Don’t Look Up was released on the 5th of December 2021 on the streaming service Netflix. The movie had big promise, being directed and written by Adam McKay, who previously directed The Big Short whilst also starring Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, among a huge cast of star-studded actors. We were promised a comedy with a satirical approach to the western worlds social and political stance on global warming. This should have been the first red flag. However, like people doomed to die from an asteroid, we as an audience were doomed into trusting the friendly faces we had learnt to love and trust.
The movie follows Dr Randall Mindy (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (played by Jennifer Lawrence), desperately trying to save the world from a comet heading towards the Earth. Unfortunately, they live in a world where capitalism thrives and disregards the lives of the working class. Meanwhile, the working class are arguing over whether the comet is even real, whether they should look up or not and acknowledge the rock hurtling them all into an early grave. The film is symbolic of the approach our world has towards global warming. Similar to reality, the wider population are ignoring the problem of global warming, in the film’s case, the asteroid, leading us into inevitable extinction. However, the problem with this film, and the problem with my last statement, is that putting the focus on the ‘wider population’ diminishes individuality and forces responsibility onto everyone. You may think, but I recycle my cardboard and glass jars? But I switched to solar panels, or I am trying to shop more sustainability. The main problem with this film is its attempts to shame the audience into action that arguably won’t make much difference. A huge corporation, such as Netflix, has created a film budgeted at $75 million to create a change that hypocritically disregards its own message.
In 2020, the UK alone had over 15 million subscriptions to Netflix. Netflix is a multi-million company with huge power and responsibility. Exercising this power would be more efficient and resourceful if used for charity work and campaigns rather than a 2-hour 25-minute movie that could have easily been half that if DiCaprio had cut down on the dramatic pauses. According to the Guardian 2020, the production of a single film omits 500 tonnes of CO2 eq. The film industry is not innocent in our global warming crisis. In all due respect, the film did explore the levels of responsibility for the worlds ending. We are given symbolic characters to represent and ridicule Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Lawrence’s character is even overlooked in her warnings due to the public misconception of her as crazy and hysterical, stemming from the fact that she is a woman. We are given various characters with different responsibilities towards saving the Earth. However, outside of the film’s realm of reflectiveness, we just have a film showing us the problem and excluding resolution.
Additionally, some of the films most beloved actors and actresses are also controversial in the ecological field. Leonardo DiCaprio, specifically, is known to own a $110 million super-yacht, which emits not just a carbon footprint, but a title of hypocrisy as DiCaprio is a UN climate change ambassador. Another factor of the film’s production that goes against its message is its failure to rise above the gender pay gap. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lawrence said, ‘I was number one on the call sheet.’ However, according to a Vanity Affair Report, Lawrence was paid $25 million, $5 million less than her co-star DiCaprio. Admittedly, Lawrence has made a statement about the situation, claiming she didn’t mind. However, this film highlights the media’s disregard and lack of respect for women. Lawrence’s character continuously being villainized in her attempts to warn the world of her discovered comet. The comet is even named after her, yet she is subsequently forced into a grocery store job. This shows more contradictions in the film’s message and its production. Similarly to Lawrence’s character, Lawrence is doing the most work and reeking the least amount of benefits.
The main problem with this film is that it falls into a troupe of the rich saviour. The rich saviour who knows better; the rich saviour who will save us all from our sins. Consequently, it was inevitable that the film would fall flat, leaving the audience bored, lectured and judged, whilst its creators were left even more rich and powerful.