While TV shows referencing real-world events are nothing new, this pandemic has shown a divide between production teams who do or don’t incorporate COVID-19 into their work. Any medium with a modern, realistic setting must consider whether it wants to represent a part of life many try their best to forget.
Health-related storylines based in reality are nothing new — look at “Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story” directed by Tom McLoughlin in the early ‘90s. It chronicles prominent AIDS activist Alison Gertz, who died from AIDS-related pneumonia shortly after the film’s release.
In a time when this disease was stigmatized and used to enforce homophobic rhetoric, Gertz’s character — portrayed by Molly Ringwald — shed light on a topic not many wanted to talk about.
Modern medical dramas such as “The Good Doctor” and “Grey’s Anatomy” showcase hospital protocols for managing the virus. “The Resident” and “Chicago Med” incorporate dying patients video-calling their families.
The nature of these shows requires them to cover medical topics that might be controversial among viewers. These instances provide people with a vision of COVID-19’s effects on human beings and their loved ones. When tuning into a show — especially one that’s health-related and set around 2020 — people should almost expect the pandemic to play a key role.
After watching “The Resident” with her mother, senior public health major Mikayla Kitchen said she considers its portrayal of the virus valuable.
“They can’t exclude this major, shared trauma,” Kitchen said. “I think if you just try to brush over it, it’s going to further exacerbate this idealist narrative that TV sometimes pushes forward.”
As a non-medical show, HBO’s TV series “Succession” was able to avoid the issue entirely — choosing instead to adjust its timeline to a pre-pandemic world.
Its creator, Jesse Armstrong, told The New Yorker its crew pushed the third season back a year — to 2019 — so COVID-19 would not affect characters.
Sarah Snook, who plays media mogul Shiv Roy, told Vulture that this decision was in part because “none of the world’s really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.”
This, for some, might be one of the most appealing things about “Succession.” Its characters struggle through mostly rich-people problems which present in stark contrast to the everyday-American’s plight. Although some disagree with this portrayal of society, it is important to remember not every show has a responsibility to discuss pandemic-related topics.
People need a break. While some might want to watch the virus’s trials on their favorite characters, they should still have the opportunity to step back when needed. For many, TV is an outlet to escape from issues in their everyday lives.
Varying levels of COVID-19 coverage are beneficial in providing options for viewers. Most decisions made by production teams to incorporate or avoid COVID-19 are justified as they relate to storylines, characters and the show’s overall themes.
It is still important for production teams — no matter the show — to take into consideration the narrative’s context. Representation, when used correctly, is a powerful tool for public education.
Edited by Camila Fowler | cfowler@themaneater.com