The MCU pre/post “Snap/Blip” vs our pre/post Covid-19 World
Watching the recent MCU TV series on Disney+ has brought some interesting parallels to mind between the MCU’s pre/post snap/blip and our real life of pre/post covid-19 pandemic. A friend of mine recently asked if I enjoyed going to a specific weekly special at a restaurant we live near back in “the before times”. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also explores the idea of remembering “the world before” both in terms of pre-Thanos’ snap and pre-Tony Stark’s snap which caused “the Blip” and the socio-political issues of a world suddenly losing half its population and then 5 years later suddenly regaining said population. I would consider both to be apocalypses.
So what’s uncovered? Within the MCU, I would guess that there were plenty of systemic issues within society prior to both events. It seems the Snap uncovered/revealed that in some respects the idea of borders and strong ideas of nationalism are problematic when it comes to having a community which values people. The Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wish to return that border-less Earth that apparently exist after the Snap, because they saw value in the human-human comradery that apparently existed in stark contrast to the return to borders and nationalism that accompanied the Blip. Instead of Human-Human comradery, it seems the world returned to political strategizing between the rich elite of different countries. It seems the Blip and the turmoil afterward brought attention to the issues of current political processes which all too often do not include the people directly impacted during decision making processes.
In our world what is being uncovered by the ongoing pandemic? Most recently we see strikingly similar issues regarding the elitism of the rich who hold political power in some countries. For example, the United States and parts of Europe are producing millions of doses of vaccinations — and then keeping them to themselves while other countries literally burn and die. As of writing this piece, the country India is in a very deadly position, where millions are dying due to lack of hospital space, oxygen, and vaccinations, leading to mass cremations which are only sensationalized by western media instead of being used as reason to pressure politicians and corporations to take the moral approach, and share the vaccinations that are produced, share the recipes to produce vaccinations, or literally anything to help. This is in the best long-term interest no less. The longer the pandemic continues at dangerous levels, the more likely it is that more dangerous strains of the virus will mutate into existence. But like in the MCU, politicians and corporations are more concerned with the short term profits, and nationalist image, that they are unwilling to help people who need help.
What is being revealed? The same as our ecological apocalypse continues to reveal. Greed and Pride toward short term goals will only lead to long-term extinction. Choose kind.
