The so called super flu does not exist.
The above and the quote in the title of this write up are two lines taken from a mini series I started (re)watching, yesterday night.
I watched some more of it this night.
Now is it a coincidence that my hand picked this title from a chest filled with over 200 DVD's? I doubt it. I didn't remember what it was about.
The Stand ( 1994 ), is a mini series, based on a book by Stephen King. The book was first published in 1978.
I used to love King's work. First I devoured many of his books - in my early teens - and then, from my mid teens onward, I was fascinated by the movie / television adaptations of his novels.
I wonder how many people can stand ( pun intended ) to watch this series in this day and age, mainly because of its main theme:
a deadly virus / pandemic.
I struggled a little with the start. It hit home. It felt a lot like the craziness the world has been going through in the last two years or so but then in extremis. With a way deadlier virus and, as a result of this, total anarchy and chaos. Very postapocalyptic .
After watching the first hour or so, I managed to shake off this feeling of unease and I just immersed myself into the ( not so ) fictional world created for the screen.
The fact that The Stand transforms into a story that mainly focuses on the interpersonal relationships between the characters - and less and less on the virus itself - sure helped. Hadn't that been the case, it's likely that I would have decided to watch something else instead.
It still is pretty strange to watch this right now.
A year ago, or possibly even a couple of months back, I probably wouldn't have been able to endure this, let alone enjoy it.
Right now it isn't that enjoyable either but it still fascinates me, in a way.
Especially to see the parallels between the world's current state and the plot and story of The Stand.
Stephen King either was a visionary or he has been one of the writer's scripting our present life...
Let me end this with another quote from The Stand that struck me. Something I have been asking myself over and over again, since 2020:
It's so weird... How can we all be having the same dream like this?
both pics are screenshots taken from my TV. The first one shows a transition between scenes, from a quarantine zone to a 🏀 court, the second the DVD menu.
