"Pandemic Media and the Social Imaginary" by Professor Angela Ndalianis
Professor Angela Ndalianis (Swinburne University of Technology) presents "Pandemic Media and the Social Imaginary"
This talk will focus on how media dealing with pandemic scenarios have become a significant form of communication during the COVID-19 crisis. Whether taking the form of films, social media exchanges, or memes, they have taken centre stage in mediating and giving expression to collective life on a global scale. This talk will explore how these examples have tapped into the social imaginary, which, according to Charles Taylor (2007, 23) involves “the ways that people imagine their social existence”.
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This talk is part of the Viral Science Fiction: A Virtual Roundtable
Organized by Reading & Screening the Fantastique, Deakin University
While science fiction often reflects human fears and anxieties, it can also encourage audiences to reconsider the world from different perspectives and in more hopeful, productive ways. Understanding the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of science fiction
means engaging with both fear and hope in an attempt to reconcile the unreality of our current circumstances.
This virtual roundtable will explore what science fiction and related genres can reveal about the everyday challenges, socio-political upheavals and ethical implications of the current pandemic. With a range of expertise across literary studies, media and entertainment, and
cultural studies, our presenters will navigate these complexities as they each speak to the topic of "Viral Science Fiction", discussing film and literature, pandemic media, zombies, the
Anthropocene, and more.