Capitalist Greed & Political Corruption: ‘Don’t Look up’ Satirical Criticism of Blinding Concerns

2021 most talked-about film Don't Look Up was a successful effort of McKay to highlight how people, being absorbed by the entertainment culture, can overlook the evident dangers facing them. The film satirically criticized the greed of capitalism and the inability of the political system to address many crucial crises, most notably climate change.

Don't Look Up is taking the awards season by storm. The dark comedy was nominated on Feb. 8 in four categories for the Oscar: Best Picture, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), and Writing (Original Screenplay). Previously the film earned Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics Choice award nominations.

The film was written and directed by Adam McKay and was played by global star actors such as Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. The two actors went on a global journey to warn humanity of the danger of an asteroid approaching that will destroy the planet after 6 months.

The movie became a hot topic of discussion for its provocative socio-political content. The Guardian commented on the film by saying: “Rarely has a film been as divisive as Adam McKay’s climate satire Don’t Look Up.”

 

Satirical Criticism

Although it has only been broadcasted on Netflix since December 24, 2021, millions had already watched it, to become Netflix’s third most-watched film ever. The climate movements believe that the story of scientists who discover an imminent danger that will soon end life on Earth is an allegory for the climate crisis.

The movie presented a satirical view of how decision-makers, politicians, and the media are dealing with major environmental issues, most importantly climate change.

It was considered as a direct call to take the warnings of scientists seriously and to move quickly to educate people about measures that might save what can be saved.

David Ritter, chief executive of Greenpeace Asia Pacific, said he was deeply touched by the sense of desperation portrayed by the film’s scientists, explaining how the climate scientists share the same desperation. He said: “the film is very, very powerful.”

Except for the scientists, the film showed that the other political and business entities decided to ignore the worsening crisis. Many movie characters were similar to real political leaders and business owners. Such as President Orlen who seems to be a clear reference to former President Donald Trump and other American politicians who do not care about anything other than winning or losing the elections. On another side, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk was portrayed by Mark Rylance, the owner of the mobile phone company who is only interested in boosting his business, even at the expense of the consumers’ lives.

The Guardian stated: “Billed as a satirical comedy, what satire could even come close to the experience of the world’s biggest climate conference, Cop26 in Glasgow.”

It is noteworthy that the main achievement of nearly 200 governments and 30,000 delegates after two weeks of work and meetings under the pressure and warnings of scientists and climate advocates all over the world was a decision to “return next year and try a bit harder.”

 

Capitalist Greed

The film sheds light on the idea that capitalist greed always fails to confront major issues and challenges. The capitalist mindset prioritizes money-generating activities regardless of their humanitarian costs and repercussions.

Yet, Coronavirus has proven the failure of the capitalist world in facing deadly crises. The high number of victims around the world along with the enormous economic damages stood as best evidence showing that consumption and entertainment are not the solutions to the dangers threatening humanity.

In August 2021, the Pew Research Center stated in a report: “The affordability of healthcare is high on the public’s list of the biggest problems in the US today, with 56% of adults describing this as ‘a very big problem’ and an additional 30% rating it ‘a moderately big problem.'”

However, initiatives seeking to tackle such a big problem do not enjoy popularity. For instance, as of December 2021, brands, footballers and Musicians topped the list of the ten most popular Facebook pages. Starting with Facebook as the first popular page, Samsung, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mr. Bean, CGTN, 5-minutes crafts, Shakira, Real Madrid C.F, Will Smith, and ending with Coca-Cola.

It is not surprising that none of the 10 most popular pages was about Humanity’s big challenges, although there are many pages of the latter category in Facebook. This reflects the crucial importance of the entertainment and consumption cultures in society, at the expense of big world challenges.

The writer Amari GAITER commented on the film: “Adam Mckay’s new Netflix movie Don’t Look Up provides a timely, unique allegory that highlights the deadliest pandemic we are forcefully inundated with today: Capitalism.”

She added: “Public response to the film shows how our collective is lost in capitalist darkness, subsumed by the way things are as opposed to evolving in ways that will allow the light to shine through. Many of us have more blind spots than we think, constantly 'looking' in the wrong direction.”

 

Climate Crisis

Climate change is the focus of environmental organizations, but their struggle to make it a priority in society gets disturbed by the politicians’ decisions. Since the conservative political agenda in the US does not prioritize the climate change threats, Trump withdrew from the climate agreement in 2017 blowing up the efforts and struggle of the environmentalist groups.

With the rule of democrats, environmental and other agreements were re-enacted, and promotion of the environmental issues flourished. Thus, such a big challenge for the world is fluctuating according to political orientations.

DiCaprio described Don't Look Up as “I think we all see this as a surprisingly unique gift," stressing his desire and the filmmakers' will to “convey a message about the climate crisis."

He was appointed by the United States as a peace envoy on climate issues, and he was engaged to donate to environmental conservation projects for more than two decades.

The title of the film may refer to the academic researcher Joseph Campbell’s critics of the modern era’s scourge that distracted people from important issues.

Campbell wrote that the residents of major cities are deprived of seeing the sky, due to the height of the towers and a large number of advertisements. Urgent life’s concerns prevent them from "looking up," thinking, and reflecting on how to deal with major issues to find appropriate solutions.

Damian Carrington an environment editor commented on the film by saying: “It highlights the absurdity of staring disaster in the face, then looking away.”

Referring to how climate female scientists are negatively stereotyped, Nina Lakhani, an environmental justice reporter, said: “Jennifer Lawrence’s character will resonate with many female climate scientists.”