Indians are skipping meals . Americans are thronging food banks . Hunger has been one of the most tragic consequences of the coronavirus p...
Indians are skipping meals. Americans are thronging food banks. Hunger has been one of the most tragic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Thrown out of jobs, furloughed, or forced by lockdowns into vast stretches of unemployment, working-class people across the world have reduced their calorie intake.
Hunger and mismanagement are among the drivers of the South Korean period drama Kingdom, which is being streamed on Netflix. Across two intense seasons comprising 12 episodes, Kingdom explores an appetite for power that is interlinked with an insatiable craving for flesh. The series is crawling with zombies, but its real monsters are humans.
Several films and series have been revisited over the past few months to make sense of Covid-19. These include Contagion, World War Z, Pandemic, 28 Days Later and Virus. Kingdom was premiered in 2019 and the second season came out in March, just as the coronavirus began spreading across the globe. A spin-off episode, titled Kingdom: Ashin of the North, is in the works.
The show’s main conceit of a zombie epidemic whose origin is hidden from the public until it’s too late makes it a worthy addition to this list. But Kingdom is more than a simple allegory. The series explores the true meaning of leadership, the chasm between the rulers and the ruled, the impact of war and conflict on ordinary people and the role played by sycophants...
