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A film about climate change could be the winner of the Oscars Best Picture Award when they open the envelope at the Oscars on Sunday.Do not look upAlthough “The Movie” directed by Adam McKay isn’t the favorite, its nomination has generated plenty buzz.
The climate crisis is no longer a matter of scientific or political concern, but a prominent cultural phenomenon. There have been many books, blogs, podcasts, and television programs that have focused on climate risk in recent years.
“Don’t Look Up,” one of Hollywood’s most prominent climate-related films is notable for its less focused focus on the effects of climate change, and more on the ways cultural forces have helped to reduce the urgency of climate crisis.
“Climate change has been used in other movies for dark satire.”Downsizing” (2017) stars Matt Damon. It takes place in the future when scientists can shrink humans to a few inches in order reduce their carbon footprint. (Bizarrely, Tucker Carlson Lashed outClimate scientists last year for allegedly advancing the idea as a serious proposition.
Some climate-themed films were made before the advent of science fiction. “Tomorrow is Tomorrow” (2004) shows the devastating weather disruption caused by climate change. It is also the scene of “The Critic” (2004).Snowpiercer” (2013) tells the story about a train that circles Earth after a failed attempt at solving the climate crisis using geoengineering.
Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up”Second most-watchedThe movie is different. Instead of depicting a hellish postapocalyptic world following climate catastrophe, it focuses instead on the dysfunctions of our present-day society that hinder us from facing the severity of the crisis.
The film’s main targets are the news media, who are portrayed as purveyors fatuous and easy to digest content. “It is something we do around there,” says Brie Evantee, a morning-show host (Cate Blanchett), as Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), explains planet’s imminent doom. “We just keep the bad news in light.”
David Sirota, screenwriter, portrays media personalities as self-absorbed and vacuous, obsessed with social media analytics and ratings. After the scientists make their first television appearance to announce their alarming discovery, they review a PowerPoint that shows “clicks overall were lower than basic traffic and weather stories.”
[‘Don’t Look Up’]This article focuses attention upon the current dysfunctions in society that prevent us facing the gravity of climate change.
The filmmakers mock inexplicably the values of consumer culture. The president’s chief staff (and son), Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), offers a crass “prayer to stuff”, lamenting the loss “sick apartments, watches, cars, and clothes”.
“Don’t Look Up” is a direct critique of the tech elite, tied to the consumerism theme. The all-powerful Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) — a composite CEO drawn from Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and others — has at his fingertips a vast trove of personal data on every individual, including the knowledge of when and how we’ll all die. It is his greedy, hubris, and unquestioning disregard for technology that ultimately brings the world to its unfortunate end.
The filmmakers claim that the combination of profit-driven news media and obsessive consumerrism, as well as digital servitude to screens of every size, conspire to prevent effective responses to the climate crisis. Their critique is more about why we have failed than it is about what we should be doing.
The diagnosis is incomplete. The film’s clever structure serves as a metaphor for an endangered world, where Comet Dibiasky represents the climate emergency. But unlike climate change and other forms of climate change, the comet was not caused or influenced by humans.
The climate crisis began here on Earth in the industrial age. It was the result of decades of failure to reduce greenhouse gas production. The problem with “Don’t Look Up” is that it lacks any allegorical linking to the hegemony in modern society of fossil fuels.
It is wrong to accuse consumers, the media, and the tech giants, while letting Big Oil get away with it. Despite knowing this,Since the 1970sThe industry has tried to mitigate the warming effects of excess atmospheric CO2 since its inception.Obfuscate dangersIts products. It is also a distributor of its products.ForecastsFor many years, there will be no reduction in oil or gas production.
It is a shame that there is no analog to the global fossil fuel cabal. The film’s ultimate goal is to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis. Even though the storyline emphasizes how important scientific clarity is in driving public perception, it relies on emotion in reaching out to the antiscience subculture that denies objective evidence despite overwhelming evidence.
At many points in the film, there are poignant scenes, lasting only a few seconds, that evoke the fragility and interconnectedness of all life — a mother hippo nudges her baby; blue whales swim serenely; a pollen-laden honeybee hovers over a blossom; the iconic “pale blue dot” floats in the blackness of space. It’s a subtle reminder, but powerful, that the biosphere is in danger. Humans are just one species among millions. Climate change could cause the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems with a slow-motion, calamitous impact that is as devastating as a comet.
So, will a film on climate change win an Oscar nomination? Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth“Won Best Documentary Feature Award in 2007
Personally, I root for “Belfast.”
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