“They’re already here! You’re next!”
This paraphrase from Dr. Danny Kaufman from Don Siegel’s famous film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) illustrates the prevailing paranoia. Because there is panic in France. An almost omnipresent panic that follows us everywhere, on the subway, on the bus or in the cinema. A panic that you can’t get rid of and that then looks exactly like the thing that caused it: the bed bug.
The bed bug is a tiny, blood-sucking insect. With her small legs she is a sprinter, not a marathon runner: she is feared on short distances! Still, she likes to travel by sneaking into our clothes and bags. Because she wants to feed herself, she has to break into someone’s home. There it reproduces (an adult female lays between 5 and 10 eggs per day) and hides in every nook and cranny. Although they do not transmit disease, their presence can cause serious psychological problems.
And of all the places affected by the insect, in France it is the cinemas that are making headlines – both in the media and on social networks. What extent has the collective psychosis surrounding bed bugs reached? How has the crisis affected the number of visitors to cinemas?
A horror film…
Interestingly, although the bed bug seems to have conquered all public spaces, it was the cinema where the most panic arose. In mid-August, several Internet users began reporting on social networks about bed bugs in UGC Bercy, a cinema in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.
A 53-year-old viewer from Paris discovered she had been bitten at home, she showed with photos. Afterwards, around ten cinemas across Paris were pilloried until the pest was finally spotted everywhere. There are now numerous reports of bed bugs in several major cities. What was a cause for concern for many turned into a mass psychosis.
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Numerous people on social networks are spreading the news. “HEALTH ALERT: A bed bug was spotted in a Paris cinema yesterday,” headlines a news account on X (formerly Twitter). “I want to go to the cinema, but I’m afraid of bed bugs,” complained another user.
The media picks up the story. On September 1, 2023, Le Figaro published an article with the headline “Several Paris cinemas infested with bed bugs,” while ten days later RTL published the headline “Paris: Bed bugs in the cinemas?” published. The scandal crosses the Atlantic, with CNN’s headline on October 2, 2023: “France is battling a bedbug outbreak which is sweeping Paris” or “France is fighting a bedbug invasion that is devastating Paris”. The whole world is looking at an infested and frightened country. But is that really it?
…or comedy?
The official website of the Center National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC) in Paris presents figures that do not bode well: from 15.91 million cinema visits in August 2023, the number of cinema goers fell to 8.78 million in September 2023. A drastic decline, but one that experts put into perspective.
That’s what the cinema operator says
Pierre Barthélémy, Director of Kinos Pathé Bellecour in LyonAccording to , the drop in attendance is a traditional phenomenon of September, which is due to several factors: First of all, the weather, because it is particularly hot and many who could go to the cinema prefer outdoor activities.
Secondly, the films that are shown are less attractive to the audience, as September is between superlatives like Barbie and Oppenheimer in summer and big blockbusters like The MarvelS. According to cinema operator Barthélémy, the general panic over bed bugs is a “…psychosis and a hypermediatization of a current event.” He hasn’t found that moviegoers’ behavior has changed, although some have inquired about the bed bugs. “We have received some questions via social networks about the cinema’s situation. No, we do not have bed bugs and yes, like all cinemas, we are taking preventive measures!”.
Several companies from different service providers work in the cinema halls of the Pathé Bellecour every month and are contacted immediately if pests are discovered. Pierre Barthélémy is reassured about the future of the industry. “Viewers are curious about the films that are coming out. Cinema is not dead, there is still a lot to do!” he explains happily.
This is what the cinemagoers say
Cinemagoers seem to share cinema manager Barthélémy’s view, according to the results of our micro-survey. In a sample of 30 respondents, 74% said they were not affected by bed bug panic. 63% were of the opinion that they went to the cinema no less than before, and 100% (!) said that the rumors about bed bugs had not affected their regularity at all.
What is absurd, however, is that when asked “Do you think other people go to the cinema less because of bed bugs?” 68% of respondents answered “yes”! So we find ourselves in a situation where no one is panicking, but yet everyone is convinced that…everyone is panicking.
This is what the pest controller says
However, it would be wrong to think that there is no increase in bed bugs. According to Aymeric Bouxom, managing director of the pest control company Game Over in Lyon, “of course there are more bed bugs than before, but this has been going on for 8 years, that’s nothing new!”. In his opinion, the cause of the increase in the number of bed bugs is climatic conditions, as well as inflation, which makes it impossible for many to pay for effective exterminators. As a pest controller, Bouxom is keenly aware of the effects of the prevailing paranoia. “For a few weeks now I’ve been getting five to six times as many calls as before. But I don’t always intervene because it’s usually not necessary. There’s a real panic that is unjustified.” Bouxom tells an anecdote from his everyday life in which a panicked customer claimed that he had several hundred bed bugs. Bugs, which when the professional in protective clothing tried to intervene, turned out to be something else, because they were… ants.
The surveys show that bed bug panic is more of a collective psychosis than a health threat. The very real problem of the spread of bed bugs in French households still poses a major challenge to public health. As far as the cinema is concerned, we can continue to watch films with a relatively clear conscience: fear is much more likely to be there the screen than on our seat.
2023-10-14 04:23:36
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