CH #9 - FILMS: THERAPY AGAINST FEAR

Questions: we know kids always ask questions.

Here an example.

Emma, last night: ‘Mum, how many patients are you treating? Are you treating more patients during the night or the day?’

COVID -19 is devious because it’s an invisible threat. 

We have to hide in our homes to escape the virus, but at the same time, we have to get used to not being too frightened. If we do, we will become asymptomatic carriers of fear of life, even if we don’t get the virus.

Francesca and I regularly talk about how to keep the balance between protecting our children and not hiding the truth from them.

It’s been a month now since I started spending my days entirely at home with my girls. Our dog is growing suspicious. ‘ Are these people never going out anymore? - he seems to wonder - ‘ It used to be people in, people out, school bags, swimming gear, musical instruments everywhere ’. But now? Nothing. All holed up! As if they had changed habits overnight! Go, figure!’

Our girls hear my phone calls, look at the news with me, listen to what Francesca and I discuss.  

Occasionally, adult conversations are more like war bulletins. Yesterday in our city, more than 1000 people died. 

Numbers. An unfathomable pain measured by cold numbers. It’s like the electricity meter, with digits that keep on rising and you know you won’t have the money to pay for the next bill. And you feel that shiver of absolute defeat. 

Talking about 'losing wealth' reminds me of when, as a child, I used to read Donald Duck. It was the biggest fear of Uncle Scrooge. I don’t possess the same money bin or a pool full of gold doubloons, but in our house, there are three, tiny smiles that for no reason in the world should fade.

I try to recall the time when my parents attempted to explain radioactivity to me after the Chernobyl accident. I was in primary school then. How did I manage to understand why playing in the parks was not allowed?

COVID-19, the coward, hides, too. To give it some kind of a mental shape, we need symbols. Words alone can become prisons, transform into monsters. Even adults often interpret words partially, irrationally, subconsciously. 

Mask, quarantine, ventilator, pulse oximeter. 

Coronavirus. Covid-19. Social distancing. Test.

Positive. Negative. Asymptomatic. 

The good. The bad. 

We need a map to define the boundaries distinctly.

I ask myself: what were the reassuring symbols of my childhood?

I especially remember Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. 

Films such as these explained to me that the world is not danger-free. Some of the dangers are invisible. The white suits (or similar) used today to avoid becoming infected were worn, in those stories, by people full of humanity, ordinary people, perhaps a bit whimsical, who showed their love for the community with deeds of courage.

The same heroic approach showed today by healthcare professionals, who certainly are more believable than the three university researchers improvising as ghostbusters, or Doc Brown, occupied with time travel.

There I have it, my strategy: I could use films, once more, to reassure my kids. Furthermore, they could be a valid pastime while we’re in this limbo, waiting for schools to reopen. Who knows?

Bianca, my youngest, is only four years old. To get her to understand the situation, I think it might be better to start with some superheroes and animations. 

I give it a try.

' We never imagined mum as the main character of a sci-fi film, have we? The tent camp in front of the hospital these days looks like a film set, doesn't’ it? She always was a superhero, but before she used to work incognito. A bit like Elastgirl, do you remember, the mother in The Incredibles? '

I have to find my superpower now, as I am not as strong as Mr Incredible. The only thing I can do is maintaining our daily life in balance, not with my muscles, but with my words. 

I think of another animated film.

‘Do you remember Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs? It’s about the outbreak of canine flu in Japan, with dogs in quarantine?'

‘Yes! Is mum like those researchers who in the film try to find an antidote for the disease?'

‘Yes, similar to that, but without as much espionage. Remember that films are overdoing it sometimes, to create emotions. Let’s stay grounded, shall we?’ 

‘OK. But why does mum need to wear a white hooded coverall and eyewear that looks like a diving mask? Is she going underwater at the hospital?'

‘Well, not exactly, but in a way, it is as if she was diving. Try to imagine an aquarium: the people your mum is treating must be isolated, and they breathe through some kind of a mouthpiece. To meet them, she needs her special ‘wetsuit’. '

‘But what about the patients, have they been captured? Like Nemo when from the big, wide ocean ends up a prisoner in the aquarium of the dentist?’

 ‘More then captured, I’d say they have been saved. But the patients don’t want to stay there forever. And just like Nemo gets help from an unknown school of fish to go back home, your mum and the other healthcare teams are committed to helping the patients to return home to their families safely.'

‘Right, so they are indeed like superheroes. We should thank them. But… that suit… is it comfortable? It doesn’t look as soft as the one of Elastigirl. 

‘You girls are right. Your mum told me moving in it feels awkward. Also, the protective mask she is wearing is very hot. But it is of the utmost importance to wear all that gear int the aquarium, just like it is for a diver to wear the correct wetsuit and the air tank. 

And how long is her dive going to last for?

_____

Questions. Kids always ask questions. 

One too much this time…

I’ve got to find the right movie to answer also to this one.