What's the deal with "Don't Look Up"? (And does it actually work?)
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2024
- Director Adam McKay's global disaster flick Don't Look Up has ended up causing quite the stir. Partly for the film itself, but at least as much for the conversation that's cropped up around it. A conversation that McKay himself has been more than happy to fan the flames of. So let's try and parse what's going on with this movie and maybe try to figure out if it's worth all the hubbub in the first place.
0:00 - Intro
3:49 - Agreement is not quality
5:50 - Execution and Intent
8:20 - Is "Don't Look Up" good?
15:48 - What were the goals?
20:41 - What's left in the end?
23:40 - Credits
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Yeah, what can I say. I loved and frankly needed this movie. And no, I don’t think it is intended to convert anyone. But sometimes you just need to hear “No, you’re not nuts. Things genuinely are this effed up. Do I have the magic bullet? No. But I see it too” I definitely don’t think that means anyone who didn’t connect with it is a climate change denier. But this movie spoke to me.
Also, in addition to people don’t listen to the young, I think the whole reaction to Jennifer Lawrence’s “meltdown” scene and the difference to Leo’s almost identical one was also to point out how sexism impacts message. It was immediately “look at the crazy lady. Isn’t she shrill and doesn’t she look ugly when she’s yelling”
Fair point about the sexism aspect. I failed to clock that factor.
Probably true. But we also gotta see that her meltdown was at the beginning. People saw someone breaking down on an effing morning show didn't really care about the message only made fun of her. By the time he had the breakdown they already knew him and knew the situation is tough.
What appeared sexist to me was Look at the dumb female president
The most earnest critique I've heard of Don't Look Up -- that people don't know if it's attacking climate change or covid -- validates the sharpshooter accuracy of its evergreen message: those with the most political and economic power lie because any serious action is a threat. The filmmakers didn't predict covid because they didn't have to -- the covid response IS the climate change response. Every crisis is the same crisis under the neoliberal bipartisan consensus that profit-seeking trumps life.
Conservatives deny manmade climate change and the threat of covid. Meanwhile, Joe Biden asked Saudi Arabia to drill more oil the week he went to a climate conference asking for stricter greenhouse restrictions. Jen Psaki literally laughed at a reporter suggesting the US give out free tests like most of the entire rest of the world and asked, "And how much is that going to cost?" And it's 2022 and Biden's wondering how many more nukes to put on Russia's border.
It's distracting to accuse the film of making the same argument that scene in The News Room did. The News Room demands brutal honesty in journalism so people can make informed decisions, but it doesn't target the people enforcing those lies. That scene in The News Room isn't about the SUBJECT of Don't Look Up but the FILM.
What I almost forgot was that other lie being told. The one we tell ourselves when the journalists are honest. The one where critics claim Don't Look Up is untimely because Trump is gone and we're all safe now. The one with hand-wringing declarations of one-sided anti-Republicanism when the film's president is a Democrat declaring her Republican opponent will be worse. Because that's the eternal threat... that we can't risk doing exactly as much as needs to be done because the other guys will convince everyone that it's better to make it worse.
In that case, who's really the cynic. The film that believes we can make better decisions or the politicians who repeatedly tell us that we've done all we can? I side with a messy film that shatters the target so hard we can't tell if it hit the bullseye. If the only way you can get people to believe what you say is to lie, to make it so small that it's irrelevant.... then why say anything?
@@MrBazBake Would you mind linking me to sources for your points about Biden and Psaki? I believe you, but it'd be great to have links I can show other people if I'm arguing about this in comment threads.
Yeah, I disagree with her point that satire NEEDS to be targeted at a wide audience, with the intention to change people's minds. That's a crazy high bar, as it's incredibly difficult to change people's minds -- I'd be curious in some sort of study to figure out how frequently this actually happens. (For me personally, the only clear example that jumps to mind is the veal episode of South Park. Maaaaaybe WALL-E.)
Affirming your views and letting you know you're not crazy is a totally valid thing to do that can be seriously comforting. Just tell people they're not alone.
McKay's tweets are still super off-putting, since I think he's putting in his own movie in a box and rejecting alternate interpretations -- personally, I most liked it for the bittersweet display of humanity in the final ten minutes, i.e. my favorite part was the least satirical moment of the movie. I definitely think most of the criticisms are valid, and of course making a satire that attempts to change minds is ALSO a valid want. I simply disagree with the notion that we should entirely disregard a piece if it doesn't aim to do that (or if it does aim to do that but fails). Almost all art merely validates.
I enjoyed this movie on an entertainment level, i thought it was a bit campy and that added to it's charm, and i definitely agree with it's messaging, bit i never thought about it in terms of it's messaging vs it's target audience, and yeah, I can see where you're coming from on that.
SPOILER:
As for the disaster not being manmade, or accelerated by man's actions, i felt like that was encapsulated in the decision to abort first mission to destroy the comet in favor of trying to mine the it, which also works on another level, because the *reason* behind the decision to abort (corporate greed) is the same reason we've accelerated climate change.
That's what I meant about it taking half the movie to line up correctly.
With regards to climate change vs the inevitability of the comet hitting earth... I disagree. i felt that the point of this was to illustrate that we had/have the technology to stop it or at least make it far less severe and that analogy worked for me. IRL we could've prevented climate change. In DLU they had the technology to knock the comet off its course. In both instances, the powers that be prioritized profits over survival. All and all, I think it was a very good movie. Not McKay's best work but still strong. I also feel that the film served as a reflection on how we've handled or lack thereof, the pandemic. I disagree with a lot of your points but see them and can somewhat get why you feel that way. I do firmly agree that attacking folks who dislike your work for legitimate artistic reasons is gross and immature. I love your POV and reviews as always! Bravo!
Exactly. It is the inaction that is satirized, it doesn't matter what the crisis is.
You articulated my thoughts on this film way better than I could. I agree with its message but while I won't say I hated it, it's not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.
But it wasn't really trying to be clever at all, its straightforwardness and unambiguity is part of the point
@@abelsanchez2070 It definitely is trying to be clever, to say it’s dumb on purpose is honestly weird? Why do you have to know you convinced us we liked it?
I thought it was hilarious and untilmately touching. The humour is pretty dark.
@@jordon2074 I didn't say it was being dumb, I said straightforward. I mean the movie literally has its lead actors yelling straight into the camera, directly to the audience of the television program within the film as well as the audience watching this film, that everyone will die if people don't do something about the existential threat to Earth that humanity currently faces. On top of that, I didn't specify any kind of personal opinion about the movie in my comment, I was just simply pointing out a fact of the movie.
Yep, what he said...😉
It's funny how they love shooting themselves in the foot. I for instance loved the movie, enjoyed every second of it, and at no point did I think it was definitely, 100% about climate change. I thought it was a satire against us as society, and honestly, Covid came to mind much quicker, than climate change. It does not matter what the crisis is, it is about people. And yes, it is a very one sided satire, it does not represent every human, of course. But this is the case of any satire, it is always over the top. So yes, I loved it. But I don't understand why the director felt the need to throw any interpretation opportunities out of the window, making a clear cut "this is about climate change" and of course accusing everyone, who did not like the film, of not taking climate change seriously. Come on, man. Don't you know that the absolute majority of people feel uncomfortable with satire altogether? Says nothing about their views. Idiotic comments which only harm the film and, which is much worse, the very discourse on the topic. I took it as a funny satire on humanity, and it turns out I totally missed the whole point... thank you, director.
Yeah I thought ohhh when I heard it was about climate change I thought it was covid too
Agreed on this. Once you think of the comet as Covid, a lot of the metaphors make more sense. I liked the film, but found it more depressing with how it reflects our real world.
Me too, I thought it was a comment on Covid.
I came to it with the idea it was a metaphor for Climate Change, etc. I was surprised by the introduction of Bash Industries. Whereas my brother had thought it was about social media. Sadly, both, and nepotistic white houses, the influence of donors, Post-truth and so many other things. I don't imagine I'll ever watch it again.
I 100% agree with your position, but I believe that if the director had not screamed at the world "IT IS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE!" we would be seeing crazy right-wingers saying it is about things like "communism", "vaccine mandates", "BLM", "antifa", etc... I mean, yeah, different interpretations are good, but some people go way overboard with this and start seeing things that were never in the movie to try to support the interpretation they are trying to see in the movie (see how the term "red pill" is being used today to support right-wing ideologies)
I think it’s interesting to me because at the end of a lot of the documentary films you see on climate change, there’s always a message of “but we STILL have time, and here’s what YOU can do!…”
So it was, in a way, cathartic to see a film straight up be like “we’ve had a lot of time and no actually we’ve just about cocked it up”, and while a great deal of blame is put on the average distracted consumer/person, in its scatter-shot of political commentary, it does land a lot of the time on those responsible, from corporate leaders to governments in denial.
Then again, climate change is all about the degrees to which we are willing to watch things get worse for the people around us, and we always have opportunities to try and mitigate. Maybe I would’ve liked to see the money put into this movie put towards environmental conservation and research projects. Or at the very least just give a straight out announcement at the end for corporations and the UN climate counsel to actually do what they need to do.
Instead, it’s a movie about the hopelessness of the situation. Even with a lot of the weird drastic tone shifts, it’s sobering. It’s a movie with a specific philosophy.
At the same time, I think we can do better. I think we can push on even with the hopelessness and as bad as it has gotten. And the movie has some of that, too.
You basically just put into words what I’ve been feeling about this movie since I saw it. Thanks for sharing your stance! :)
I enjoyed the movie. I agree with the message and laughed at the humor.
But as for achieving it's goals, if they were trying to boost the signal on climate change... then yeah, it failed. For me, it actually hit harder with the pandemic response. Which wasn't the goal.
Also, the vast majority of the discussion is about the movie itself, not the issue it's wanting to raise. For the most part, climate change is completely drowned out by did you get it or not, was it good or bad satire and so on. Which is kind of what happened in the movie itself. It took part in the same thing it was trying to satirize.
So it did fail at what it was trying to do, whatever the goal was. When the method blocks the message, it has failed.
I think the point is it didn't matter what the original metaphor was meant to be. IMHO, the movie was a pointed enough satire (about divisions and lack of government action) that it can be about the pandemic or whatever else the metaphor means to the viewer. It does not HAVE to be about climate change or judged on its success at pushing climate change, just because that was the original intent. Once a film goes out into the world, it belongs to the public and however we want to interpret it is what matters.
@@etherealtb6021 absolutely. But the discussion has largely been about the movie, not anything it could have been satirizing.
@@CortexNewsService Well, satirical fiction has always made people unhappy - back to Jonathan Swift.
On the metaphor front, it didn't concern me that it was a little flawed. I saw it as 'the human race couldn't even fix a problem as straightforward as shooting a comet out of the sky, let alone something multifaceted like climate change'.
I enjoyed the film for what it was enough, but it's no great shakes - I'm not rushing to see it again or anything. The discourse around the film is just bizarre though
Honestly this. It's just a movie, and not even a theatrical release, a Netflix movie! There was no great fanfare or build-up prior to its release... I'm baffled as to why everyone is having such strong opinions about it.
For me, it wasn't the lack of human responsibility that ruined the metaphor. It was simpler, more visual. Do you believe there's a problem when only the science sees the issue. If it's too late once the thing is visible to everyone. I suspect if it hadn't (had to) veer so heavily into the politics that it wouldn't be so inciting. People are still being prosecuted for their actions on January 6. It's not even history, it's still current affairs.
@@doovstoover9703 Because it's about a real world topic that people already had strong opinions about.
I absolutely, 100% disagree with you on this movie … and I absolutely, 100% ❤you for it!
I love your analysis because it comes from a place of sincere honesty.
There are so many dishonest critics of this movie. Those who see themselves or the people/public figures/institutions they admire are reflected in the movie as the problem.
I love this movie, cuz I’m a Social Worker, and I empathize with the Environmental Scientists. I feel like I have no voice, seeing social issues being handled (often ignored) by the ignorant, greedy and idealogues. Yes, I admit, I’m in the choir, and I don’t care if it doesn't reach the masses. For 2hr 18min, I felt heard and validated.
Literally all that they had to do was begin with a tech company trying to solve a problem by mining an asteroid and pushing it into a collision orbit. Like just a board meeting where someone says, ‘so, what’s the update on that asteroid mining thing?’ and then cut to the beginning of the film as it currently exists.
Well said.
For me, the main reason the film didn't work is because it was too straight-faced and self-serious with the characters and topic. It didn't go too far into being mean spirited but it wasn't that far off.
There was just not enough juxtaposition between the seriousness and absurdity in order for the parody to work.
I'd suggest people to watch The Death Of Stalin for how a modern parody can be done well.
Being from outside the anglosphere, my family and I absolutely LOVED the movie. I don't see it at all as an allegory for climate change though, in fact it hit closer to the pandemic response; however what we loved at the core of the movie is the large criticism of the US and its culture, and how stupid and vapid it all is while still believing itself to be the greatest country on the world. From the stupid, short sighted politicians in charge; the weird obsession and cult following for tech billionaires; and the media downplaying real topics in exchange for pop stars and celebrities.
As a criticism of the US in line with his previous movie Vice, this worked fantastically and it was the movie of 2021 for me. Climate change? I didn't even realized the connection until I saw the online discourse.
What a well-articulated analysis of the movie and the discourse. I will not stop saying that more people need to be as reasonable as you!
I liked your takes! I also felt so weird watching this movie. I watched this as a person who is studying public policy and has actually lobbied Congress. it’s misunderstanding of how systems fail really got under my skin. The focus on the president’s individual personal flaws draws attention away from the systems actually causing the problems. Like a more accurate allegory would be the President agreeing with the scientists but being unable to finish the project in the time period because 20 years ago nasa’s budget got cut for some arbitrary reason. So the infrastructure to shoot down the comet just wasn’t available. The fact that it focuses so much on flawed individuals really makes the commentary toothless, and does not help people actually understand why fighting climate change is so difficult.
Two final points: the comet and political situation map much better on to Covid than climate change and they should have focused on that allegory.
The President should have been a man. No woman (let alone conservative woman) in American politics would get away with what she did and be successful(even a heightened fantasy woman). (Sarah Palin didn’t have nudes leaked, was only the VP candidate and lost. He career is basically over now) I dislike this trend in movies of pretending a conservative base would respond to a woman the same way they would a man, because it is not true. The movies gender politics in general are really weird.
God, this video was like cold water in a desert.
Despite being an environmental activist who has run for public office talking about Climate Change, I've been personally accused of being a Denier because I publicly criticised the humour and pacing of this film. I've been told that I just don't get it and that the film wasn't even MEANT to be funny.
The amount of cultish devotion this film has received has really shocked me and it's so refreshing to hear some honest pushback - thank you!
When I watched this I didn’t know about the climate change aspect. I liked this as a commentary on our current social media culture. It hit at both the right and the left and portrayed both using their own idiots to spread social media nonsense
Same. I know nighung going in, so thought it was overall a metaphor that our differences, selfishness and lack of action are going to kill us - whatever the comet symbolizes.
So they took the scientific facts from people saying why the plot of the movie Armageddon wouldnt work, blowing it up would just make more impacts spread out but still equally devastating and they say oh no this time it would work because previous minerals. That aside loved seeing how they basically made a president who is equally liberal and conservative and shows how bad the political system is as a whole and the viewers on the far left and right will be able to see the opposing side represented in her and gloss over the similarities to their guy
Okay, wow. I watched this film knowing none of the discourse around it. I enjoyed it, but i came away thinking I'd watched a fairly sharp satire on America's handling of the PANDEMIC. You're seriously telling me it wasn't about the pandemic? Honestly, I think the metaphor might work better!
The meteor was a metaphor for any one of a half dozen urgent problems humanity faces.
My picture here is me on a Greenoeace campaign, I've been worried about climate change since watching Captain Planet as a 5-year-old, and I also thought the metaphor mapped better to the pandemic.
it works for both imo
I have to confess to almost giving up within the first hour. I did like Leo having the same breakdown, just later in the film. But towards the end, I was looking to see if it was in the final stages, and it had 30--40 minutes still to run.
I don't think I'll make a point of seeing this film but I appreciate your literary analysis, thorough and thoughtful as usual. And now that I'm thinking about it, I actually think Godzilla (or a Godzilla-alike critter) would be a better metaphor for climate change -- especially if it's a monster we've been feeding all these years,
BTW, your comment about the accusation that this film is preaching to the choir reminded me that the political folk duo "Emma's Revolution" has a song entitled "Has anybody seen the choir?" And the bridge goes:
Are they teaching in the schools?
Are they drinking in the bars?
Are they making all the rules?
Are they fighting in the wars?
All I wanna do is get a glimpse of who they are.
Has anybody _ever_ seen the choir?
Anyway, thanks for the unintentional earworm...
True, Gozilla is a response to a manmade terrifying poisoning of environment.
They literally could take the plot from pacific rim, have cooperations open out of greed the hole and kaijus take over, because politics. Its doom but with kaijus and bad ending.
I think that story literally need a scifi or similar element togt people invested in the message, and shoking response.
Really enjoyed your video on this Vera. Me and my partner both enjoyed this movie as a semi engaging, semi funny evening watch (did split it over two evenings). I had read about the climate change metaphor before watching it but forgot that I had until half way through the movie, so I definitely agree that the metaphor was weak in the first half. Agree with your points on the indended audience as well. While I enjoyed the humour it did feel that it was aimed at people who already agree that the climate crisis is one of the most important global issues of our lifetimes. On reflection I feel that the film almost encourages the audience to look down on climate deniers/sceptics which I think can be dangerous.
Thank you for coherently voicing out my thoughts, thank you for recording this video, making all the effort and also making it so enjoyable. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I enjoyed the movie, but I thought it was a Covid analogy. Thinking about it in terms of climate change, I'm not sure if the way I interpreted the film's satire was the intended interpretation. I thought we were meant to be critical of the main characters' emotional outbursts, and see them as self-defeating. Now I'm outbursts. if I wasnt meant to cheer the oubursts.
I loved the movie (and agreed with the message) and found it cathartic to have this analogy of climate change frankly. I’m surprised by the lack of love it has had really.
I really enjoyed this movie. Watching it, it doesn’t really feel to me like it was trying to convince anyone of anything (maybe that’s part of the problem?), just making fun of a serious situation/society. The aspect that strikes me the most is the fish out of water feel to it. The main characters are in a situation they have a difficult time understanding and adapting to. Suddenly everything became about them and their message became lost (that’s both media/social media & politics these days). JL’s character was in Hell, and I see myself there with her if I was put in that (or a similar) situation.
Goodness. I misread that thumbnail so hard.
I am left in the thoroughly odd position of liking this movie a lot and agreeing with every single point you made
Funny how that happened sometimes.
That’s how I feel, I really enjoyed this movie but also I can’t disagree with anything there saying
I cam here to say the same thing 🤣
I haven't seen _Don't Look Up_ yet, but probably will. The name reminds me very much of John Brunner's eco-disaster novel _The Sheep Look Up._ In my early teens I read his _Shockwave Rider_ which even in the 70s predicted social media leading to increased tribalism among the masses being while being exploited through surveillance capitalism. Maybe I'll make that book and this movie a double-feature!
It wasn’t a movie in the traditional sense. It was the world’s most expensive PSA, including all the celebrity endorsements PSAs tend to have.
And we all know how effective PSAs are in communicating their messages. They are full of good intentions, but nobody pays attention to them because PSAs are more interested in shock value and attention grabbing than actually focus on the problem they’re trying to address.
PSAs usually get 1 of 2 majority reactions - either as something silly that’s so over the top it’s fun to laugh at; or be so shocking and horrifying that people try to avoid seeing it, more focused on the disturbing content than the actual subject.
This movie gets both of these reactions. It’s either too much to take seriously or too dark for anyone to care.
I saw this movie and judged it on its ability to tell an interesting narrative with good visuals and compelling characters, like I judge all movies. Additionally I asked myself if it was funny. While I think it is worthwhile analyzing the metaphors and political messaging, unless it distracts from my experience of watching the movie it doesn’t really affect my judgment of the movie
And you’ve got every right to take it in without engaging in a larger discourse or at a metaphorical level. That’s just the angle from which I was taking this one.
While I wholeheartedly agree that you're not obligated to like something simply because you agree with its message (looking at you, McKay), the second half of this video feels very semantic to me.
(slight spoilers ahead)
On the comet vs. climate change metaphor; I understand the point made here. I read an article this week addressing that same thing, but I have to disagree. It wasn't meant to be a perfect comparison, it was meant to deliver a very specific message: when given the opportunity to prevent catastrophe, the majority choose to exploit, exacerbate, deny and/or ignore it. Obviously it's an allegory for climate change, but you can also interpret it as one for the response to the pandemic, a plethora of other issues, but also simply as commentary on human behavior under an oppressive political and socioeconomic climate fueled for generations by the elite, the manipulation at play insistent on keeping the cogs of the machine rolling regardless of any pesky comet because we have a ship anyway get back to work god dammit!
I'd also argue that, in regards to the film addressing so many things at once, it's not meant to function as a conglomerate of issues sandwiched between a two and half hour window in an attempt to address them in profundity. Rather it's using these things as a way to emphasize the chaotic and astronomically destructive state of humanity's inability to cooperate for the collective good. I think it adds to the madness really well, functioning as unyielding distractions from the pressing issues at hand and a backdrop of all of humanity's greatest weaknesses and failings in order to illicit perhaps some sense of existential dread, misanthropy, defeatism, and most of all urgency.
This is, of course, my interpretation of the film but my point is this; we get what the movie was trying to say. It was VERY clear in its messaging. Whether it was meant to illicit doom and gloom in its audience, it succeeded AND failed. Whether it was meant to preach to the choir, it succeeded AND failed. Whether it was meant to convert those who were being criticized in the film itself (which I personally doubt is the case), it succeeded AND failed. Whether it was meant to be completely self-indulgent and therapeutic on the creators' behalf, I'm sure it succeed AND failed.
What I'm getting at is that art is subjective and therefore it will do different things for different people, so there's no way to objectively brand it as a success or failure. While intent matters, it isn't the end all be all.
This might be a really minor thing but I really appreciate that you put the length of the video in a pinned message in the chat
When I first saw the movie I liked it, then the inevitable happened: I thought about it. I realized how many of the characters fell flat (how did they manage to make watching Merryl Streep boring?), and some didn't make sense to me. Why was timothee chalamet in this movie?? There were still some moments that I liked (the final dinner scene is the first that comes to mind). After a day or two I stopped thinking about it all together, which to me is a deep condemnation of forgettableness.
personally I really thought it was an amazing film. however people saying that if you didn't like then you're a climate denier is just silly
Truth. A lot of people just don't like satires, even if they are well done.
Imagine if we had Twitter in 1987 & Christopher Reeve was on there dragging anyone who didn't like Superman 4 saying they must want nuclear war.
The way I've been describing this movie to people who aren't sure is that it 'feels like a scream that needed to be let out.' Especially Jennifer Lawrence's character, for me. I fully get why people are annoyed by it, or don't want to watch it, who are sick of seeing that stuff happen in real life and don't want to spend a few hours of their relaxation time watching more of that, or who don't like that kind of humor or think its in bad taste, or who felt it completely missed the mark too - I get it. It's not a good movie. But oooooooo did I need to let out that scream. It hit so real at nearly every turn, after years of watching those exact things happen in terms of...well, everything.
It might have helped that I watched it 'with a group' (online in a discord server). Since I was able to bounce thoughts with other people in real time while watching it, it helped with that cathartic screaming feeling.
I wonder if this movie even had a goal. With the message of "we're all screwed and there's nothing we can do about it," what if there was no goal beyond a cathartic release? Literally: "Old man yells at cloud."
For myself, I'm in a weird place where I enjoyed the movie despite its glaring flaws, and I support its message without agreeing with its conclusions. I still don't really know how to feel about that. And I'm not sure if I care.
I think the imperfect metaphor was a stumbling-block here. People have already died from climate-fuelled disasters, and it will keep getting worse. So we can fight to make things slightly less bad, and it probably will keep feeling really bad the whole time. Or we can focus on every other distraction, and things will be worse, but we won't see all of it. I just wish it had spent some time giving ordinary people a way to do anything (another hazard of the flawed metaphor).
The movie did not address what we can do, but that is very changeable and situational. I think it left an opening for people with a positive message to give an answer to that question.
Maybe you should lobby your local representative. Maybe you should sabotage oil pipelines. Both are valid in their own way.
It is supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a "the good side always wins in the end" story. It is suppose to say "Don't let this happen to you, do everything you can to stop it", not "It will all work out in the end". The ending is showing what happens if we *don't* stop it in time.
It is supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a "the good side always wins in the end" story. It is suppose to say "Don't let this happen to you, do everything you can to stop it", not "It will all work out in the end". The ending is showing what happens if we *don't* stop it in time.
It doesn’t say "we're all screwed and there's nothing we can do about it" though, it says "we're all screwed _if_ nothing is done about it and we believe companies will save us".
Not gonna lie i loved this movie, ye its a bit too long. But its part comedy and part frighteningly real comparison to the world we are currently living in.
The reason to the backlash against the critical reaction to the movie is because they don't like being the butt of the joke. It's not about them being stupid we know they aren't, but they are exactly like the media in the film. When your job depends on you either not understanding something or Not getting the joke, then low and beyond they struggle to get the joke.
I know a fair few people who took it about covid rather than climate change.
Also I find it highly ironic that a big plotpoint of the movie, and what a lot of it was satirizing, was both sides getting distracted from the real issue by fighting whoever they deem as being on “the other side” on social media while promoting their side as superior, just for the filmmaker to sit on twitter all day, fighting who he deems as being on “the other side” of the climate change debate while promoting his movie/its narrative as superior.
You nailed it. Completely nailed it, especially in terms of how the movie's main metaphor just doesn't match up and it failing to meet its goal. To Mr. McKay: PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO NOT LIKE YOUR STUFF. AND/OR NOT 'GET' YOUR STUFF. And they can do either or both *without* being idiots or philistines.
There was an episode of Arthur called April 9th that was made in response to 9/11. The episode shows the kids dealing with the aftermath of a school fire, detailing how everyone's reactions and fears are empathetic and how we can overcome tragedy by uniting together. In 22 minutes, the show manages to be a better allegory for its message than this 2.5 hour movie.
I have a lot of feelings about the movie. Acting was spectacular (no surprise), I think it was well shot, the jokes landed, and I think it worked as a satire of modern American life. I don’t really care about whether or not it accomplished its goal, as it doesn’t change my personal experience. I also don’t mind the imperfect metaphor, as long as I’m enjoying the ride (which I was). My biggest issue is just how much of a downer the ending is. Nonetheless, a fun ride for me. All art is subjective, though.
Edited: rephrased my thoughts
I basically agree with everything you said. Felt the same way about the movie.
Also, in terms of reaching people & them getting the message: My parents ended up randomly watching and then talked to me about it. Neither of them have heard about it before, what it was supposed to be about, what the message was - they didn't know. My dad then described it as a metaphor for the pandemic (a people/media's response to it). So yeah. When I mentioned it was supposed to be a climate change metaphor, he didn't really see it.
(Background: My parents aren't climate deniers, they're more sort of in the middle, kind of believe in it, mostly don't really think about it type of thing. I'd say they'd be THE perfect audience to hit with a movie like this. If it was done well/better. But it missed so much they didn't even connect it to it in any way.)
I thought the ending where they all gathered around a spaceship giving a speech about how we have to change the future and protect the Earth from becoming inhabitable was a bit on the nose
“Preaching to the choir” is exactly what we said after watching this movie. I could see what it was trying to do but it was so heavy handed. There was no finesse. Meh, it was fine.
I agree with you ... but I liked it. It was a social and political satire and, for me, that worked. That ending, though ... worth it all.
I pre-watched his movie in advance of showing it to my husband, because he is a big science and astronomy lover, as well as an advocate for increased societal awareness of social and environmental issues, but he is NOT a movie guy. He gets easily frustrated with movies where characters act illogically or plot devices are thrown in willy nilly. I knew right away that he would despise this movie. It had a good message, but it was excessively long, had annoying extra plot elements, and the whole 'the world doesn't believe scientists' thing was turned up way past 11, to the point where it was incredibly aggravating to watch additional scenes. The ending was almost a redemption, except that the rich people got off the planet and found a new earth. I disliked that immensely.
As always, great video and analysis. It is criminal you don't have more subscribers.
I took it fully as a metaphor for COVID... I know now it was written before COVID, but didn't know that at the time.
I think the fact that this incredibly specific, intended, and on-the-nose metaphor -- about scientists signaling an immediate and present danger which politicians ignore, media sanitizes, and public doesn't want to talk about until it's too late -- works for TWO things... says more about us than it does about the movie.
I went into the movie knowing nothing about it. I just saw it was big cast with most of the actors I liked but I feel it was boring and I did not realize it was going to be so obnoxious with the politics. Not my kind of movie but in general I was just bored and Leonardo acted weird in the movie. I wish I saw the trailer before watching the movie thats for sure lol. For me one of the worst movies of 2021
are you the comet in the movie? 🤔
sorry, couldn't resist lol I agree. I think I only laughed twice and spent most the time bored/annoyed
I 100% agree with you. Aside from the fact that it took me a whole 2-3 weeks to finish the film, the ending was too bleak, in my opinion. Right now, I think the last thing we need is bleakness. What makes other satire like Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, or even Squid Game is that they always have a ray of hope. Which I think is realistic.
I quite liked the film, but I think you've got a pretty darn good point.
Good job. 😁👍
One of the best climate change movies is Scorched. An Australian film that predicted the huge bushfires that are happening because of climate change and the inaction of corrupt politicians.
I felt the point of the parallel breakdowns Lawrence and DiCaprio’s characters have is a subtle commentary on how, yes, the younger people are more vocal, but what I immediately read from it was how society likes to dismiss and invalidate women as soon as they display a show of extreme emotion, because if you recall, she became a meme as a crazy girl and no one took her seriously beyond that point, and even wrote off anything she said, in one part because the comet was named after her (completely missing the point that she was the person who discovered it in the first place) while her professor went on to be the person who got all the credit and the publicity for the discovery and was at least partly taken seriously the whole time, and was even romanticized as the sexy professor. And even after his own breakdown it didn’t have any notable effect on the public’s perception of him the way it did for his student.
Loved the video! I also love the hair!
The movie didn't surprise me. I've been watching the news for the past few years, I know we're screwed. To me reality seems to be much stranger than this fiction.
I enjoyed this movie even though I did perceive a lot of the problems you mentioned. So even though I do not totally agree with you, I can appreciate the fact that you always give well rounded reviews with reasons for your point of view. I could never review something as in depth as you, I don't have the attention span.
I thought the movie was more about the current health crisis than climate change and how the politicians, the billionaires, the doctors and the general public's reactions to it. I personally liked it but I won't deny that the ending (albeit cathartic IMO) is depressing.
I liked your review. As always.😀 Personally, I liked the film, especially the attempt to raise their voice. But I found it a bit chaotic. As you said, too many things were stuffed in. And it's too long.
On the other hand it's not 'just' about climate change in my opinion, but also how humanity 'worked' ( reacted, devided) in the last 2.5 years. In almost every problem we were facing. Such as COVID, vaccine, BLM, LGBTQ rights. People denying well visible things. Or create the most horrific conspiracy theories. The meteor is one thing that hasn't happened yet. Almost everything else wouldn't count as 'metaphor' .
Have you seen Death to 2020 and 2021? I'd love to know what do you think. Both are shorter, funnier and still many people found them offensive.
The problem with satira is, that the people who watch it, who understand it, those people already know it. Most people who should get the 'aha' moment....well, they usually misunderstand it or they find it offensive. ( with all respect to people who have the power of change and realisation)
Thanks. This helped me understand why the film left me so underwhelmed. 😡
I watched the movie just before watching this to have context. I enjoyed it, but agree with all of your points
What's Don't Look
the UP?
Deal
with
Don't look. What's the deal with Up?
I just realized CellSpex is a Patreon supporter, that's awesome
Ye gods! I get so tired of creators taking any and all criticisms of their work as an attack on either their person or their politics - or both!
And worse still, their fans doing the same thing! Stop it people, it's em-bare-ass-ing!
I’m not going to watch this movie. I’m already getting a masters degree in ecology and work with scientists and researchers doing everything possible to understand how ecosystems and agriculture can ameliorate and/or adapt to climate change. When I’m this immersed in it in my real life, I don’t want to spend even more time on it for entertainment. I don’t need a movie to tell me how bad things are.
I get the idea of Don't Look Up and I like the idea of absurdist satire, but I don't know why I don't feel like watching it.
I agree with pretty much all of your criticisms, despite actually having enjoyed the movie. It got a few chuckles out of me, and I also really liked the ending. In particular I really appreciated Timmy Chalamet’s character, and how he allowed us to sympathize with religious people and (presumably) others who have different beliefs to us on issues we consider important.
But yeah, the metaphor didn’t work well, the smugness was a bit much, and the movie was just way too long, especially for how it failed to accomplish whatever goal the director was going for.
For me, there's a nuance that the movie struck that is not preaching to the choir OR converting climate change deniers, but somewhere between. The message was don't be distracted. Climate change is hard to internalize, it's so big and we non-scientists only see the result in details; a glacier exposed. An uptick in hurricanes. Species redistribution and/or extinction. Unprecedented boiling days in the summer, freezes in the winter. And then it passes and seems back to normal again. The metaphor worked for me because it made something big, slow, and unseen fast and immediate. Does it really matter who's at fault? Isn't the point to stop pointing fingers and just figure out what we can do? Of course, a start would be to cut off the river of money flowing from the corporations to the lawmakers. And all that petty BS in the movie felt entirely too real. As well as how they tried to make it light, and fun because that's what we like to be told, that keeps their views high and the ad revenue rolling in. And when the sh!t hits the fan, the rich who sold us this bill of goods are out of here. What the movie wanted to do is wake us up, because this whole pantomime runs on our dollars. It's our clicks they want, our money the advertisers line up for. Our own consumerism is part (or most) of the problem, and that's where the movie aimed itself. Not at the activists or the deniers, but the rest of us. Good intentioned people who are worried about climate change, but it's not going to happen tomorrow, so lets gossip and buy our electronics, post on social, and carry on.
At least when it does hit the fan and they try the usual spin they can't use this template anymore.
I enjoyed the movie. A good description I heard is: "The people who really need to see this either won't like it or won't go at all" - I argue that it was not so much about persuading people but rather a satire of the huge satire of the wanton pig-headedness of some people. The people who side with the president and the media in this movie are so stupid, they can be told not to look up to see what is completely obvious. And I think that the film makes the point that, even if people get on board and understand, 99.9% of the world will have zero say or ability to change anything. This film can obviously also be a metaphor for covid - people just deny what scientists say based on talking points. On line I liked from the film, "We don't need peer review when the project is so popular!"
As Lore would say, the thumbnail says: "What's Dont Look the UP? Deal with"
What I took from Leonardo Decaprio’s character having the same on-air breakdown as Jennifer Lawrence’s character was mainly having to do with how she got lambasted with memes and mockery, and the whole world knowing her as “that crazy chick” while he essentially had no pushback from the general public as far as the movie lets on, aka a commentary on sexism. Aka another issue this movie takes on along with the 2738493762 issues it brings up just to fill airtime and go “see? This is a problem that exists. Not gonna say anything about it... but it exists”
"Is climate scientists boning news anchors a big problem I don’t know about?" I hadn't heard that either, but people thinking they're doing their best by being inside the system is a tale as old as time.
Just to put a point on Leo's character, I took it as he was a scientist, he was right, but he was also corruptible. He had the ability to get lost in the glitz and glamour of it all and be distracted from this very real threat. It's not until he has his outburst that he starts to understand how he was swayed. He then goes to reconcile because at that point nothng matters. I took this less as a movie about climate change and more about the political divide that threatens to ruin us all. I really enjoyed the movie and it held my attention the whole time.
It was taking the piss out of American politics … which was great !!! Loved it !
Sorry not just politics but the whole American society … we are all fucked and that’s the point !!
Funnily enough I don't think the significant factor affecting people's satisfaction with the movie is whether they are a believer in anthropogenic climate change or not, because it is an allegory it could apply to any other impending disaster such as the COVID pandemic or nuclear proliferation or economic collapse, unforseen side effects of GM foods, or a man-eating great white shark off the coast of a popular seaside resort, but I feel some other film probably covered that last one more transparently. I think the significant factor is trust in the institutions of government, media and corporations. If you distrust government, media and corporations then you'd probably enjoy this movie even if you are one of the people who believe that climate change is a fabrication. Lots of groups have maverick scientists as heroes, warning of something with terrible consequences that doesn't get appropriately serious media coverage. Sometimes two opposing sides on the same debate are operating with competing panic narratives, (which by the way often makes neither side particularly trustworthy because when stakes appear to be high there will always be some inclined to think that ends justify the means and be prepared to sacrifice objectivity, truth, principle or fairness in order to avert a perceived existential threat.).
It's interesting to me that the complaint is not that the media is in denial (aside from Fox who are depicted as in denial) but that big tech has hijacked the cause and monopolized it for personal gain. The big tech billionaire character has a solution to the comet that will make him even richer and this is the solution the government chooses to put its weight behind, even though it has little chance of working. Odd then that Streep's character swings from being a Trumpian denialist telling people to not look up but is also trying to take credit for the corporate solution to a problem that not looking up would suggest didn't exist.
I thought the joke that fell flattest was the celeb advocating for a "look up and look down" movement because I thought well that would be eminently sensible; what would be a silly centrism would be look neither up nor down! That joke had not been well thought out.
I agree with you the goal seems to be to preach to the choir but the question that I couldn't shake "what are they trying to say to the choir? Give up? We lost this one?"
If you want to be an extreme cynic about it, the message might be "at least it's not our fault." I'm not saying that is the message, but it's the sense I was left with.
apparently my sister can recommend being sick and delirious whilst watching it. The trip is supposedly a big time high XD
It might not be a good fit for climate change metaphor, but I don't think it really matter all that much since Covid came along, which falls under "act of God", and we've been seeing things playing out pretty much like in the movie.
Can't say though that the film made me laugh. No idea if it's because the jokes don't land or because I don't find the subject matter especially funny. If anything it left me rather petrified, because it reinforced the idea of how f***ed we are. And then I went online, read reviews and comments (my fault, I know), saw MAGA people's reactions to it and felt even more numb. And this experience is all that I got out of that movie.
No idea if the intention of the film was to kickstart a movement. As far as I'm concerned the only message I got was "No matter how hard you try, it'll be hopeless because everyone's an idiot - even, no, ESPECIALLY you!". I just felt emotionally defeated, really.
Well I just had 24 minutes of validation. Thanks
"What's don't look the deal up with?"
(But fr I didn't read the title and it took me minutes oh God -- but the design is cool but my brain is slow)
maybe its more about alegory than analogy? some scenes drag tho with their comedy seeming being just actors adlibing a bit. ps. from what i saw in interviews, DiCaprio character breaking down moment is totally actor improvising that they decided to keep in (it has weird position in the plot but kinda fits into the way the movie is for me)
This is also an allegory about January 6, vaccinations, and politics in general.
I caught the last 30 minutes or so and it seemed really bad. I refuse to listen to the people who are telling me this is a good movie and I should watch it. No!
The premise of the movie sounds like a better fit to be about covid.
this is such a good video, thanks for posting !
I loved the ending, because the main goodies just sat down around the same table and were soooo human 😭💔 But the movie as a whole was sooo hard to watch because it could have been so good. I loved the take on "Satire or propaganda?" of this movie 😍 I think it was a Wisecrack youtube video? Highly recommend!
Great vid! Personally I found the movie to be a bit boring which is what usually happens when there's not a character that I feel for. I think this movie would've hit stronger for me and maybe others if it focused on one protagonist -- maybe just a kid trying to get everyone to pay attention to the disaster and meeting a bunch of people in different fields along the way. The movie could've drawn inspiration from the many real life young activists to make that character. Because it is the younger generations who will really suffer for the greed and inaction of the older.
Whoa, so little likes! Weird. While I disagree with some of your arguments, your point overall is very valid! And I agree that the movie was, ehh,,, not the best piece of satire.
I really liked the film. It was funny. People saying it’s really unsubtle and in your face with it’s message, isn’t that kinda the point? To highlight how absurd things have gotten in recent times
Thank you so much for making this video! I didn't like the movie either (the satire & comedy was just not well done in my opinion and I really agree with the smugness factor), and while I have a couple other reasons (for example, the fact that they made the president a woman to me felt like fake wokeness while completely ignoring the glass cliff), it was still really refreshing to see someone who agreed with me. Even some of my family members disagree with me, but it was a little hard to articulate my points. I understand why some people would enjoy the "preaching to the choir" aspect, I personally did not enjoy that despite agreeing with it. To me it didn't feel like a meaningful enough metaphor, it was just too blunt. I love media that criticizes society in a meaningful way, but for me this movie just didn't do it. Anyway, great video! I do not regret subscribing to this amazing channel.
I didn't hate it, it was reasonably enjoyable to watch (mainly the individual performances and a few of the jokes were good), but there didn't seem to be a real purpose in making the film beyond the filmmakers saying "Look how clever we are", to which I thought, "Yes, very clever, well done, but that's not why I watch movies".
I completely disagree that a piece of art saying "more people should be taking x seriously" is a failure if it does not, itself, cause more people to take x seriously. That's such an arbitrary standard. A piece of art *can* just be for the sake of making people who already agree with you feel heard, or even feel smug and superior. I think a lot of media is fully and exclusively intended to make the consumer feel superior. Do I kind of have an issue with that aesthetically and morally? Yeah. But if it did what it set out to do, it's not a failure.
This was a really good review, I've only heard your perspective and Steve Shives, and like, even both of those being in some kind of conflict, they're both perfectly coherent and entertaining. Nevertheless, I don't watch apocalypse movies at all, I think I ended up in The Happening once because it looked like the least worse movie on at the time, and I really hated it, and that doesn't, in my memory, even have a coherent message about how we treat nature if only because it's seemingly supernatural anthropomorphising of nature collectively - how do you fight that?!?!
So yeah, thank you!
So, I didn't know this movie was about climate change and neither did my family? For people like us in Europe this came across as more of a political criticism in form of making fun of people like Donald Trump, with the overly right world view, money and such than of climate change? Like there were the hats, the slogans and this story was written so there was no way the view this story outside United States? If this movie intended to speak to a wider than America, then it failed, but I guess in Europe the climate deniers are far less of a problem as we can already see the results first hand- So I guess just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ *shrugs*
So, CZcams showed me this video right after I watched the movie and Id like to point to your point about the disaster not being manmade: That is, frankly, irrelevant from the start. The point is, there is a catastrophe coming, scientists find out and the we get the whole story about how people react. Whether it is manmade or not is not relevant at any point. Also, all those things satirized in the second half are aspects of one very large issue being adressed. It takes a few minor shots at other topics, but those are mostly done after one or two lines (well, Ron Perlman's character could have spoken a little less, but his point was that his involvement was a PR decision when the mission did not even need a pilot). Precisely because it takes on all these aspects I feel confident in saying the goal of the movie was showing how broad and how deeply seated the issues are in society. Because if you know what it is like to try and get people to act on climate change, you know that this movie barely exaggerates anything. Smugness? Maybe in the portrayal of the president and Isherwell (the Elon Musk), but on everything else, mostly accuracy with quite a bit of frustration about that.
I liked it. I found it pretty funny…ish. Honestly, it just kind of depressed me, not because it was sad in itself, but just the fact that I’m not sure it’s really that unrealistic. It’s like a modern Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. I think it’s really about the general apathy of people now. Normal people do care about climate change… but I think many of us also share a lack of optimism in our leaders so what’s really left to do except (to show my Britishness) just Keep Calm and Carry On.
Huh, when I was watching it I didn't see it as being about climate change specifically, but more about the general public not treating scientific problems like pandemics, climate change, etc. appopriatley.
And lots of other stuff about just the state of current society
Viewing it from this angle gets rid of a lot of the problems you had with it because it no longer needs to be a metaphor, it's now just about "How would society as it currently exists react to a world ending comet approaching Earth"
I enjoyed the film. It accurately summed up what is wrong with current political discourse and how it fails to tackle both climate change and the pandemic.
I honestly feel a bit ridiculous but I genuinely thought the movie was about the pandemic.
I think you should watch a movie called Sardar Udham!!! It is phenomenal and is available on Prime... Would love to hear your thoughts on this one!