Anyo
Movie poster by Roger Kastel.
Closed Until Further Notice
By Ashley Arvind
Photos of famous streets around the world, with their landmarks now empty, like the Vatican, circulated the web and relayed in pixels how daily life’s come to a halt. The tourists have not been cut out. But you need not travel far, and it’s probably wise not to; just look out the window onto your own street, or wherever you’re hunkered down, and you know it’s quieter than usual. Outside resembles a ghost town, or a scene from an apocalypse movie, some say. The film “Outbreak” was on Netflix’s “Top Ten” list in recent months. Everyone’s looking to relate, but the closest reference is the Spanish Influenza—and most of us weren’t around a hundred years ago.
Personally, I’m feeling the situation is more like the 1975 “Jaws” film, based on Peter Benchley’s book. Except we’re all stuck in that beach town. The officials in the movie don’t want to inform the public of the truth because it’ll be bad for local business, especially with the summer season starting, and oh yeah, it will scare people. Chief Brody, played marvelously by Roy Scheider, is the lone voice of reason. He is threatened with losing his job over speaking out. No, you can’t close down the beaches, the mayor basically yells at Brody during a heated, secret meeting. It’s the economy, stupid! James Carville might have been their campaign manager offscreen. Lastly, the officials are adamant that they don’t see a great white in that photograph staring them back in the face, that it’s just “bubbles”. They don’t want to start a panic.
Sound familiar?
Usually, in these types of movies, the politicians and big government don’t listen to the scientists or whistleblowers until it’s too late. These common movie tropes are now recurring themes around the world. Those basic, valid concerns of that small town in “Jaws” have become every town’s concerns. Big government or small, there are many failures in the varied response to COVID-19. China did not put the warnings out there early on. Instead, they shut up the journalists and doctors with first-hand knowledge who spoke out. Sometimes, real life is scarier than the movies. At least Chief Brody never disappeared.
The world health experts have been up there on podiums steadily telling the news media and people about Coronavirus, but like Chief Brody faced in the movie, many people weren’t listening well. Later, Brody got out of the politics and went to hunt the shark with a marine biologist and a WWII veteran on a tug boat. Essential workers are out there with the action too, let’s not forget.
Several states still do not have stay at home orders. Those goons in the movie preferred to let some of their townspeople get eaten by a shark, instead of lose money. Recently, Indiana Representative Trey Hollingsworth said on the radio, “It is always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life, of American lives, we have to always choose the latter. …” Um, did anyone else get in line to eat that bullet? Anyone? America today is facing a much larger crisis, but when officials are more worried about financial losses over the people’s lives, that means more preventable deaths.
When beachgoers are too afraid to jump in the water, they eventually do so because the mayor coaxes them that it’s safe. Then a little boy goes under the waves. I think a dog didn’t make it either. Everyone trusts a smiling politician with a lollipop, right? Before, Americans were told we didn’t need to wear masks in public, like the people in China and Korea were doing. In April, face coverings are not only recommended, but mandated in places like L.A. and parts of the Bay Area.
As the movie monster finally comes to light, Chief Brody gets slapped by a grieving mother in a memorable scene: “I just found out, that a girl got killed here last week, and you knew it! You knew there was a shark out there! You knew it was dangerous! But you let people go swimming anyway? You knew all those things! But still my boy is dead now. …” Brody even owns up to his failing. But then again, he’s not a politician. He’s driven by a sense of responsibility to the people.
The world was alerted to Coronavirus in December 2019. By January 2020, world health experts sounded their warnings. Every country had the opportunity to put a plan together at that time (perhaps earlier, depending on intel) in the event this became a pandemic, which it did. People want to see leadership in hard times, for officials at both the state and federal level, to say we must do these difficult things in order to survive, and not delay action. That’s hard to do, though, when no one wants to admit they might have “a shark problem.”
Then there are those people who refuse to believe in social distancing. In “Jaws 2”, Brody’s two sons and friends go out onto the water in dinghies, not exhibiting the best judgment in a monster movie. Kind of like those University of Texas at Austin students who flew to Mexico in early April because they thought spring break constituted “essential travel,” and then came back with Coronavirus.
The danger is still there, we just can’t see it, because it’s a virus. When it begins attacking, some people are asymptomatic for days. Only after a person tests positive for COVID-19, are cases confirmed and tallied. Testing is not yet widely available in the U.S.
At the end of “Jaws”, Chief Brody is vindicated after he saved his small town and blew up a shark. Wait, he did that in the sequel, too, but with a different shark. Mayor Vaughn also appears in the sequel and still never goes in the water. Anyway, Chief Brody is hailed a hero.
The real question is, how many American towns have someone like Chief Brody to be their advocate, to urge everyone from officials to residents to first believe what is really happening in their community, and then instruct everyone to appropriately respond to the crisis.