âThe Standâ Review: A Dystopia for Today and Tomorrow
This adaptation of a Stephen King novel about a pandemic is especially timely in the age of Covid, but also stands up as a lasting work in the genre.
Whoopi Goldberg in âThe Standâ Photo: James Minchin/CBS By John Anderson Dec. 15, 2020 4:52 pm ET
The classics of dystopian fiction have often been born of an unhappy vision, but theyâve always been the product of uncluttered logic: Take an existing problem to its possible end, imagine the worst and, voilà , you have the perpetual war of âNineteen Eighty-Four,â the ultra-violence of âA Clockwork Orange,â the reproductive tyranny of âA Handmaidâs Taleââand the pandemic of âThe Stand,â whose arrival right now as a nine-part miniseries seems more than a bit uncanny, morbidly fascinating and in somewhat questionable taste.
How’s this for eerily relatable entertainment: On
The Stand, a nine-episode thriller based on Stephen King’s 1978 bestseller, a deadly global pandemic strikes, dividing Americans.
But this catastrophe makes our real-life virus struggle look puny in comparison. The fictional superflu kills 99 percent of the world’s population, and after the survivors rebuild civilization, opposing factions clash in a deadly battle. Plus, everyone’s having
extremely weird visions.
At least no one’s hoarding toilet paper. “It was very surreal coming to the end of production just as COVID was starting to emerge,” says showrunner Benjamin Cavell. Good thing this tale has a positive message for our time. “It’s about the human conviction to overcome any obstacle,” executive producer Taylor Elmore says. “There’s hope.”