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Scroll.in
09-05-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
A new book examines how epidemics have been represented in Indian literature and cultural media
Quarantines and the evacuation of places of disease have been standard measures globally to contain epidemics for centuries, ever since the plague outbreak in Boccaccio's time, though their scientific basis came to be known only after the emergence of germ theory in the 19th century. In Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault details the closure of plague-stricken towns and the meticulous surveillance that was invented as a new mode of visibility at the turn of the 18th century. During the Bombay plague epidemic in 1896–97, municipal authorities evacuated the areas where the number of cases was high, fumigated and lime-washed the buildings, demolished structures that blocked air and light, and razed to the ground the huts of the poor. But epidemics were then largely local phenomena, and their spread to other areas was relatively slow as communication systems were not highly developed. The Spanish flu pandemic presented a different scenario, as the virus was rapidly carried from the battlefields of Europe to other parts of the world by soldiers returning home – a rapidity that surpassed, as the Sanitary Commissioner of India F Norman White put it, the speed of travel. The speed with which COVID spread was unprecedented, even when compared to Spanish flu, solely because of the scale of international travel. Lockdowns to arrest this spread were an urgent measure. By April 2020 more than half the world was closed to all forms of traffic, people were ordered to stay at home, business establishments, offices and educational institutions were shut down, and the streets patrolled by police and paramilitary forces to ensure compliance – measures that were unprecedented in both scale and duration. Everyday routines were disrupted, writes Florian Mussgnug, social relationships endangered, and time 'no longer seemed to flow naturally into the future'. Any epidemic outbreak distorts our sense of temporal order. The abruptness of its onset, the rapidity with which it spreads, and the premature loss of life on a large scale – all of these serve to intensify our sense of a present that seems unending and a future that seems too far off – if, that is, we survive the present. The global lockdown added to this temporal disruption the arrest of space, restricting life to the indoors. For those infected, space became even more narrowed down to the confines of an isolation room. It is no wonder, then, that spatial and temporal disorientation became a theme common to many COVID narratives. This is one of the truths of our 'present moment' that the stories, with their emphasis on subjective experience, told. Infected 2030, a short film directed by Chandan P Singh, is about quarantine, not lockdown, but it conveys the same sense of spatio-temporal anxiety. Set in the year 2030, when a COVID-like pandemic breaks out, killing two hundred and fifty million people, it is about a young couple, Manik and Shivika. Shivika is infected and has to be isolated at home for two months because the hospitals are full, and Manik stays in to take care of her. The film has a simple plot with a single line of action: Shivika's isolation and the effect it has on her and Manik. Most of the time she spends in bed alone, except for the moments when Manik brings her food and medicines, covered fully in a PPE kit and face mask. 'I don't recall', she tells him in despair, 'when I last saw your face'. The food is tasteless and unappetising, she frequently wets herself, and has a recurrent cough. Manik, too, is lonely, depressed and worried about their fate, but tries his best to endure what he thinks is a temporary condition. The film shows how each struggles against despair in the expectation that this will end someday. Infected is about the acute consciousness of time and space when one is forced into confinement, a chronotope of epidemic that became distressingly familiar to us in COVID times. As Bakhtin explains, chronotope is not about the world in its physical dimensions but as it is perceived in human consciousness. Shivika perceives the room in which she is confined not as physical space, just as she does not perceive time in hours, days or months. It has been two months since her self-isolation, but for Shivika time has become static. It is, as Lisa Baraitser puts it, 'an affective experience of the too-much-ness of time, time that will not pass, will not unfold into a future of freedom, release or death'. Space is experienced as the contrast between claustrophobic interiors and wide-open exteriors. In one poignant shot, as Shivika stands by the window looking out on the vast cityscape of Mumbai, she moves her hands in the gesture of a bird flying out of the room, to express her emotional need for freedom. In a parallel shot we see Manik looking out at the same cityscape from the living room window, his face etched with tiredness and despair. Almost the entire footage is shot in the two rooms that they occupy, separated by a door that is always shut except when Shivika needs medicines or food. In one scene, Manik and Shivika sit on opposite sides of the door, trying to communicate across the physical and emotional barriers that the pandemic has built between them. Space and time are imbued with emotion, as they recollect scenes of past intimacy in a present that contagion has rendered devoid of contact. The filmconstructs the chronotope of quarantine (and implicitly of lockdown) as an arrested time-space in which intimacy no longer exists because of the risk it carries in a communicable disease outbreak. We 'endow all phenomena with meaning', writes Bakhtin, and in incorporating them into our experience of time-space assign to them specific values. In their condition of claustrophobic existence within the four walls of a room, Shivika and Manik endow the space outside not only with the meaning of freedom but equally with its value; in contrast, the space of home, which in other circumstances would be valuable, loses its appeal. The present, too, becomes devalued as days blur into an endless time of suffering against the remembered happiness of past times and, implicitly, of a future that they hope for. Nostalgia and hope outline the contours of their despair. As viewers, we are able to relate to the film's chronotopic world because it connects our cultural memory of past epidemics with our present experience. As we comprehend the meaning that the film constructs, these meanings in turn make our own world more apprehensible. This, as Bakhtin points out, is how the fictional world and the real world augment each other dialectically. Paul Ricouer, too, makes the same point when he writes of 'the intersection of the world of the text and that of the listener or reader'. Narratives take their inspiration from the human experience of reality and reconfigure it according to specific plot structures that endow them with a meaning which resonates with the readers' experiences in turn. In the last scene of Infected, Manik enters the bedroom and spends the night with his wife, throwing caution, literally, to the wind – for it is the air that carries the virus. In a film that is about confinement and loss of intimacy, this scene comes through as a yearning for freedom at whatever cost. Next morning, as Manik sorts out Shivika's medicines in the living room, he has a violent fit of coughing in what can only be described as the deepest irony: joined in disease now, Manik and Shivika need no longer maintain the barriers that separate them. What, the film seems to ask, is of more value in a time of epidemic – the protection of our health at the cost of intimacy, or an intimacy that can only be possible by risking our health? In a world where lockdowns, social distance, quarantine, masks and PPE kits have become the norm, this is a question worth asking – not to find an answer because there are no answers, but to understand how epidemic affects the time-spaces in which we struggle to survive and across which we strive to communicate. It provokes us to think of the emotional cost of the barriers we erect, even as it shows us why they are necessary. By locating its story in a moment in future, the film announces its fictive nature; but by relating it to the present context, it deepens or enriches our understanding of our own moment. From a scientific perspective,e quarantine is the most practical way to break transmission, without any counter-effects, and that is also how it is perceived in everyday understanding. By complicating the idea of quarantine, Infected 2030 does not contradict this objective commonsense, but recasts it through a plot that highlights its emotional costs.
BBC News
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Stoke-on-Trent: New play explores modern prisons and justice
A new play by an arts organisation that works with prisoners and staff in UK prisons will explore society's relationship to Acts is set in a fictional prison and will ask audiences in Stoke-on-Trent to reflect on their beliefs about punishment and consider whether there are other ways to achieve will be performed at B arts at their site in Hartshill Road from 9 to 17 April. The cast includes a mix of professional actors, people who will be making their first stage appearance and some who have previously been in play was made by prison arts specialists Rideout, along with B arts and members of community interest company Expert Citizens. Drawing on ideas discussed by French philosopher Michel Foucault in his work Discipline and Punish, the play explores the development of the modern director Saul Hewish, who is also a teaching fellow in theatre at the University of Warwick, is a leading practitioner in using drama and theatre with Hewish said: "I have worked using drama and theatre in prisons for nearly 40 years, and the system is in as worse a state that I have ever seen it. "This play sets out to get audiences to think about punishment and how we use it. Is prison always the answer, or might there be other ways to help victims achieve 'justice'?"He added: "We have been making the play with people who have lived experience of multiple disadvantage, including custody, some of whom have never done drama before. Their ideas have very much informed the content of the play." Rideout has also been working with the Men Who Make Things group, run by B arts. Members have helped to build the set and a mini-museum of instruments of punishment, which audience members can see before and after the show. Men Who Make Things is a group for men who have experience of poor mental play is co-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Arts Council England. It is part of a wider research programme called Staging Justice led by Dr Sarah Bartley from London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Fox News
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter admits growing up a celebrity child felt like living in 'surveillance state'
Apple Martin grew up with an "uneven balance" of normalcy as the daughter of Oscar-winning actress Gywneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The model, 20, admitted that being in the public eye made her "very anxious about making mistakes." "I grew up with that uneven balance of getting out of the airport with my mom and being bombarded with cameras, and then just being a normal kid," she told Interview Magazine. "I remember I read 'Discipline and Punish' [by Michel Foucault], which is a great book, but talking about the surveillance state — I feel like I've grown up with that, which is really scary and makes me very anxious about making mistakes." Martin said that she was "discouraged from doing anything in the public eye." "Also, I was like, 'I don't think we need another celebrity child in the world,'" she said. "I just try to do what feels right and block out anything regarding me in the news to the best of my ability. "And I'm getting a lot better at being, like, 'F--- it.' I'm not going to be scared. I just want to do what seems fun and figure my life out." Paltrow and singer-songwriter Martin started their family when Apple was born in 2004. Paltrow was pregnant at the time of their 2003 Santa Barbara Courthouse wedding, and they welcomed their son, Moses, in 2006. In 2016, they divorced, and also coined the term "conscious uncoupling," an ode to their interest in remaining a family unit without romantic ties. Last year, Paltrow told her social media followers that she was struggling with being an empty nester after her children moved out. "I have waves of kind of grief and sadness," she admitted. "And also I am kind of getting back in touch with this part of myself that I haven't felt like since I was in my 20s, before I had kids." She tried to remain optimistic about the new opportunities at home without Apple and Moses around. "[I have a] little more space and imagination, maybe? [A] little more inner space for like, what I might wanna do that day, and stuff like that," she said. "So, it's evolving. It's interesting." Paltrow earned an Academy Award when she was 26 for "Shakespeare In Love" (1998), but stepped back from more serious roles to focus on being a mother. "I really stepped away from acting when Apple was born," Paltrow told People in 2023. "The last time I was in every scene of a movie was when I was pregnant with her. When I had her, it just, everything felt redefined for me, and I thought, 'I'm not sure that I want to do this so much as a career. I definitely don't want to… I'm not going to go away for months on end.'"
Buzz Feed
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Gwyneth Paltrow And Chris Martin's Daughter, Apple, Addressed Facing Scrutiny As A "Celebrity Child," And She Made A Great Point
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin 's daughter, Apple, got candid about what it's like facing scrutiny as a kid with famous parents. If you remember, the 20-year-old daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Gwyneth and Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Chris made waves last year after being accused of acting like a "mean girl" at Le Bal des Dēbutantes. When a TikTok surfaced of her debut at the annual debutante ball and fashion event in Paris, it sparked controversy on social media when she stepped in front of a fellow debutante, Countess Aliénor Loppin de Montmort. Now, speaking with Interview Magazine, Apple revealed how she navigated that specific moment in the spotlight and adverse reactions on the internet. "I grew up with that uneven balance of getting out of the airport with my mom and being bombarded with cameras, and then just being a normal kid," Apple told the publication. "I remember I read Discipline and Punish [by Michel Foucault], which is a great book, but talking about the surveillance state," she continued. "I feel like I've grown up with that, which is really scary and makes me very anxious about making mistakes." Apple said she was "discouraged from doing anything in the public eye," reflecting that she thought we didn't "need another celebrity child in the world." "I just try to do what feels right and block out anything regarding me in the news to the best of my ability," Apple added. "And I'm getting a lot better at being like, 'Fuck it.' I'm not going to be scared. I just want to do what seems fun and figure my life out." In the interview, Apple revealed how she once read internet comments after she had done a Chanel fashion show. "I quickly realized why everybody has always said, 'Don't do it.' Because even if you see a million positive things, there can be one thing that absolutely wrecks you." "So, I've stopped now and I avoid it like the plague, because I know myself and I know that if I see stuff that isn't true and that's really upsetting to me, I'm going to be like, 'Oh my god, I should never go out in public again.'" "I've tried to be like, 'People are going to say stuff, and that's okay,'" she continued. "And like everybody, there's going to be stuff that isn't true and stuff that is upsetting, and all I can do is just be the best that I can be and be with the people I love and not read random, crazy conspiracies." Apple makes a great point. Regarding the internet, we should be the best we can be, do what makes us happy, and block out the BS.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Apple Martin Addresses Viral Debutante Ball Moment and the Downsides of Being a 'Celebrity Child'
Apple Martin candidly discussed what life in the spotlight was really like growing up. The 20-year-old daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin recently spoke to Interview Magazine and shared that she's still "working on" not feeling so worried about public scrutiny. When asked about her highly publicized debutante ball appearance late last year and the public discussion that followed online, Apple responded, "I grew up with that uneven balance of getting out of the airport with my mom and being bombarded with cameras, and then just being a normal kid." "I remember [reading] Discipline and Punish [by Michel Foucault], which is a great book, but talking about the surveillance state," she continued. "I feel like I've grown up with that, which is really scary and makes me very anxious about making mistakes." Apple also recalled being "discouraged from doing anything in the public eye," recalling thinking, ''I don't think we need another celebrity child in the world.' ' "I just try to do what feels right and block out anything regarding me in the news to the best of my ability," she continued. "And I'm getting a lot better at being like, 'F--- it.' I'm not going to be scared. I just want to do what seems fun and figure my life out." Apple's comments come after she faced "mean girl" accusations last year after a TikTok surfaced from her society debut at Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris on Nov. 30, 2024. Related: Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's Daughter Apple Wears Valentino Dress That Took 750 Hours to Make for Le Bal Debut In the video posted by Paris Match, Apple jokingly stepped in front of fellow debutante Countess Aliénor Loppin de Montmort as she had photos taken, which sparked controversy among social media users. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Loppin de Montmort quickly came to Apple's defense after the controversy on Dec. 6 and exclusively told PEOPLE that the comments were not true and that '[Apple's] genuinely the nicest girl ever!" "She really doesn't deserve an ounce of what she's getting," Loppin de Montmort said at the time. 'She was the nicest girl ever towards not only me but all the debs!" Related: French Countess Reveals What It Was Really Like Behind the Scenes of Debutante Ball with Apple Martin, Sophie Kodjoe (Exclusive) Loppin de Montmort also spoke to PEOPLE about her friendships with the other debutantes on Dec. 9, sharing that everyone involved, including Nicole Ari Parker's daughter Sophie and Sophia Loren's granddaughter Lucia Sofia Ponti, was "so, so nice." "We were really happy to have a group of girls that honestly didn't care," she continued. "We were all like, 'We are all just going to have a really nice time, and then whatever happens later in the media, we don't care.'" Read the original article on People
