You've probably heard someone say (well, text you or post to social media) recently that it feels like we're living in some dystopian movie. We can say that because dystopian movies have given us a shared visual language of a post-apocalyptic future that we all recognize: empty streets, scarce resources, invisible enemies, humans holed up with their animal companions, some great distressed knitwear, creeping dread, etc. Fiction of this sort has been popular for more than a hundred years, and it really had a moment in the 2000s with the release of series like The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead.

You'd think that, in light of the current situation, our appetite would've soured on entertainment about the end of the world as we know it. Yet, films like Outbreak and Contagion are showing up in Netflix's new top 10 category. What's going on? Is dystopian fiction the chicken soup our souls need right now, or should we keep a safe distance from movies and shows about end times as we all shelter in place?

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Dystopia persists because it's comparatively easy to make. It's much harder to pull off - and much less satisfying to consume - stories about either a disastrous past or a utopian future. In the case of the former, with movies like The Painted Veil about the cholera epidemic, we already know how things turned out, and we're less apt to care because of the lack of urgency. In the case of the latter, with books like Looking Backward about a much-improved society, we feel preached to instead of entertained. But, it's too soon since the outbreak of COVID-19 to know if dystopian stories will remain popular.

That's complicated by the fact that there's more than one subgenre of dystopia. Some entries fall squarely into science fiction, some are medical or political thrillers, and some resemble supernatural horror. Though they share many of the same basic elements, they still vary wildly in theme and tone. Children of Men and Wall-E came out within two years of each other. In a way, there's a dystopia for all of us.

Not all apocalypses are created equal. In high-end dystopia, the premise is a starting point or a symbol. The filmmaker is using what went wrong in an imagined future to examine a problem in our present. Usually that problem is environmental distress, economic disparity, or both. Too much dependence on technology has become another common moral. The aforementioned Wall-E, plus Metropolis, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Snowpiercer are all excellent examples. We tend to find these movies enlightening, and occasionally cathartic, because they call us to action and make us believe that we could create a different, better future, having learned their lessons. These are social and environmental justice films masquerading as genre flicks, but they might be a harder sell now that we're dealing with real fallout.

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Children of Men

Sometimes, a survival movie is just a survival movie. Though you may catch a whiff of social commentary in films like World War Z, District 9 or Battle Royale, the point is to keep you on the edge of your seat as you watch the main characters try to make it through the plot alive. These movies exist to give you another kind of catharsis: the feeling that you could survive something life-alteringly terrifying. But if you didn't like scary movies about viruses a week ago, they certainly won't make you feel better now.

And then there's dystopian comedy -- a subgenre that feels like it shouldn't exist but has produced surprisingly rewatchable cult classics. Idiocracy, This Is the End and Shaun of the Dead touch upon social issues like serious dystopia and play with the idea of survival like horror dystopia, but with the added benefit of being able to laugh in the face of extreme danger.

What appeals to you during a pandemic will probably be similar to what appealed to you before, whether that's prestige dystopia, body horror, dark comedy or fluff that's completely unrelated to the coronavirus. Know thyself, dear quarantined viewer, and binge accordingly.

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