"As a global pandemic constrained our boundaries to the four walls of our houses and the four corners of our devices, screens became our main conduits to let the outside in," says James Poniewozik. "Movies became TV, like Mulan, originally meant to show in theaters, and Wonder Woman 1984, which will be released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. Theater became TV — the film versions of big shows like David Byrne’s American Utopia and an array of stage plays reconceived as virtual events. With gyms closed, mornings began with a YouTube yoga video, or, if you splurged, some quality time with a Peloton display. Daytime, if you had a job that could be done remotely and were fortunate enough to keep it, you logged on to work. Evening fell, and as my colleague Tim Herrera put it — time to switch to the party laptop! All of this further bonded us to TV and blurred the definition of the genre. To some extent, the pandemic accelerated changes that were already underway, be it the separation of movies from cinemas or the shift of recreational time to mobile devices. (We all drew the line at Quibi, though.)"
TOPICS: Coronavirus