Is it too soon for an end-of-the-world Covid movie?

It was less than a year ago that Covid-19 emerged, sparking a global pandemic of unprecedented proportions. Yet a blockbuster pandemic thriller is already here.

When I saw the trailer for Michael Bay’s new pandemic thriller film Songbird, my jaw dropped. 2020 has been a trip. A bad trip. The majority of people want to move on to a bigger, brighter (and virus-free) future. But Hollywood has other plans.

Songbird is set in 2024, and Covid-19 has morphed into Covid-23. The virus now attacks your brain tissue and has a 50% mortality rate. It’s the 213th week of lockdown, 8,400,010 Americans have died and if you have a fever, you are taken to a quarantine camp.

But don’t worry, New Zealand’s national treasure KJ Apa is looking as sweaty and heroic as ever, taking the lead role in this anxiety-inducing Covid tribute.

The trailer depicts the fourth year of lockdown. Officials in yellow biohazard suits drag people away who scream “I’m not sick!”. The iconic Santa Monica Pier is torn apart, deserted of life. Peter Stormare stares down the barrel of the camera and says “stay safe, stay sane, stay sanitised” – an eerily familiar phrase to the world in 2020.

Side note: it’s important to point out that Bob Marley’s ‘Everything's Gonna Be Alright’ is playing in the background of the entire trailer.

Characters use thermal scanners to test themselves for Covid-23 and if positive, a voice says: “Anomaly detected. Our guards will be arriving in the next four to six hours. You must not attempt to leave your home, or you will be shot onsite.” … WTF.

This moment is tone deaf. Dramatising police and militarised violence – which was the catalyst of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement – reeks of insensitivity. This seems to be an opportunity to cash in on the lived reality of people of colour in the US.

It’s not news that if you’re a “living legend” in Hollywood you can make films without critically evaluating how this will affect the most vulnerable people. Film-maker Adam Mason and his writing partner Simon Boyes developed Songbird over the weekend when parts of the US first went into lockdown on March 13. A couple of days later, producer Michael Bay was on board and by July 8, production had begun.

Songbird was the first Los Angeles-based film to begin production during the coronavirus-induced lockdown earlier this year. Social distancing procedures were manageable, due to the nature of the movie – in the trailer, a stripper shows off her face shield while dancing for a male client, who is also donning a face shield. We love PPE.

It’s quite morbid that Songbird is an imagined future where the coronavirus has morphed into our worst nightmare (full of sweaty and attractive people), rather than the film being more of an archived account of what has actually happened in 2020.

Movies often reflect societal issues, especially confronting issues. Let’s take ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’, for example, which addresses police brutality and racial injustice in the time of protesting the Vietnam War. The best films should encourage discussion, not division.

But what will we gain from this film apart from intensified fear and trauma? Is there a valuable conversation to take away from this? To jump forward into the future while we are still experiencing the realities of the present seems cruel. There is a difference between a film about a predicted future, or tragic and real past. We are still in crisis mode.

There will be films about Covid-19 and I’m not suggesting there shouldn’t be. Covid-19 has reshaped the entire world; halting air travel, separating loved ones, and ending many lives. Maybe let us get through this uncertain and terrifying year before giving us a film that feels very much like looking into a cursed crystal ball full of our worst nightmares.

Songbird revolves around being trapped. Viewers across the world, particularly in the US, most likely watched this trailer trapped inside their own version of quarantine. By 2021 when the film airs, hopefully the US will be close to recovery, but if not, they will be watching a scarier version of their reality on their screens. I can’t imagine this to be a cathartic experience… not even KJ’s jaw line could soothe that wound.

Another theme stumbles dangerously close to right-wing conspiracy theory territory: the (false) idea a government is using Covid-19 to exert complete control over its citizens/population. Aotearoa isn’t immune to these conspiracy theories, in fact, many New Zealanders believed our own lockdown to be a “scam” and an attempt to control the population.

Safe to say, Songbird’s imagery was an irresponsible and dangerous choice.

We are experiencing a collective trauma – which is why it may be too soon for an end of the world Covid movie.

Maybe all we need from Songbird is the trailer.