In the horror subgenre we refer to as ‘zombie movies’, you may find a ring of the ongoing pandemic. From ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968) to South Korea’s recent production of ‘Train to Busan’ (2016), zombies invade ordinary humans and turn them into zombies, and, just as it happens in Covid-19, the unprotected ones around them stay in panic, trying to be safe.
It turns out that the connection could be deeper than just fiction and reality. If you like horror, especially zombie movies, watching them may be a better preparation for you for the Covid-19 pandemic. That is the decision of researchers who have published their findings in the journal Difference of personality and individual.
Why zombies?
The study certainly covered fans of horror in general, as well as weird individuals. The fans were the hordes of people who watched apocalyptic movies of any kind – ‘zombie movies’, ‘post-apocalyptic movies’, and ‘alien attack movies’.
“However, I think zombie movies are particularly similar – literally and symbolically – to the pandemic,” said Coltan Scrivner, a PhD student at the University of Chicago who studies the psychology of the pandemic. and led the new study. His colleagues were Pennsylvania State University psychologist and professor emeritus John Johnson, and Danish horror scientists Mathias Clausen and Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen.
“Zombie outbreaks are almost pandemics by definition,” Scrivner said An Indian Express, by e-mail. “The cause is almost always a kind of disease. Characters in zombie movies learn how to avoid an infection and often try to find a cure for the disease. In addition, they learn what the world is like when society begins to break down or function as usual. While it contributes to the films, this is similar to the pandemic of the world in some ways. ”
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But how does watching movies like that help?
* The information we get from a zombie apocalypse may be imaginative, the study suggests, serving us in similar situations in the real world. “They [zombie film fans] They said they felt they knew what to buy for the pandemic and were not surprised by the results of the pandemic, ”said Scrivner.
* Fans of horror movies have been found to show less psychological distress during Covid-19: The study says they are more psychologically stable. “As well as learning how to manage dangerous situations through symbols, people may learn to control their own emotions … Apparently, horrible media users often use pre- emotion management strategies, which can lead to better emotional management skills, ”he says.
How does the study come to these conclusions?
It surveyed more than 300 participants, who answered several questions. First, they completed the Pandemic Psychological Resilience Scale created by the researchers to determine whether they were showing positive resilience or in psychological distress. Participants also completed the Morbid Knowledge Scale. The third scale was the ‘Big 5’ which measures personality dimensions including neuroticism, agreement, isolation, openness to knowledge, and conscience. Finally, participants rated the level of fan popularity of several genres of movies, such as horror, romance, comedy, zombie movies, and so on.
“Using these questions, we were going to find that, by controlling Big 5’s personality traits, fans of horror and people who were very inquisitive were more psychologically stable. in the early months of Covid-19 pandemic in the US. We also found that fans of the prepper genre – the zombie, apocalyptic, and alien invasion films – reported being more prepared for the pandemic. ”
If I’m not an avid fan, would it help if I started watching zombie movies now?
For resilience to Covid-19 pandemic, it may be too late. But according to Johnson, the psychologist who collaborated on the study, it is never too late to be ready for the next hurdle in their lives.
“I’m not sure it would help to watch films like this now. However, my understanding of pandemics and other challenging life events is that similar challenges in the future are completely inevitable, ”Johnson said in comments published on the Pennsylvania State University website.
Both Johnson and Scrivner believe that fiction is not just a subtle pastime but a way of imagining real images that will prepare us for future challenges. Scrivner told the Indian Express: “Horror in particular offers a way to experience dangerous environments and dangerous social interactions. This allows people to do two things:
* “People can be scared or anxious and learn how to get over that feeling. This can lead to better emotional management skills and, ultimately, better psychological resilience. ”
* “People can also learn certain information. For example, people who have watched films with a pandemic such as ‘Contagion’ may have wondered what a real pandemic would look like. This could allow people to be better prepared when a real pandemic like Covid-19 occurs. ”
‘Contagion’ (2011) is about a deadly flu-like disease that is spreading in the US. Although ten years old now, it became one of the most streamed films in America in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the study notes.