정보통신기술  (jeong-boh-tong-shin-gi-sul: Information Technology) in Korea is highly advanced and Korea is one of the top IT developed countries. During COVID-19, there are many IT methods that have educated and informed Koreans on how to prevent COVID-19. Other than TV, most Koreans are receiving COVID-19 daily updates via texts/emails.

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One of IT methods, which has served as a crucial role to flatten COVID-19 curve, was a Coronavirus tracking app. These apps track down the confirmed patients’ 이동경로 (ee-dong-kyung-roh: tracking lines, traveling paths) and share them with the public, so that others can avoid the areas where COVID-19 might have been already spread. The apps won’t reveal the confirmed patients ’names, but it will tell you their age, gender, and whereabouts for the last couple days, including the bus and subway routes. Many people say that the apps have been contributing to a slowdown in the number of infections. Although it is scary when you think about it, because your personal life is all exposed to the public.

The movie Contagion (2011) tells you that your private life can be made public during a pandemic crisis. The main character of the movie suddenly becomes a 홀아비 (hol-ah-bi: a widower). Even before he grieves his wife’s death, he learns secrets about his wife that he would not want to know.

One of the stories I’ve heard from Korea was about a couple who were engaged, but then both got infected by Coronavirus. Therefore, their daily routines were disclosed to the public. Even if their names weren’t shown, people who knew them were able to guess that they were cheating on each other. I am not sure how accurate this story was, but it is a completely believable story during this crazy time.

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Another movie predicted how a city can become quarantined due to epidemic disease. The Korean movie 감기 (gam-gi: flu) was released in 2013. The story begins with smuggling of 밀입국자 (mil-ip-gook-jah: illegal immigrants), who were infected with an unknown virus. The virus mutates and becomes deadly for the illegal immigrants who are locked inside a shipping container. Everyone inside the shipping container dies except one who is immune to the virus. As he runs away, the virus rapidly spreads.

The movie portrays how people react after they sequestered without adequate information. The longer the quarantine lasts, the more problems with human rights arise. At the end, people revolt against authorities due to a lack of information and uncertainty.

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In real life, a city in Korea, 대구 (Daegu: the fourth largest city in South Korea) got completely shut down since Daegu became an epicenter of Coronavirus. 대구 were shut down for a couple months as far as I know. While Daegu got isolated from other cities, there were big concerns about the 인권존중 (in-gun-jon-joong: respect for human rights) of Daegu citizens.

I probably would think these movies were surreal if we were not living in such a time. However, I could not stop thinking about how these movies felt so real as I was watching them. If you still don’t know what to watch after cracking down all the movies on your Netflix, I recommend you watch these and see how bizarre these old movies predicted our life in 2020.

Image by Pixabay