“We’re not just fighting an epidemic but we’re also fighting an Infodemic” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) at a gathering of foreign policy and security experts in Munich, Germany which takes place in mid-February. He referred to fake news that “spreads faster and more easily than this virus.”
We are bombarded with information constantly from many different means such as television, films, radio, books, and conversations with our friends and colleagues. We are also bombarded with misinformation, disinformation, and fake information. It is hard to differentiate one from the other. There is a new word around which has become very popular related to Covid 19, “Infodemic”. Infodemic is defined as an excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult.”
How is this connected to the film industry? The term that comes to mind is science fiction films. The following is the definition in Wikipedia: “Science fiction (sometimes shortened to sci-fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It has been called the "literature of ideas", and often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations.
Science fiction literature, film, television, and other media have become popular and influential over much of the world. Besides providing entertainment, it also criticizes present-day society and is often said to inspire a "sense of wonder".
Science fiction besides being entertaining also provides a place for information and discussion of issues that matter to the community and society. What is more important for filmmakers than providing full disclosure when they present their productions to the audience, the production will clearly say in the lines of the places, names, and characters are fictional. They make a point to provide full disclosure to the audience.
The rest of society has a lesson to learn from filmmakers by providing full disclosure when they decide to disseminate information.
Dr. J. Pietro Aparicio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction
https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/infodemic/
https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/05/federal-government-denounces-infodemic-on-social-networks/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/infodemic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code