Are you willing to give up your comforts to save the planet?
By Bernarda Vasquez
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The film "Don't Look Up" released at the end of 2021, is about two scientists who seek to warn the world about a "planet-killer" comet with direct trajectory to Earth, that could destroy it in 6 months. The situation is real and catastrophic, however they do not receive the necessary attention and action from the authorities, media or the general public who prefer to focus on trivial issues. The movie portrays how people care more about political popularity, personal relationships of celebrities or the rating of television programs over a world crisis. To save humanity from extinction, there is a plan to destroy the meteorite, but economic interests as well as technical problems prevent doing so and the planet Earth comes to an end.
The subliminal message of Adam McKay, director and producer of the film, is about the climate crisis, and a criticism to the media for not giving it the relevance it deserves, and to society for not acting upon it and even, in some cases, denying its existence. He seeks to generate awareness and action through humor.
The movie reminded me of several world events. One of them was the coronavirus pandemic, as I found a lot of similarities with the political, social and health management worldwide. Additionally, I also found associations with the vegan movement, in which I will focus since it is more related to the climate crisis and pollution.
Veganism has long been a small group, considered extreme and attracting a lot of hatred. This is because, its practice of a plant-based diet and abstaining from consuming any type of animal products, challenges the status quo and the comforts of society.
Vegans main mission is to avoid animal exploitation and promote a green lifestyle that cares about the conservation of the environment, while other types of vegans do it for health and religious reasons.
Throughout the film I could see many similarities with veganism, such as the little importance they gave to the characters and the meteorite, as they also do with the message of vegans, considering it exaggerated or an object of ridicule. You can also appreciate the low visibility that this movement receives in the media and when it reaches the air, they are presented in a negative way, showing when they fall into desperate and violent movements and not when they make encouraging and peaceful campaigns. In this case, we can see the presence of the media theories of agenda-setting and framing, where the first dictates "what" stories are relevant to talk about, and the second directs "how" these issues are portrayed. Both tactics are used to influence the audience by telling them what is currently important and how to interpret it.
As happened in the movie, after the rejection, came the social interest. In some countries now being vegan is mainstream. Political and feminist groups use it to attract more supporters. Influencers have gone viral with their quinoa dishes and avocado toast. And many companies are taking economic profits from this product trend. However, things fall back into triviality, like the attitude of President Orlean in the movie, and as a result, the main objective of taking care of animals, health and the planet is lost.
As social interest grows, the space given to the vegan movement also increases, the gatekeepers of the media, politics, industries and health, allow there to be more information about this diet since they all have to grow their business. While some vegan groups use propaganda, to indoctrinate and get more followers, who in search of more information may fall into an Internet rabbit hole.
Finally I would like to point out that a problem I saw with the film is that although it seeks to draw attention and consequently generate action on the climate crisis, the representation was not correct. The presence of a comet destroying the Earth is an external agent and there is little we can do about it. On the contrary, the environmental problems of our planet are caused by humankind and can be alleviated if we all become aware and take action. That is the reason why, from my perspective, the film does not invite viewers to empower themselves with the problem and do something about it. On the contrary vegans live as the preach. They are willing to leave foods they like and abstain from day-to-day comforts to really do something for the animals and the environment. What about you, are you willing to give up your comforts to save the planet?
BY: Nick
ReplyDeleteExactly, I think modern human society has not established a mechanism to effectively prevent all human crises. In the face of major disasters, you will find that only a small number of people are saving the world and most people are at a loss. Modern society emphasizes the individual, emphasizes individuality, and advocates the protection of personal will. Under such circumstances, things will be more difficult to change.
Yes, when politics is combined with the chips it wants, this thing will often change its flavor and lose its true colors. This also requires us, as journalists, to clarify the essence and truth of things and guide people not to over correct or deviate from the focus.——He YiPeng（Bruce）
ReplyDeletePolitics and business need the contrast of the media. The media and business need the policies of the government. Both the government and the media need money.-----------Zhang Jiahui (Lucas)
ReplyDeleteIn fact, on a deeper level, the film is a satire of the American government and the American epidemic. It is a satire of American society.
ReplyDelete——Zheng HaoYuan (John)
I agree with you that he uses a lot of humor but actually in this case exactly I felt much more anger that he used the idea of a comet to destroy the whole earth after losing faith in what supposed to be "leaders" and in Media itself that started to be nothing more than just a tool for those politicians and stopped doing it's job a long time ago. Nice spotting of Veganism ! (Zeina)
ReplyDelete