Resource Guide for the Classroom: "Rock Out with Your Schnoz Out: The COVID Play"

Analysis of "Anatomy of a Mask"

The setting of "Anatomy of a Mask" is a college lecture over two hundred years in the future about mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through-out his lecture, the main speaker, named Dr. D'Lecture, uses various malapropisms. These malapropisms include nonsense words like "prolifignant...advention...unmagnifigantly...[and] recomented, as well as humorous words for the pandemic, including "The Great Pandemi Moore of 2020…the Pandemonium…the Pananaramabangbang… [and] Panini era." The words substituted for the pandemic were actually used on social media during the pandemic. Dr. D'Lecture's speaking habits are a type of linguistic comedy. The intended effect of his improper use of language was to model the struggle those working in higher education had while sifting through both information and misinformation that was being disseminated during the pandemic. The character was partially inspired by Edward Norton's character in The Glass Onion, who has a tendency to use malapropisms in an attempt to sound smarter, much like Dr, D'Lecture. 

At the end of the scene, a character representing the Omicron variant of COVID-19 comes onto stage in order to demonstrate various improper mask wearing techniques. These improper techniques are a direct reflection of the mask-wearing behavior of many Americans during the pandemic who refused to wear their face mask in a way that would prevent the spread of the virus. A study on the prevalence of improper mask wearing in Kentucky performed by Karimi et al. found that as many as 14% of the people observed in a public area were improperly wearing their mask. 

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