ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE Is The Movie Soundtrack Of 2020

2020 has been a tough year for everyone. While many will have had their own unique experiences and hardships, there is an overarching swell of emotions we have each felt at some point through the year. Fear, isolation and even hope have all found us in the crevices of the homes we have found sanctuary within.

One of my most recent favorite holiday classics, Anna and the Apocalypse, is a coming of age horror musical surrounding breaking free into and embracing your future all while facing the zombie apocalypse. Who knew that in 2020, the messages and words of Anna would find new and even deeper meaning.

This deeper meaning goes beyond just the quarantine and isolation 2020 that many have been forced to embrace, but also finds its application throughout the unprecedented turmoil that has made 2020 one for the history books.

Break Away

Hopefulness, the belief of escape, confusion for the purgatory of teenage life, and standing on the precipice of adulthood has now transformed to the monotony of quarantine and the cry for justice. To “break away” from the injustice within society, the fight against political tyranny, and the emotional anxiety and stress of the global pandemic is a quick way to break down 2020 – instantly drawing parallels to the coming of age horror musical Anna and the Apocalypse.

”As I wake half dead in the same old bed at the dawn of another day, I feel chained and bound to this hopeless town and I know I must break away.”

For many, we have been home for months, some unfortunately unemployed, most keeping themselves away for the safety of themselves and their families. It has been an isolating time in history, “Trapped in a moment, ready to fly. I’ve got to find my own way. Sooner or later it ends in goodbye, we all have to break away”. Anna and her friends sing of the hold their town, families, and school have on them, paralleling these emotions to those we have all experienced throughout the quarantine and the pandemic. While they all know that it will eventually come to an end and they will “break free”, there is a sense of purgatory and confusion that continues to engulf them.

”There’s a world out there why does no one care, are they lost in the games they play.”

But it is not only the pandemic we have had to contend with this year. Wildfires that ravaged various parts of the world (Australia and the California fires started by a gender reveal), climate change, and the lack of progression are all in the forefront, global and central politics causing outrage and fear, many rising up to face the injustices to themselves and those around them. “Oh it’s hard to hide when the truth inside rises up like a tidal wave, there’s been something wrong now for far too long and I know I must break away”. 2020 was not just a year encompassing a desire to break free of quarantine, but to break away from what we think is wrong. For many, 2020 was a year to rise up, to say “I been lying I been cheating, I been fooling myself, instead of fighting I’ve been hiding away, I’ve been running going nowhere put my heart on the shelf and I don’t want to live that way.”

This is a year millions of voices and hands raised, protecting the democracy of the United States – a vast number of teenagers coming of age and ready to vote. This was also a year where many learned their voice is just as strong and just as important as those around them and those that oppose them. We yelled “we can’t breath” and promised, “we would do it for Ruth.” But it wasn’t just the United States that spoke up. Countries from around the world stood and protested against the treatment of police towards the Black Community, “I Can’t Breath” transcending language and borders. But the cry for justice refused to stay limited to the United States, proving that 2020 was a global movement for human rights and equality.

“Am I lying am I cheating am I fooling myself, why should they listen to what I have to say, am I just another nobody like everyone else because I don’t want to live that way.”

Protests broke out in Poland after a near-total ban on abortion was passed. Protests swelled for weeks, women crying for their right to choose and “My Body, My Choice”. In Belarus, protestors gathered against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko, the re-election of Lukashenko fueling accusations, suspicion, and outcries. Protests too rang through the world, many protesting the imposed restrictions the pandemic has forced upon them, many left jobless while others barred from daily forms of entertainment and beloved activities.

On the cusp of the end of 2020, we are all ready to “break away”.

Hollywood Ending

“Cause no one ever tells you when your young, Love’s not like the books, the films or the songs.” Hollywood, movie theaters, broadway, all those living a life of art have found their lives upheaved. And as the creators of the happy ending are staring down the barrel of unemployment (layoffs) and bankruptcy (AMC and Regal), it is hard to question the belief that art imitates life imitating art.

“We’ve been living in a lie for far too long, and we’re tired of pretending, there’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending”

And unlike the ending of Contagion or any other disaster movie, we do not know what the aftermath of 2020 will look like. There is no Hollywood ending on the horizon. There is recovery and reawakening, with the ramifications of the economic depression, unemployment, and businesses that have receded to contend with. This on top of everything else that has been stirred awake that cries and deserves immediate attention. 2020 does not end and everything snaps back to how it was before. We are forever changed and forever awakened.

Turning My Life Around

Remember when we were at the beginning of the year, gleefully euphoric at the arrival of a new year, a new chance to better ourselves and reestablish our life goals – blissfully unaware of what was on the horizon? As Anna dances unknowingly through the now zombie-filled streets of her home town, she is ready to embrace the day and the potential the future holds. Her coming of age story is about to find its new normal. And in 2020, so were we.

“New morning, feels different than before
It’s dawning, this thing I’ve been waiting for
And I’m flying, my feet won’t touch the ground
I’m ready for turning my life around”

Yet, as quarantine began for many, there was a belief in the temporary. We would be home from work and school for only a couple of weeks, watch Tiger King, and learn to make bread. As the quarantine dragged on, there was still optimism. We had mastered the art of instacart and home alcohol delivery, finally begun reading the novels we had piling up and spending valued time with our children. And as it seemed quarantine would never end and the “new normal” was here to stay, we began looking ahead with a revised optimism. We began turning our frustrations into excitement as restaurants and museums began opening up, as well as the weather’s improvement allowing a reconnection with the outdoors away from screens and the all to familiar walls of our homes. For many of us, we took the most difficult moment of our lives and found a way to turn it around and make the best of it.

Human Voice

As the zombie invasion heightens, many of the characters within the film find themselves separated from their friends and loved ones, unable to communicate. As they stare into the horrors of their new world and newfound isolation, they begin to sing about needing a “human voice. Someone That I can hold onto”. It is poignant to 2020 as many of us have found ourselves isolated from our loved ones, unable to even hug those most dear.

As we enter into the holiday season, many entering strict lockdowns while others struggle to maintain, the unity and family-oriented holidays seem more empty and hollow. And as we all turn to Zoom to break the isolation and find ways to still connect in the new normal, the lack of tactile interaction is a void we are still unable to fill.

“How can we escape the blur, Get back to the way we were, breath a little easier?”

Beyond the isolation of Covid-19, many have found themselves longing to be heard, to have a human voice. As 2020 has lent itself to political turmoil around the country and the world (Donald Trump, the Black Lives Matter Movement, Women’s Rights in Poland), many are looking for their voice as well. “Starin’ at a screen, in a neon haze… We’ve become technology, made of code and binary.” Much of our political stances have been made through a machine, to families we can no longer see and faceless individuals we have never meet.

Hate and ill information flood the internet and the social media outlets many of us so desperately need right now. And even when we do see face-to-face the individuals we connect with online, the match continues, a divide so decisive it is driving people further apart.

“I lay my head on my pillow and pray that someday we’ll talk in that old-fashioned way”

Soldier At War

Honestly, how many of us feel as though we have been fighting all year? Fighting for our sides of whether Coronavirus is dangerous or not? Fighting about wearing masks? Fighting for those persecuted by those in power? Fighting tyranny? Within the film, Nick is the punk kid who thinks he is all that but finds himself in the frontlines fighting the zombies. While it begins as a game, his tough-guy demeanor begins to break down as the unity and necessity of others draw him further into the central group.

“The streets are chaos and the outlook is dire, time for a hero to step into the fire.”

Many of us who have remained silent in the past have come to the realization that silence can be just as detrimental. While many who have raised their voices do not claim themselves as heroes, it is the realization that one must step up that is reflected. And boy, did the voices raise up. Many who would hold their views and perspectives to themselves stepped forward, all for what they saw was the right thing to do.

Nothings Going to Stop Me Now

If there was ever a song to epitomize Trump and his narcissistic attempts at tyranny, as well as the final year of his presidency, it is the self-centered proclamations and villainy of Head Master Mr. Savage. Prior to the zombie apocalypse, he was limited in his control, the confines of the school giving him power though not without restraint. But when the zombie apocalypse comes, he can trap his students in a room full of zombies to have their “vacuous heads” finally put in the right place. As he sees this generation, they “never do the work, just muck, and chuck and pass the buck”. Finally, he can set it all straight – because he has the power.

“How I adore, having the floor to tell you what’s on my mind. I’ve become the man I always planned precisely at the right time.”

When you hear that Trump made the decision not to tell the American people, and more so play it down when he had to, there is a feeling of anger that rises, the lives that could have been saved and the measures that could have been implemented to delay or inhibit the spread. Much like the Head Master trapping his students within the cafeteria with the zombies, Trump too trapped the American people within the virus, fueling the infection through his denial of masks and the severity of the virus. Even now with records of death per day, while other countries are acting to slow their increasing surges, there is little word from the head of the United States.

“All you little sleazes spread diseases in your infested beds always thinking, texting and tweeting every thought in your vacuous heads.”

TikTok and FakeNews would certainly make a top 10 list for most used words in 2020. Fake news surrounding the virus, Russia, the impeachment, Black Lives Matter protests, the election, and well – anything. TikTok also became big, once an app for a younger generation, swarms of people embraced the video social media outlet, a connection to the world outside of quarantine, a connection to those feeling the same and means to unify. As Trump would spend most of 2020 accusing many of fake news, while spreading his own, he would also turn his sights to the app that allowed the unification of the masses to drastically affect the attendance of his Tulsa rally in June. As massive tickets were reserved, and few showed up, Trump turned his sights on the outlet, realizing the power of and the unity it could provide that might devastate his campaign.

I Will Believe

With everything that has happened this year, hope, no matter how small, still remained. It is the actions of the doctors and nurses fighting for each life in their hands, essential workers keeping as much as they could going, families giving car parades, and teachers going the extra mile to ensure the education of their now remote classes that truly showcases the hope. Without hope, we would never have pushed forward, never have persevered. As the vaccine is finding its release in the US and countries around the world, this hope is being rewarded.

“As I look back over my yesterday’s, I was so sure, certain I’d find my way, But now the world is such a different place, all of my dreams are gone without a trace.”

As we look over the past year, there are so many dreams, expectations, and life milestones we have each seen warp and slip out of our hands. Some are moments that are just momentarily postponed, others gone altogether. Many had plans for the future, 2020 putting everything on pause. Couples rescheduled weddings or reshaped their images, babies met family members through windows, restaurants redefined their business plans and virtual technology was embraced more than ever. And for those losses of the year, both of life and livelihood, there is still a resilient hope for the future in the lives that live on and the promises of ventures in the future. Because at the end of it all, there is still hope.

“Where is the light that used to shine? Where is the life that once was mine? But while there’s hope, while I still breath, I will believe.”

Christmas Means Nothing Without You

And finally, we come to the end of the year when typically the seasonal joy of family, gifts, and friendships has been haunted by the lingering pandemic that still ravages the world. “Christmas means white snow fallen’, but all I see is blue because Christmas means nothin’ without you.” As we enter the homestretch of 2020, we continue the new normal, crafting new and inventive ways to keep the holidays inclusive to the whole family while also maintaining safety for all. And as we hang the mistletoe and craft the backdrops for our zoom Christmas parties and family gift openings, there is hope for this all to end and a belief that we will all be reunited when this is all over. Because while there may not always be a true Hollywood ending, we continuously strive for one.

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Watch Anna and the Apocalypse