Gillian Flynn Knows ‘Utopia’ Has ‘Unsettling’ Covid Parallels
By Jennifer Vineyard
Oct. 20, 2020
This interview includes spoilers for the first season of “Utopia.”
The world of the zeitgeisty Amazon Prime thriller “Utopia” is dauntingly complex. Adapted from a 2013 British show by the same name, the series centers on a wild conspiracy theory about viral epidemics — or not so wild, as it turns out, because the theory proves to be true.
This revelation, and much else, has been coded into mysterious comic books (“Dystopia” and its sequel “Utopia”), whose most obsessed readers eventually learn that the epidemic has been engineered, the media and the government have been manipulated and shadowy forces are promoting a worthless vaccine. In short, the end of the world is nigh.
The show’s resemblance to our own very real pandemic was accidental, but it lends it an uneasy verisimilitude, inspiring a few critics to lament what felt like a validation of anti-vaccine crankdom in the era of QAnon. Could that be irresponsible? Even dangerous?
“I think it is a Rorschach test, you know?” said the creator and showrunner Gillian Flynn. “It’s a show designed to let you find what you want from it, and have different points of view, which is exactly where we are right now.”
In a phone interview, Flynn sifted through some of the show’s mysteries, revealed a few meaningful clues and Easter eggs, and discussed the show’s debated ideology. These are edited excerpts from the conversation…
Do you see a QAnon quality to the show’s conspiracy?
Absolutely. The weird thing is, I started writing this in 2013. I was intrigued by the rise of conspiracies at that time — and it’s only become more so — but I wrote it before I knew about QAnon. Certainly there is that idea that if you look hard enough, and if you want it bad enough, you have the ability to convince yourself of anything. We’re in this weird place where truth has become malleable. Even science has become debatable, which is very frightening. It puts us in a position where we are easy to manipulate.
QAnon was on the fringes, but it’s becoming mainstream, with political candidates and activists who are adherents. Even the president is involved in spreading conspiracy theories.
He’s definitely winking at it, if not coming straight out and embracing it. I’m looking right now at an issue of The Atlantic, and the cover story is how QAnon is warping reality and discrediting science. I think it’s easy to get wrapped up in conspiracies, because there is sort of an interesting intellectual factor where doubting makes you feel cynical. It’s easier to cross your arms and go, “Oh, but there’s more to this.”
I just watched “The Social Dilemma,” which is eye-opening about how metrics can control what you’re watching, what you’re getting and how it’s helping to feed conspiracy. It’s frightening. You can spend your day reinforcing almost anything. “Climate change is not real.” “The moon landing’s not real.” If I had written a story line that said powerful Democrats were running a secret child sex ring from a pizza parlor — PizzaGate — I would be laughed out of the business. It would be like, “That’s the most ridiculous story line!” But there it is.
Some critics have taken issue with what they see as the show’s underlying ideology, interpreting it to be on the side of anti-vaccine groups and pandemic skeptics because it makes conspiracy theorists the heroes. But you could also say the show exposes how indoctrination works.
I wanted to play it both ways. That was a deliberate choice. I understand how conspiracies are born, and how you can find your own truth that pleases you. I also wanted to acknowledge the fact that we do live in a world where people are really trying to convince each other of incredibly odd ideas, and if you get enough followers, they can become “real.” And we do live in a world where Watergate happened. We do have this proof that the people who are supposed to be in charge of us are not trustworthy. So I wanted to acknowledge both those sides of it.
I did have moments where I kind of had a stomach lurch, especially as the anti-vaxxer movement gained steam, and here I was writing a story where there is something bad with a vaccine. Obviously, it’s because of a bad human being who is clearly out of his mind, as far as his zealotry. If people watching this show take medical advice from John Cusack, something’s gone horribly wrong. Don’t do that. This is fiction. John and I had lots of conversations about what the vibe of Dr. Christie had, and I always said, “He’s kind of like Bill Gates.” And then there was a Bill Gates conspiracy theory that he was deliberately spreading a disease so that he could profit off it. That was unsettling…
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/arts/television/utopia-gillian-flynn.html