The 21st Century Plague : Cinema in the Age of COVID-19 single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 The 21st Century Plague : Cinema in the Age of COVID-19
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'We’ve seen this scenario before, but only in the cinema: a mysterious plague, for which there is no cure, suddenly appears out of nowhere and ravages the globe. In everything from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), dealing with the Black Plague in the 1300s, to Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011), in which a mysterious virus causes agonizing death in a matter of days, society is unprepared for what befalls it, scampering uselessly in circles to contain the spread of the disease. This time, however, there is no barrier between the spectacle we witness unfolding on the screen and the audience. This time, the threat is real. And as in the cinematic iterations of a viral pandemic, we are unprepared in real life.' (Introduction)

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    y separately published work icon Senses of Cinema A World Without Cinema no. 94 April 2020 20903460 2020 periodical issue

    'In the face of mass death and economic devastation on a worldwide scale, matters of art and entertainment may seem trifling. But the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the cinema. With theatres shuttered, festivals cancelled and film production schedules in disarray, the shutdown mandated across much of the planet has meant that, for the first time since 1895, we are now living in a world without cinema. It is hard, almost impossible, to comprehend.' (Editorial introduction)

         2020
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