COVID-19 pandemic

== Culture and society ==
{{Further|COVID-19 pandemic in popular culture}}

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on popular culture. It was included in the narratives of ongoing pre-pandemic television series and become a central narrative in new ones, with mixed results.<ref>{{#invoke:cite web||url=https://www.augustman.com/my/culture/film-tv/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-affecting-popular-culture/|title=How The Covid-19 Pandemic Is Affecting Popular Culture|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=24 November 2020|website=augustman.com|publisher=[[August Man]]|access-date=18 December 2020|quote=In addition to existing shows, streaming platforms and cable channels have tried putting together new series centred on coronavirus, like HBO's "Coastal Elites" or Netflix's "Social Distance" – but with no real success.}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'' about the then-upcoming [[BBC]] sitcom [[Here We Go (TV series)#Pilot (2020)|''Pandemonium'']] on 16 December 2020, [[David Segal (journalist)|David Segal]] asked, "Are we ready to laugh about Covid-19? Or rather, is there anything amusing, or recognizable in a humorous way, about life during a plague, with all of its indignities and setbacks, not to mention its rituals and rules."<ref>{{#invoke:cite web||last=Segal|first=David|author-link=David Segal (journalist)|date=16 December 2020|title=Are We Ready to Laugh About Covid-19? A British Sitcom Hopes So|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/business/media/pandemonium-bbc-coronavirus.html|access-date=18 December 2020|website=[[The New York Times]]|quote=Are we ready to laugh about Covid-19? Or rather, is there anything amusing, or recognizable in a humorous way, about life during a plague, with all of its indignities and setbacks, not to mention its rituals (clapping for [[health care worker]]s) and rules ([[Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic|face masks]], please).}}</ref>

The pandemic had driven some people to seek peaceful [[escapism]] in media, while others were drawn towards fictional pandemics (e.g. [[zombie apocalypse]]s) as an alternate form of escapism.<ref>{{#invoke:cite web||last=Nobel|first=Emma|date=13 April 2020|title=COVID-19 will shape pop culture for years to come, but for now we love pandemic stories|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-13/why-we-read-pandemic-stories-in-a-pandemic/12138290|access-date=18 December 2020|website=abc.net.au|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|quote=Fictitious stories about pandemics give us a way to experience the horror in a controlled way, with the pacing we've grown to expect, where resolution is always possible, and where we can always turn off the TV if it gets a bit too much.}}</ref> Common themes have included [[Contagious disease|contagion]], [[Isolation (health care)|isolation]] and loss of [[Control (psychology)|control]].<ref>{{#invoke:cite magazine||last=McCluskey|first=Megan|date=7 October 2020|title=Horror Films Have Always Tapped Into Pop Culture's Most Urgent Fears. COVID-19 Will Be Their Next Inspiration|url=https://time.com/5891305/horror-movies-coronavirus-history-genre/|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=19 December 2020|quote=}}</ref> Many drew comparisons to the fictional film ''[[Contagion (2011 film)|Contagion]]'' (2011),<ref>{{#invoke:cite news||last1=Rogers|first1=Kristen|title='Contagion' vs. coronavirus: The film's connections to a real life pandemic|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/movies/contagion-movie-versus-coronavirus-scn-wellness/index.html|access-date=9 June 2023|work=CNN|date=2 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite news||last1=Kritz|first1=Fran|title=Fact-Checking 'Contagion' — In Wake Of Coronavirus, The 2011 Movie Is Trending|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/16/802704825/fact-checking-contagion-in-wake-of-coronavirus-the-2011-movie-is-trending|access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref> praising its accuracies while noting some differences,<ref>{{#invoke:cite news||title=I've seen 'Contagion' four times. No, the coronavirus outbreak isn't the same|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-11/coronavirus-contagion-outbreak-movie-comparison|access-date=9 June 2023|work=Los Angeles Times|date=11 March 2020}}</ref> such as the lack of an orderly vaccine rollout.<ref>{{#invoke:cite journal||last1=McGuire|first1=Kelly|title=COVID-19, Contagion, and Vaccine Optimism|journal=Journal of Medical Humanities|date=March 2021|volume=42|issue=1|pages=51–62|doi=10.1007/s10912-021-09677-3|pmid=33587203|pmc=7882858}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite news||last1=Freyne|first1=Patrick|title=The things my movie Contagion got wrong: The slow vaccine, the damaging president|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-things-my-movie-contagion-got-wrong-the-slow-vaccine-the-damaging-president-1.4276784|access-date=9 June 2023|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref>

As people turned to music to relieve emotions evoked by the pandemic, [[Spotify]] listenership showed that classical, [[Ambient music|ambient]] and [[Children's music|children's]] genres grew, while pop, [[Country music|country]] and dance remained relatively stable.<ref>{{#invoke:cite web||date=23 April 2020|last1=Jason|first1=Joven|title=How the Coronavirus Pandemic Affects Music Genres on Spotify|url=https://blog.chartmetric.com/covid-19-effect-on-the-global-music-business-part-1-genre/|access-date=10 April 2021|website=How Music Charts}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:Cite magazine||last1=Chow|first1=Andrew|title=The Pandemic Could Have Hurt Country Music. Instead, the Genre Is Booming|url=https://time.com/5898001/country-music-streaming-numbers-coronavirus/|magazine=Time|access-date=10 April 2021}}</ref>
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