This is the End
This is the End
Eyes on The Sky
March 24, 2022
Don’t Look Up (2021)
We get it.
The planet is in considerable peril and many Americans, if not most, are too dumb, corrupt, naïve, or selfish to appreciate that we must acknowledge the existence of climate change, its relentlessness, its severity, and our great need to act differently, accordingly, in nearly every facet of our lives, to stave off doom, if not for this generation, then certainly the next.
In other words, we’re fucked. And we get it.
To say Don’t Look Up is heavy-handed in its message that we need to respond, right now, to the dangers that face our natural world and thus our existence and that we are not doing nearly enough is akin to saying that The Godfather was a bit forceful in saying that if you cross a Corleone, you’re gonna catch a bullet.
We get it.
But some messages need to be said over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And then a few more times. Especially when that message is, yes, here it comes again; we’re fucked if we don’t recycle more, stop eating meat, drive less, plant more trees, vote only for lawmakers who are committed to the green new deal and will enact universal health care and just generally live our lives each day giving a shit.
Don’t Look Up is not a metaphor. It’s a punch in the nuts. A funny, and smart, and maybe a bit annoying punch in the nuts. The story is about the discovery of a comet that is going to kill us all quite soon and no one wants to listen because they’re very dumb and refuse to believe science, facts, urgency, or kindness. Six or seven years ago the plot of this film might have been just as funny, or maybe even funnier, because it would have been so outlandish. But now, after four years of Donald Trump being president and millions of Americans refusing to acknowledge the results of the election largely because they watch Fox News, are racist, misogynist, corrupt Christians, and just plain assholes, it’s not as funny. But it’s still funny enough.
And did we mention that this movie relentlessly reminds us how stupid, corrupt, disturbing, and evil Donald Trump and his supporters and Fox News are? Oh yeah, we said that just a second ago, didn’t we?
Don’t Look Up has lots of laughs. Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and Rob Morgan are on their game, as is director-writer Adam McKay. The people who need to watch movies like this probably won’t, and if they do, they probably won’t understand so we might ask, what’s the point?
But we need to be reminded every day – hopefully in funny ways – that this planet is fragile, our democracy is vulnerable, and science, facts, humility, and resolve are needed to win the day. And save the fuckin’ world. --TK
Friday, March 25, 2022