In a crisis such as a cholera outbreak, there is a similar thread in both the cinematic and real worlds when it comes to the subject of the state and the society's reaction to epidemics.
But in a society where the line between fiction and reality is slowly blurring into one and the same, it is imprudent to take everything at face value.
The Zimbabwean story has been on the scene for a long time and remains a mainstay as it moves from one problem to the next. Even the very name Zimbabwe is quickly becoming synonymous with 'bad news'.
Zimbabwe crumbles, Mugabe mumbles, the World grumbles
As a new Guardian film shows the gravity of the Zimbabwean crisis, Mugabe still refuses to openly acknowledge the problem.
According to The Guardian, the film, which was broadcasted online, was smuggled out of Zimbabwe.
It reveals the stark reality of the bleak situation amidst the cholera outbreak.
Only last week, Médecins Sans Frontières identified the situation as part of a "massive medical emergency that is spiralling out of control", reports The Guardian.
Epidemics: the cinematic world vs. the real world
Why aren't there more solution-based articles?
For example, the Guardian film shows a local councillor turning on a tap but nothing comes out. "There's no water. With the problems of cholera, we are sitting on a time bomb," says the Guardian.
The tendency to invest so much in reporting on the disaster, while breezing through the 'treatment', is almost always certain.
As a society, it is more productive to hear more about Médecins Sans Frontières’ suggested solutions, and less about the process of the film and how it was smuggled out of Zimbabwe.
Even in the movies, when the focus is on the 'treatment', it is no longer about the actual treatment, but rather about the actors performing the act.
In I Am Legend, the indestructible hero, Robert Neville, portrayed by Will Smith, says that we are responsible, not God.
But for some reason, we subconsciously take him out of the equation of "us", putting him in his own category.
After all, he is the gorgeous man playing the saviour.
State versus Epidemic equals chaos
Then there is the state's role during the epidemic, where their reaction almost always says 'war'.
The need to involve the military arouses a hype, which subsequently panics the world into thinking, "how serious is it, really?"
The Guardian spoke on the manner of action Mugabe and his state is taking, which includes barbed wire, police guards and dead bodies being buried away secretly.
Yet in all this, the headline highlights Mugabe slashing out in parties. What are we to focus on? Hating Mugabe or the gravity of Zimbabwe’s situation and what is being done about it?
Point the finger This once more brings up the media, this time inclusive of the cinematic world, and its monotonous approach when covering 'bad news' .
For example, "Mugabe equals notorious president" is not just a ploy to increase readership.
Is Mugabe's method of treatment as bad as it is made to seem in The Guardian's coverage, or is he truly a sneaky, lying maniac?
Even better, am I, as part of the media, secretly a 'hype-hungry maniac' trying to find ways to feed off this attention the outbreak has brought onto Zimbabwe?
Then again, with lines like "There will be panic, the likes of which we have never seen", from the movie Outbreak, there is no need to try very hard.
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