerily realistic simulation of a pandemic that became the 3rd most watched movie on Netflix.

World War Z (2013) is another one.

The most unappreciated Brad Pitt movie to date (which also happens to be about a pandemic).

Even the 1995 classic Outbreak is on that list.

(Spoiler alert: Kevin Spacey’s character gets infected.) 

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Turns out that we have this perverse quirk that compels us to watch stuff that upsets us.

But this has been hardwired into our pathology for decades.

Because these movies provide a sanctioned version of "exposure therapy". 

It’s a phenomenon in which an inconceivable danger can be experienced and survived.

(Not so much for Kevin Spacey though, because he dies of the virus in the movie.) 

​

For some psychologists, not addressing the “viral elephant in the room” is not a good idea.

It only makes us more anxious.

Watching outbreak movies, on the other hand, allows us to live through the end of days.

Or make us see what will be left under.

Or both.

It puts our minds at ease because we’re “prepared” for overcoming the unthinkable.

It makes us more accustomed to a potential outbreak. 

​

They are the viewing equivalent of the fight-or-flight response.

They drive Homo sapiens towards the full-on confrontation rather than escapism and denial.

Having watched all three of the movies I’ve listed so far, I’d have to agree with the psychologists.

Not all the way though, because these movies can be cathartic only to a certain extent. 

 

It feels like the only real “therapy” here is to lead a detached, unplugged, simple life. You know, the one where you chop vegetables or clean your room to be productive.