Corona Virus as a Science Fiction Tragedy

by

Obododimma Oha


Some people make the mistake of thinking that science fiction (sci-fi, for short) is fantasy for young people who are crackpots. Science fiction may have dwelt on matters that are classified as puerile but can bring up serious issues about human life. It can point the way to new possibilities and inventions waiting.  It has also extensively looked at disease and human survival in the world. These doomsday narratives have been warning and cautioning, asking us to get ready with strategies for addressing the hypothetical situation.

As someone who has been consuming some of these narratives, I see a similarity between what is playing out now as Corona Virus Scare and many cases we have in science fiction narratives. When I was just thinking about  putting together this essay, I had to refer to some existent knowledge on the Internet  about those narratives. Here is an interesting explanation on Wikipedia about apocalyptic fiction, which we are thinking about:

Apocalyptic fiction does not portray catastrophes, or disasters, or near-disasters that do not result in apocalypse. A threat of an apocalypse does not make a piece of fiction apocalyptic. For example, Armageddon and Deep Impact are considered disaster films and not apocalyptic fiction because, although Earth and/or humankind are terribly threatened, in the end they manage to avoid destruction.

So, following this line of thinking, let us say that Corona Virus Scare is both disaster in outlook and apocalyptic, after all, there is a prediction that the epidemic would go away after sometime; we will manage to overcome it. And a new world will follow. But the route taken is disaster, and people may watch helplessly while loved ones suffer and die, or are isolated. That is very painful and a challenge to our humanity.

If I call it a tragedy, that is in a simple sense that many have perished in fighting it. I also refer to the classical sense of tragedy as something painful from which  some ironically derive pleasure or catharsis. An account of that catharsis has to include, not just the enjoyment of some conspiracy theories emerging from it, but also the fact that the characters mentioned in those narratives seem to derive some pleasure from what they are doing – performing experiments with human beings and trying to see if they can enact disaster! How different is that from the gladiatorial shows of the ancient Roman Empire? In the process of reading up for this essay, I came across conspiracy theories pointing towards the escape of the viruses from an American laboratory and another an experiment gone awry in a Chinese laboratory. These are just some of the emergent conspiracy theories.

The only difference, you would say, is that the science fiction narratives were imagined, scripted, revised, and then, published. But you are looking at real life. Reality has learnt to imitate fiction. Nothing prevents our world from modelling its life, its experiences, after what obtains in science fiction narratives. Are we not the fictional characters acting our roles and learning from science fiction? If Corona experience turns out to be apocalyptic, that, too, is a learning experience.