Updated on 2 November: To Netflix, or not to Netflix? Nowadays, it’s not even a question: the streaming platform has, without a doubt, become our most faithful companion during the seemingly never-ending coronavirus lockdown.

When we’ve found ourselves staring out the window wistfully, Netflix has coaxed us back into social distancing with its plethora of film and TV offerings. When we’ve needed some culinary inspiration, it’s come up trumps with a whole host of cooking shows. It’s connected us with the outside world, too: all you need do is look at the Twitter sensations that were Emily In Paris and Tiger King for proof of that. And now it’s busy helping us forget our winter woes with a whole host of fun, frothy and utterly festive Christmas movies (hello Holidate, we see you).

More important than all of this, though? The fact that Netflix continues to serve as a microcosm for society’s moods as a whole. Indeed, all you need do is examine the most popular movies on the streaming platform right now to get some kind of an idea as to how people are coping in our new Covid-stricken world.

Ah fine, you got us: a cursory glance at the list won’t help you determine anything about the state of the nation. Netflix’s trending films seem too at odds, too wildly different, to suggest any sort of pattern. But, when you take the “change model” into account…

Well, things get really bloody interesting.

“The change model is built off of the bones of the ‘five stages of grief’ model,” psychologist Hope Bastine recently explained to Stylist. 

So, if Netflix were the window to your soul, what would it tell us about how you’re feeling right now? Are you stressed, in denial about being stuck indoors AGAIN, or content with your new life?

Well, we’ve painstakingly matched the platform’s trending movies with the stages of the so-called coronavirus curve, just to help you figure things out.

Shock: Contagion (and other pandemic-themed horrors)

Contagion – as in, yeah, the 2011 Steven Soderbergh thriller starring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon and Jude Law about a deadly virus – famously jumped from the 270th most popular film in the Warner Bros video-on-demand catalogue to the 2nd in the initial weeks of the very first coronavirus outbreak. 

Even now, one of Netflix’s most-streamed movies, alongside fellow pandemic-themed horror Outbreak. Why? Because films such as these offer us a means of coming to terms with the shock of our situation.

“There’s something about human nature where we get ‘hooked’ by unusual or extreme events,” Dr Elena Touroni, psychologist and co-founder of My Online Therapy, previously told Stylist. 

“Anxiety and excitement can easily get confused and interlinked,” she said. “So we might end up finding excitement in something that is very anxiety-provoking.”

Denial: Gilmore Girls, Emily In Paris, and Holidate 

Judging by Netflix’s most-watched list, many of us who find ourselves unable to accept the Covid-19 situation are working hard to distract ourselves with romcoms and feel-good TV shows. Which explains why the likes of Notting Hill, 10 Things I Hate About You, Gilmore Girls, Notting Hill, Emily In Paris, and Holidate are proving so incredibly popular right now.

The reason for this, as outlined by licensed psychologist Krystine Batcho, is simple enough: familiarity is comforting – and helps us to switch off from our anxieties, at least for a little while.

“When people are stressed, or anxious, or feeling out of control, nostalgia helps calm them down. It’s comforting. It’s analogous to a hug from your mom or dad or being cuddled,” Batcho says.

“It’s harkening back to what we might, even erroneously, perceive as a simpler time in our life with fewer responsibilities and obligations and fewer worries.”

Anger and blame: Gone Girl (and other revenge fantasies)

As reported on 24 April: Whether it’s I, Tonya, A Simple Favour, or Gone Girl, there’s something very cathartic about a revenge fantasy. Especially when you’re processing a lot of anger yourself. 

Indeed, by engaging with someone like Rosamund Pyke’s Amy Dunne through the television screen, you are able to process her emotions and blow off some steam. 

And you’re able to do it without having to go through the pain of… well, of doing something crazy and hateful yourself.

Bargaining and self-blame: Eat Pray Love (and other reflective dramas)

Eat Pray Love encourages us to question who we are, what we want, where we’re going. Trainwreck, likewise, demands that we take a closer look at ourselves and determine whether we’re happy with the way our life is going. And He’s Just Not That Into You, which has become suddenly popular all over again, reminds us that “we’re all encouraged, no, programmed to believe that if a guy acts like a total jerk that means he likes you.” 

Which, based on conversations I’ve had with friends about their recent spate of Zoom dates, feels like an absolute mood.

Essentially, we’re all feeling overwhelmed and keen to find some reason as to why. Rather than focus on the external, we’re turning our attention inwards. We’re trying to regain some sense of control. 

And we’re all trying to shift that sense of pointlessness, in a bid to make ourselves feel better.

Depression and confusion: The Haunting Of Bly Manor, His House, and more

Feeling trapped? Yeah, we figured as much: there’s a reason the likes of The Haunting Of Bly Manor, Rebecca and His House – all about people who find themselves trapped inside with unspeakable evil– are trending right now.

Like the leads of these films, our days are darkened by an overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread, and we’re finding it increasingly difficult to find the silver lining anywhere.

However, as Touroni told Stylist, there’s a positive side to this state of change. “Depression… causes us to bed down and reflect, to quietly evaluate and assess, in order to heal and restore,” she says – and that’s very much the theme of The Terminal and Girl, Interrupted. 

Yes, their characters are unhappily stuck in limbo. But, when they open themselves up to their experiences, they find themselves making progress and moving forward. That’s what we all want right now.

Acceptance: Sense & Sensibility, and other period dramas

Think about it: is there any story that more accurately sums up our lockdown lifestyles than that of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility? The Dashwood family is forced to depart the hustle and bustle of society, giving up their lifestyle in favour of a much quieter, homelier one. They sit indoors. They enjoy quiet conversations. They go for long, bracing walks. They bake, they sew, they sing. 

Elinor (Emma Thompson) is a shining inspiration of a good Covid-19 citizen. Marianne (Kate Winslet) is less enthralled with her new life, but, when she breaks “isolation” and is struck down by an illness, she learns to accept her new lifestyle.

Sound familiar? No wonder so many of us are streaming period dramas right now.

Problem-solving: Cooking shows, home makeover series’ and true crime documentaries

As Touroni told Stylist: “The seventh stage is all about growth, and learning to live a more authentic life.”

We can see that all around us as people attempt to use this time of quarantine as a means of learning new skills: they’re baking, and they’re taking time to improve their homes, they’re learning to appreciate the little things in life.

Is it any wonder, then, that so many cooking shows and home makeover series are trending on Netflix? We’re all seeking inspiration, after all, and we’re all keen to learn new skills.

Likewise, it makes sense that so many true crime documentaries are right up there in our trending section, too. From Unsolved Mysteries to American Murder: The Family Next Door, many of us are hellbent on solving crimes from the comfort of their own sofas, too

Above all else, though, it seems all too apparent why we’re all still hooked on Mery Streep and Amy Adams’ hit film Julie & Julia.

Why? Well, at the beginning of the movie, Julie makes it her mission to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the space of 12 months, writing a blog to motivate herself and document her progress. If the film had been made now, she’d obviously have ditched the blog for Instagram Stories, but the message would be the same: find something you love, something that pushes your boundaries and challenges you, and do it. Do it now.

Why? Well, as Covid-19 has taught us, because life is short. Because the world is large. Because it’s up to us to make the most of our time here. Because… we owe it to ourselves to be happy.

That’s why.

To find out more about the coronavirus curve, visit our article on the subject here. 

Images: Getty/Netflix