PARK: 'Don’t Look Up,' ultimate satirical take on climate change
Column: The Queue
During the holiday break, I found myself watching Adam McKay’s new film “Don’t Look Up.” I chose the film for the star-studded cast and to hopefully have a laugh, but I ended with an appreciation for the satirical movie, as it went beyond its efforts as a cautionary tale for climate change.
“Don’t Look Up” follows two Michigan State University astronomers, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, on their journey to inform the public about a comet they believe will wipe out the entirety of the human race. The comet is a direct representation of climate change, and the movie serves as McKay’s critique of the American response to the climate change crisis.
The movie deals with relevant issues including the dramatization of self-absorbed politics, a social-media-obsessed society, and of course, the U.S.' inability to agree on climate change. The important takeaway? A conceited society draws attention away from the importance of climate change, often misdirecting it to be a political issue when it is actually a social crisis.
I will admit that the movie was subpar at best. The jokes fell flat, it was perhaps 30 minutes too long and had a very narrow vision of what the climate change movement looks like. But, there are key aspects to the film that McKay got right, and it is important to address them.
The climate crisis is gaining momentum and can clearly be seen through ice melt, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. There are many other aspects, but it is not something that can be debunked. The only option we have is to face it and the repercussions that, we, as humans on Earth must deal with.
That being said, there is no denying science is factual. But when “science" finds itself in the same sentence as “politics”, does it somehow become subjective?
In “Don’t Look Up,” Meryl Streep plays Janie Orlean — an egocentric, delusional president — who dismisses the studies of the astronomers about the comet in order to make a profit in weaponization. What her character showed was that politics can be a distraction, abusing power to take away from the actual issue at play.
The Pew Research Center showed that Conservatives tend to view climate change as a low concern and also claim climate scientists have too much of an influence on climate policies. Even with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Republicans and supporters of former President Donald J. Trump were less likely to be vaccinated than Democrats. But to even dispute over these kinds of issues is beyond foolish.
In 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) proposed her Green New Deal claiming the world will end in 12 years if climate change remains unaddressed. This brought talk and reality to both the GOP and larger American society. There is no doubt that millennials will have to face the brunt of the climate crisis in comparison to baby boomers.
Republican legislators and Conservative Americans — especially if they are on the younger side — should wake up. There is no argument to be made about climate change. The argument should be how Conservative versus Democratic legislators will deal with climate change in terms of allocating money or resources, not if the proposal to do so should even occur.
Republicans and non-believers must stop categorizing climate change with the rest of the progressive promises. Universal health care and climate change are not on the same level. One can be implemented, and the other is already happening.
The media also has an effect on the U.S.’ ability to address climate change, and “Don’t Look Up” effectively depicts that. Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry hilariously play two news commentators who interview the Michigan State University astronomers.
Their banter distracts from what the astronomers came on air to discuss, resulting in Jennifer Lawrence’s character’s outburst that goes viral as “the girl who screamed about a comet on TV.”
The comet has its few minutes of fame, but then the news cycle begins again and this important topic gets swept under the rug. Media today holds extreme amounts of bias, as seen through this Fox News article, so let us just say “fake news” goes both ways.
McKay brings together an interpretation of social media, celebrity endorsements and broadcast journalism to prove there is a line between entertainment and urgency that society fails to see. Media has all the power to communicate the relevance of climate change. The problem is that the severity and complexity of the climate crisis is often diluted by misinformation and climate change denialists.
Or in positive efforts, there are plenty of accounts on Instagram and Twitter that show statistics about our environment but are not specific in ways we can help it. We should be using social media as a mediator to talk about and take action toward climate change as it is an effective tool to communicate.
What “Don’t Look Up” hits right on the nail is its catering toward the target audience. Whether the reviews from movie critics were good or bad, sound bits of Timothee Chalamet’s lines were trending on TikTok and the use of Generation Z’s favorite celebrities were perfect tools to get people to talk about this movie.
In honesty, the film is not perfect. A satire made to take a jab at the political and media indifference to climate change is something that will be controversial — both in the media industry and in a social aspect. I see it as a 2-hour-long political cartoon. But the viewership this movie has reached brings my hopes up that people are seeing the ridiculousness in how our country currently argues about environmental issues.
The climate crisis is science. We need to stop associating everything with politics, labeling things as progressive or conservative. The Earth is dying, and all the biased economic and political talk only hinders society from realizing that.
Annabel Park is a Rutgers Business School first-year majoring in marketing and minoring in journalism. Her column, "The Queue," runs on alternate Fridays.
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