What we may learn - and need - from pandemic fiction

While both deal with the unreal, a lie is intentionally opposed to some truth, whereas fiction intends to provide an illustration – albeit through implicit meanings and conclusions – of reality. Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, internet users’ interest in movies about pandemics has increased by 4900% [4]. [...]people may be engaging with movies like Contagion [5], Outbreak [6], The Andromeda Strain [7], Flu [8], and Virus [9] in ways similar to those reasons for which they turn to the news: a desire and search for deeper understanding and some sense of security from things unknown. For sure, COVID-19 has imposed new emotional strains [20]. [...]it is possible that mentally stimulating or viewing these emotions – via film - could be a form of coping that leads to greater emotional regulation. [...]research is needed to examine whether watching the problem-solving process portrayed in a movie provides equivalent benefits to mentally rehearsing the goal-productive steps as demonstrated in the UCLA study [12] Perhaps the impetus for such studies lies in scientifically exploring the validity of the sentiment that “you become what you think about all day long” [22].