“Don’t Look Up”: a reality check
Aili Forster, Staff Writer
Netflix’s new political satire film “Don’t Look Up,” was released in Dec. 2021 on Netflix, and quickly became a controversial topic. Many seem to love the straightforwardness of the writing, while others are upset at the ending of the film. “Don’t Look Up” is an uncomfortable and unsatisfying movie, but necessary to warn people about what the world’s reality might look like if no more action is taken. Meant for those who shy away from “depressing” or “helpless” topics like climate change, “Don’t Look Up” is a wake-up call for all of society during this climate crisis.
The movie revolves around two astronomers and government officials trying to stop a planet-killing comet in various ways, which director Adam McKay has said to have been a metaphor for the current climate crisis. The two astronomers detect this comet early enough for there to be a high chance of it being stopped. However, they are continuously challenged by the media and politicians who don’t take the issue seriously as it seems too unreal or far in the future to act on immediately. Letting everyone know of this life threatening situation alone, seems to take immense effort, similar to how global warming nowadays is still denied, even with scientific proof. This issue in the movie worsens to the point where people only believed the comet was real until days before it would hit the earth, when it was clearly visible. The current climate crisis could very likely end in the same way, where it will only be believed once the extreme environmental impacts are clearly visible. Even now, with wildfires, deforestation and whole ecosystems being eradicated, there is still a huge population of people who do not believe in climate change.
Similarly, there is also a population of people who chose to not pay attention to the obviously dangerous crisis, despite believing in it. “Don’t Look Up” directly highlights this tendency of people to look away from disaster. While climate change has already destroyed many parts of the earth, to many, the dangers do not affect their everyday activities. For generations, this dooming issue has been passed on to the next as just a future problem. In the movie, this carries on till the end, when the comet eventually destroys the earth.
Although the film is supposed to be comedic, it becomes hard to find it funny when thinking about the sad reality it portrays. “Dramatic” scientists and deniers of the crises in the film are so close to those in real life, they hardly seem like satire. This is most likely done intentionally, however, characters like creepy, billionaire tech mogul, “Peter Ishwell” and their disproportionate impact on policy and politics, are scarily accurate to prominent figures like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
While the “anti-climatic” ending of the film can feel disappointing at first, “Don’t Look Up” is a direct reflection of current society and politics. The painful truth about the world’s future is clearly shown through layers of metaphors and comedy in the film.
“Don’t Look Up” is Netflix’s new satirical film properly depicts the way society treats real climate issues.