Take, for instance, the danse macabre genre of art developed in Europe in the early 1400s. In these didactic images, skeletons dance both with each other and with living people, offering two lessons: life is brief, so be pious; and life is brief, so dance. “Those metaphorical skeletons exist in our minds now,” Wright said. And that’s a good thing. Awareness of mortality “motivates people to live accordingly. And that seeps into art.”
The end of the superhero’s reign
We may see a resurgence of smaller, human stories about relationships as well. It’s often posited that the popularity of superhero movies grew out of September 11: “People wanted to feel like America was invincible, could take on terrorism, and could win,” Wright argued. Today, though, we see viral videos of Italians singing to each other from balconies and New Yorkers shouting thanks from their windows to health care workers. “We are realizing that nobody is invincible when it comes to illness, and also how important it is to be surrounded by people you love.”
The previously invisible
Underrepresented communities tend to be made visible by pandemics. “Even if you lived in a small town and wanted to pretend that nobody you’d ever met was gay, you couldn’t really ignore that after AIDS,” Wright said. After the worst of the crisis, there was a spike in media and films about the gay experience in America. Years later, as the gay-marriage debate raged, then vice president Joe Biden told Meet the Press, “I think Will & Grace did more to educate the American public more than almost anything anybody has done so far.”
Today, Wright said, people are starting to understand that “society really requires the skills of people who work in grocery stores and pharmacies, nurses, groups of people that we’ve been underpaying for a really long time.” Expect to see more protagonists who wear uniforms or aprons. Will that kind of visibility eventually help such workers earn a livable wage?
Wright was hopeful but doubtful, guessing that many Americans will want to forget about this scary, sad time as soon as possible. (Among them, of course, is our current president.) “Americans only like stories where they emerge as the victors,” Wright said. “Americans don’t like to think about things like the Spanish Flu”—one of the only pandemics in history that didn’t produce a spate of art representing the national or international psyche, Wright said. For that, we can probably blame the suppression of press reports of the disease by officials determined to boost morale—and governments that kept attention focused on World War I. Only years later did the average person understand the severity of the disease and its spread.
In Angels in America, Wright noted, playwright Tony Kushner “touches on how America is not a good country for sick people. He writes that Ronald Reagan ‘takes a slug in his chest, and two days later, he’s out West riding ponies in his PJs.’”
Today, most Americans are staying home in their PJs. Only time will tell how victorious we ultimately will be, and whether the coronavirus will inspire true social change. Until then, we can turn to art from plagues past to remind ourselves that our ancestors have faced times like these. “Know that you’re not alone. Humanity survived,” Wright said. “We’re still here, and we keep going.”
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Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Where Are Tiger King Stars Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin Now?
— The Human Toll: The Artists Who Have Died From the Coronavirus
— How to Watch Every Marvel Movie in Order During Quarantine
— Why Doesn’t Disney+ Have More Muppet Stuff?
— All the New 2020 Movies Streaming Early Because of the Coronavirus
— Tales From the Loop Is Stranger Than Stranger Things
— From the Archive: The Making of the Cultural Phenomenon That Was Julia Child
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.
