“I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.”
Don’t Look Up, an apocalyptic political satire black comedy film, opens with a somehow profound yet witty quote. It first had everyone’s attention for featuring astonishing casts. After watching the film, it occurred to me that the director desperately wanted people to watch it by every means possible.
In the film, a doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers an unprecedented comet that will in six months collide directly with the earth and destroy every species on the planet. Dibiasky and her professor, also an astronomer Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make a presence on a morning talk show to publicly announce their discovery. Unexpectedly, the hosts disdain the seriousness of the issue and Dibiasky loses her composure, while Mindy is praised for his looks. The audience only actively reacted to the engagement news of an international music star Riley Bina (Ariana Grande), instead of the human extinction-level event. Meanwhile, the president of the United States, Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep), who initially was indifferent about the news confirms the threat and pretends to put every effort to prevent it, whenher real intention is to bypass a bad reputation. After figuring out that the comet contains priceless elements, the president approves the fragmentation of the comet using technology developed by BASH Cellular, whose CEO is the top donor of the president. Followed by the civilians’ backlash against the president and the privileged, two big parties are organized, showing completely opposite responses towards the prospected comet collision.
In the end, the comet hits the earth and devastates the entire planet. There are several connotations that I have extracted from that scene.
First, the real causes for the destruction are apathy of the scientific truth and the inaction against the approaching climate crisis.
Next, no matter how rich one is, how influential one is, how good- looking one is, and no matter how many other adjectives one can put to introduce oneself, a human being is just a small existence.
Lastly, too much attention to the media will blind us from coping with the real situation.
Overall, the film shows how the truth is distorted, the important news is neglected, and the fact that people who are closer to the truth are more subject to be mocked or derided.
When Dibiasky went through mockery by the public after saying “We’re all 100 percent for sure going to die,” this reminded me of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist. Whether it be positive or negative, Thunberg has been attracting lots of attention for making straightforward speeches about climate change. Some say that she is too radical, however, if she were not explicit enough, she and her crucial messages would not have been noticed by anyone. Both Dibiasky and Thunberg did not budge an inch from revealing their thoughts, even though the public’s negative reaction was already predicted. This is because what really mattered to them was taking care of their beloved earth.
I remember taking a special lecture about the climate change by one of the Ewha professors. While sharing his experiences of attending international environmental events hosted by global organizations-mostly well known for pursuing world peace-, he pointed out how “aggressively vague” the speakers were. He explained that they intentionally prepare the speech to be interpreted in confusing ways, to prevent from being involved in any future controversy, instead of focusing on solving actual problems.
This time, the plot of the movie was described as a story based on truly possible events. If we keep letting climate change accelerate and make meaningless efforts, the sequel will be based on the true story, in which I presume everyone is going to be on the verge of the apocalypse, and noneof the efforts will affect from having a disastrous ending.
At this point, instead of being aggressively vague or pretentious, we rather have to face reality and hedge against our planet before it turns desolate; unless we all want the comet to hit and destroy our planet.