By Brandyn Huynh
The new trailer for the film “Songbird,” a dystopian horror film that exploits people’s fears about the coronavirus pandemic, is under fire for being tone-deaf and insensitive due to its untimely release.
This year has been a difficult time for all of us. With COVID-19 forcing us to adapt to new lifestyles, issuing an era of wearing masks and social distancing, the lockdown regulations have also heightened people’s fears about the pandemic. Since staying home and being quarantined became the new normal for all of us this year, the pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of many people across the world. With that said, the announcement of this new trailer has come at a distasteful time.
The trailer starts with a scene of Sophia Carson and KJ Apa who portray a couple living in the year 2023. The clip is soon followed by a clip of run-down buildings, smokey helicopters, and “COVID-19” now named “COVID-23.”
In just 40 seconds of the trailer for “Songbird,” the creators succeed in putting together a clip that preys on people’s real fears about the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when the coronavirus has killed around 248,000 U.S. citizens and 1.33 million individuals across the globe, the creators chose to release a spectacle that exploits the anxiety that COVID-19 has brought to people worldwide. With the COVID-19 pandemic being a very real occurrence since March, it seems unfitting to release a movie about a mutated virus that attacks the brain tissue.
Moreover, in the trailer, we see a restless woman dragged away by men in Haz-Mat suits as she repeatedly says, “Not sick,” insinuating that she has not yet been infected with COVID-23. This clip is bone-chilling in that it seems like a possibility if COVID-19 isn’t kept under control.
The trailer nefariously takes advantage of people’s fears for those who have been negatively impacted during the pandemic. It’s repulsive to see that the creators would choose to make a movie and pass it off as a “dystopian” horror film.
Overall, the trailer is something that the world can do without seeing during these trying times.
