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Netflix’s climate change allegory “Don’t Look Up” may have a star-studded cast (pictured, left to right: Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence), but it misses the true intricacies of the climate crisis.
Writer and director Adam McKay’s star-studded “Don’t Look Up” is a giant metaphor for the climate crisis. The film follows two troubled scientists who discover a deadly comet heading toward Earth. They desperately try to save humanity by fighting denial, politicians who fail act, and an avaricious tech giant that wants to mine the comet to find minerals and other superficial media.
So, McKay wanted to make a movie highlighting the world’s lack of action in confronting global warming. He features Leonardo DiCaprio, who has made a whole new name for himself in publicly speaking about climate change, and brings in countless other big names like Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet and Ariana Grande.
What’s more, “Don’t Look Up” set a record for the most viewing hours in a week on Netflix, and within 28 days of its release, it became the second most-watched film on Netflix. So far so good, right?
The movie was released and a heated debate ensued. As more people watched, one belief kept coming back: The movie completely misrepresents ongoing efforts to combat climate change.
Now, as you will probably sense from my lack of creative writing skills, I’m a news writer, so I won’t even attempt to criticize any artistic or film critic-y things. But as I watched this movie, I was astounded by the film’s attempt at political commentary.
The satirical film gets a few things right — Silicon Valley’s power and greed could not be more representative of reality — but I think the ‘aspects’ of confronting climate change it chooses to focus on take away from the actual challenges the world currently faces.
The central theme of “Don’t Look Up,” and the entire basis for the plot, is sheer denialism from scientific discovery. This is where the film’s first mistakes are made and it fails to find its feet. The overwhelming majority of our world’s governments — and their citizens — know and understand the realities of climate change, so why base the film on it? This kind of denialism reminds more of COVID-19 that our warming Earth.
As is repeated throughout the movie, the scientists are invited on a talk show — the film’s sole representation of the media. They’re met by seemingly brain-dead hosts who are only focused on the drama you might find in People Magazine because, in their own words, they “like to keep the bad news light.”
Although I have a number of issues with the way the film portrays the media during its denial crisis. The portrayal that media ignores or skirts bad news is not accurate. The media is often able to accept bad news.
I don’t intend to praise the American media. They are worthy of criticism for their institutional and systemic shortcomings. But this misrepresentation of how the news is told in the movie’s society exposes the flaws of the metaphor.
Climate change is a slow process. It can even shift depending on how we intervene. But, in contrast to what’s seen in “Don’t Look Up,” there is no singular villain to the climate crisis or one singular solution. Climate change is not comparable to the single threat posed by a comet following a clear path of destruction toward Earth.
At the current stage in the climate crisis, we’re more so faced with a lack of action, rather than exception, of the issue at hand. “Don’t Look Up” manages to make a few decent points about the culpability of climate deniers, egocentric politicians and capitalistic corporations, but then again, what movie would have the competence to confront the shibboleths that continue to squash climate action?
