Global warming occupies barely any space in popular culture, so if you are wondering if we will do anything about it before civilization is destroyed, think again.
The gusher of movies and books about nuclear war in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s is different. Nuclear terror was the central subject or background in many of the films of the day.
The anti-nuclear movement was generated by all of this, which in turn generated a larger audience for anti-nuclear culture, which in turn strengthened the movement. We avoided atomic Armageddon because we spent a lot of time imagining it, and so we were not motivated to experience it in reality. There are few indications that we are imagining global warming. We are stumbling forward in a fog with little comprehension of the catastrophe we are stumbling toward.
The new movie "Don't Look Up" is very good news, unless you are hoping that humanity will destroy itself and be succeeded in 50 million years by superintelligent squirrels.
Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" was the fountainhead of nuclear war culture in the U.S. Many other creators rushed because it pried open space. The same thing could be done for global warming.
It is a black comedy, but that does not do it justice. It is the blackest comedy ever invented by the human mind. It may be the first movie in 57 years to equal it, in both the darkness and the laughs.
Adam McKay wrote and directed the movie "Don't Look Up", which was based on a story by himself and the journalist David Sirota. I have been friendly with Sirota for a long time. McKay established himself as one of the funniest filmmakers in America with work like "Old Glory Insurance", "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby", and "The Other Guys." He made two films in 2015, one about the collapse of the housing bubble and the other about Dick Cheney.
McKay has taken all of his talents and power to pull together the world's biggest movie stars to confront the most important subject in existence.
The movie is about a comet heading towards us. It is the same size as the one that hit the Gulf of Mexico, which wiped out most of the species on the planet. Dinosaurs ruled the earth before the comet, and our evolutionary ancestors were vole-like creatures that were trying to avoid being eaten. The tables have turned since the comet, and every year we eat 65 billion chickens.
McKay said that this is the most thinly veiled metaphor in the history of metaphors. Our commitment to cooking ourselves to death is profound. The movie begins with a sound of boiling water and features two polar bears.
This is the most thinly veiled metaphor in the history of metaphors.
It is possible to make a movie about a comet that fits the format of a standard blockbuster that the median moviegoer will love. We are all going to die in six months and 14 days, instead of depicting the slow degradation of the environment. Even if the endpoint is the same, our minds can grasp instant worldwide conflagration more easily than the gradual degradation caused by sunlight and an invisible molecule.
The two main characters are scientists who are desperately trying to get the world to pay attention to the comet. It is best to not know anything more about the plot. Lawrence appears to have taken a brief detour to art school before starting her astronomy PhD, while DiCaprio is dressed down into near-normal schlumpiness.
Donald Trump is much like the president played by the actress, but without his depth and emotional empathy. There are three types of American people, according to the chief of staff, who is her son. We are the cool rich. And then them.
A promotional still from the movie shows Paul Guilfoyle as Gen. Themes, and other cast members.
The photo was taken by Niko Tavernise.
The movie was updated for the tech billionaires, but Mark Rylance was the same as the original Dr. Strangelove. The third-richest man in history is portrayed as a kind of omnipotent baby, soft and vulnerable, and completely unaware that anyone else is real.
The rest of the cast are from the top of their game. Everyone with more than two lines has won an Academy Award. The entire production crew operates at that level of excellence, from the editing by Hank Corwin, cinematography by Linus Sandgren, music by Nicholas Britell, production design byClayton Hartley, and visual effects by Raymond Gieringer and Dione Wood.
They achieve the impossible together. The majority of successful comedies are 90 minutes or less. One of the biggest, most satisfying laughs in the final credit sequence of "Don't Look Up" is the one that comes at the end. This section could be entered into the Guinness World Records for the most naked old people ever to appear on screen.
The movie is called "Don't Look Up" and it is 146 minutes long.
America's nihilistic media and its inability to focus on life and death for more than two seconds is the primary target of the movie. If you watch closely, you will see that this is a common human struggle that no one can escape. The top NASA official in charge of planetary defense is being gossiped about. As the clock ticks down, the character in the movie argues with people on the movie's version of the social networking site.
The critique of itself is included in "Don't Look Up". Lawrence thinks that the destruction of the planet isn't supposed to be fun. In a long monologue toward the end, DiCaprio tries to explain, "Not everything needs to sound so goddamn clever or charming or likable all the time." We need to be able to say things to each other. We need to be able to hear.
What the hell happened to us? The movie suggests that cable TV and social media have destroyed our ability to pay attention to anything outside of our screens. We will never be able to stop global warming without paying attention to reality.
It is probably best seen in theaters. The comedy of "Don't Look Up" is matched by a subtle, profound grief, and Lawrence delivers one line that is clearly the filmmakers explaining why they made this. If you add laughing and crying together, it is hard to think of anything that puts more emotional points on the board.
When the lights come up at the end, you will realize that we are only half an hour into the story. If we want to, we can still save ourselves. It will have to be more human creativity like this in order to understand the horrifying destination we are heading to.
