Peter Bart: A Chorus Of “I’m Done” Rings Through Hollywood As Year 3 Of Pandemic Opens
deadline.com“I’m done.”So said Charlton Heston, the stoic but exhausted hero of the 1973 futurist thriller Soylent Green. The movie’s message: Society will self-destruct in the year 2022 even as rigid rules and secret efficiencies are imposed to cope with disease and food shortages.As we launch into Year 3 of the pandemic, there are fears that 2022 might eerily turn out to be the doomsday year forecast by that movie, with Omicron and its subsequent variants stirring anger and confusion.I’ve reached out to a mix of denizens of the entertainment community this week and found that the words “I’m done” comprise a frequent theme.
Even Bill Maher, ever irascible at 66, has now joined the dissidents who reject what he calls the “mask paranoia.” He endorses the view of guest Bari Weiss that the U.S.
has created “a pandemic of bureaucracy,” while Europe, by contrast, has learned to live with Covid-19.The public, meanwhile, seems baffled by the mixed signals.
Government agencies are distributing at-home tests, even as others, like, Cal/OSHA, rule that tests must be witnessed by a medical professional and processed by a lab.
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