Real messaging from the Zone

Surreal New World

With all due respect to Rod Serling, host of that eery 1950s-ish TV series the Twilight Zone, consider the following imagined intro for a 2020 episode, delivered of course in Mr. Serling's unmistakable gravelly voice ...

'You are about to enter another dimension. It is the middleground of light and shadow, between science and superstition. You will encounter an enemy lurking there, a pathogen beyond that known to man, living between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. It is an enemy as daunting as travel to the boundary of space and as timeless as infinity. Conquering it will stretch the tensile strength of imagination and resources. You've just crossed into ... the Corona Zone.'

The Twilight Zone ran on CBS for five years keeping viewers gathered around B&W rabbit-eared TV sets perched on the edges of their seats.  Each story involved people crossing into the Zone to face unusual or extraordinary circumstances.  The storylines had a bad dream-like feel.  Might that define the surreal storyline of the world we suddenly plunged into?  Each episode ended with a surprise twist, usually with a morality message.  Could there be a take-away message for us now?

First, let's step back to examine Surrealism.  It is not a new concept, and its scope encompasses far more than Salvador Dali's wilted clocks in The Persistence of Memory.  Surrealism was a twentieth century movement expressed popularly through painting and literature, but photography too played an important role.  Artists used techniques like double exposure, camera rotation, lens distortions, montage, and solarization to create bizarre, compelling images.  Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of street photography and the decisive moment image, embraced Surrealism during one phase of his illustrious career, training his eyes to capture micro-seconds of the surreal he observed all around him.  Regardless of medium, all iconic artists of the movement employed a genius for turning something whether ordinary, ugly, or repulsive into compelling creations. 

© Henri Cartier-Bresson

What's for Dinner? © David Greenfield

Watchful Eyes in the Mens Room © David Greenfield

Now back to the question of whether today's surrealistic Corona-time could yield a compelling message.

There are certainly mixed messages out there. Here's but one example - pre-Corona I shunned environment choking-single use-plastic bags always making sure to do the responsible, right thing by carrying reusable bags to every grocery shopping excursion.  In Corona-time plastic has re-emerged as the safest go-to bagging option.  Markets provide a seemingly endless supply while my cache of reusables rests in an extreme socially distant corner waiting to be sequestered with the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain Waste Repository.  I'm inundated with leftover plastic that groceries no longer accept for recycling!

Plastic - soon headed to a landfill near you?

There are other mixed bag messages like the indisputable need for screens to maintain social connections and avoid isolation vs. the growing prospect of normalized societal isolation living one's life by screen alone.  But there is one Corona-time message that is unambiguous.  It's a take-away which should continue to percolate well after the curve has flattened and headed back to baseline - it's who our true heroes are!

Forget the adulation heaped on professional athletes for the entertainment they provide while receiving megabuck salaries.  Where would we be today without a frontline army of doctors, nurses, EMTs, ambulance drivers, grocery store workers, farmers & their hired hands, and bus & subway drivers?  These troops have been in the trenches 24/7 from Day One at great risk to themselves and their families.  And as parents struggle to create meaningful teaching experiences for their sheltered-at-home kids, how about a fresh appreciation for teachers.  By the way, this gallant workforce, The Essentials, is not comprised of One Percenters. They're largely people of color and members of our worker-bee immigrant community. They are the true heroes.  It is they who make America great!

And that is real messaging from the Corona-Zone to take to heart. 

World Turned Upside Down

 images © David Greenfield

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