Opinion: Here’s how ‘Don’t Look Up’ would really play out
*Editor’s note: Contains spoilers for “Don’t Look Up”
Two highly-educated astronomers recently found a startling discovery that will change the course of Earth forever. A comet about 10 kilometers wide (about the height of Mount Everest) is on a direct collision course with Earth in six months in a potentially extinction-level event.
The White House has been informed about the comet and is taking the necessary steps to help save the planet. In their own words, “We will sit and assess.”
That seems insane right? There is a confirmed hit on Earth that will wipe out all life, and the president tells us to wait and see what happens?
Well, that is what happens in Netflix’s new movie “Don’t Look Up” directed by Adam Mckay and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. The two Hollywood superstars play the astronomers that make the discovery of the comet.
The purpose of the movie is completely satire: a life-threatening event that half the planet does not even believe is happening. When informed of the comet, the president of the United States (played by Meryl Streep) decides to use the information to her political advantage, helping her in the mid-term polls that she was struggling in. Months later, when a scandal involving the president breaks the news, she tells the country about the comet, which they are taking direct action to blow up.
Conspiracy theories start to circulate, resulting in the nation being divided. Most Americans (and the president’s followers) start the phrase “Don’t Look Up,” to resolve the panic and have everyone focus on the political gain of the president.
The movie is an obvious slap in the face on what we are experiencing right now, which — if we are not careful — could result in something disastrous. Just like how the pandemic turned from a worldwide panic to a political debate, it isn’t the first time something like this has become political and shouldn’t have. And it won’t be the last.
“I don’t think the media will entirely ignore an extinction-level event that seems this immediate,” said Afsane Rezaei, a Utah State University English professor. “‘Normal people’s’” interpretation of events can also get picked up by media outlets or become mainstream or go viral, as we have seen with the pandemic misinformation.”
I fully believe that something far worse than a pandemic could happen, and it would run the course just like the comet did in this movie. A very real discovery is made, said discovery is made known to the higher ups in the country, country sits on this and stews with it until the perfect and most beneficial time is available.
In a desperate outcry for help, these two astronomers go on televised talk shows, like the equivalent of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” or “The View,” to try and get the word out. They both end up making a fool out of themselves because they don’t know how to act or what to say in front of a camera. They end up going viral on the internet and people make memes and stupid catchphrases from them. It only worsened their efforts.
That is what’s frightening about this movie. It is scarily accurate to what would actually happen.
“It’s hard to talk about media as a single, unified entity, but I do think the film is accurate in its portrayal of corporate media’s tendency to create entertaining content at the expense of overlooking important, existential issues like climate change,” said Rezaei. “On the other hand, I feel like an extinction-level event of this magnitude would be hard to ignore, especially since it’s easy to dramatize and turn into a spectacle.”
And the film absolutely doesn’t sugarcoat the outcome or the consequences. In the end, the comet crashes into Earth, killing all life as we know it. A select few from the ultra-rich are able to make it to escape to another planet, but they are guilted by the fact that they left everyone else to suffer. Which, surprisingly, is the only unrealistic thing that happens.
Rezaei said she would believe the astronomers but would panic initially. She would then try to join others organizing against the politicians and corporations.
“Though to be honest, I am very skeptical it would work,” she said. “I think our ending is going to be pretty similar to how it’s portrayed in the film, which I find quite striking, and very real.”
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Kaden Schipaanboord is studying journalism at Utah State. He has a passion for movies and loves anything outdoors.
— A02331363@usu.edu