Is Don’t Look Up Just Another Disaster Movie?
**CONTENT WARNING: use of profanity
Don’t Look Up is an Oscar-nominated disaster film that was released in the era of the pandemic. Premiering on Netflix on December 5th, the film follows the journey of two astronomers: Kate DiBiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), a Ph.D. candidate who discovers a comet headed for a catastrophic collision with Earth, and Randall Mindy (Leonardo DeCaprio), her professor at Michigan State. While director Adam McKay wrote the script for Don’t Look Up as a commentary on climate change in November 2019, the themes of denial, political polarization, and corporate greed force audiences to reflect on the reaction to the COVID-19 crisis.
My first introduction to Adam McKay’s direction was in his 2015 film, The Big Short, a comedy-drama surrounding the 2008 Financial Crisis. While Don’t Look Up doesn’t include Margot Robbie explaining mortgage-backed bonds in a bathtub, McKay continues his trend of utilizing cynicism and pop-culture references to add humor to his social critiques. Prominent celebrities, Kid Cudi and Ariana Grande appeared in the movie to satirize the media’s obsession with superstars and its disconnect with reality. After Mindy and DiBiasky’s findings are confirmed by NASA, they are asked on a morning talk show: The Daily Rip. While there, the audience is more concerned with singers Riley Bina (Ariana Grande) and DJ Chello (Kid Kudi) breaking up than the extinction-level event that will occur in six months. What? Russia and Ukraine might go to war? I don’t know about that, but did you hear that Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are having a baby? Although this message does ring true, I thought this aspect of the movie was overly exaggerated and hypocritical considering the film’s star-studded cast.
Meryl Streep plays Janie Orlean brilliantly and her hilarious portrayal of the U.S. President is reminiscent of Trump and other populist leaders. After being caught in a sex scandal with her SCOTUS nominee, Orlean decides that addressing the comet’s threat is the best way to win back the public’s affection. However, in the middle of the rescue attempt, Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a billionaire tech tycoon representing a hybrid of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, convinces Orlean to abort the mission. Instead, Isherwell proposes that the comet be broken up and extracted of trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals, even though – get this – you can’t make money if you’re dead. Rylance’s engaging performance as the soft-spoken but analytical Isherwell was my favorite portrayal in the film. Isherwell’s disregard for the well-being of others in order to make more money criticizes the 1% in society who ride off the backs of their workers. It comments on the profit motive which manifests into dehumanizing business practices and harsh treatment of the working class.
The pace of the movie increases as the inevitability of disaster begins to dawn on its characters. Following Isherwell’s proposal, public opinion is divided into comet deniers, those that support Isherwell’s plan because of its opportunities for economic growth, and those against it. This is the most direct parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic as the comet deniers are compared with anti-vaxxers. As a result of anti-science rallies, DiBiasky and Mindy coin the phrase “Just Look Up” once the comet is close enough to see with the naked eye. This catchy phrase is meant to encourage the public to recognize the problem at hand, and also spurs the titular phrase “Don’t Look Up.” This is the movie’s best use of cynicism to criticize the division in society, but while the messages are true, this commentary feels obvious and drawn out over its two-and-a-half-hour run time.
Eventually, as we all know it would, Isherwell’s plan fails. However, the rich (including President Orlean) are able to escape on a spaceship to another planet, leaving the rest of humanity awaiting their death. This acts as a forewarning to the effects of global warming and the pandemic, where the working class and people of color are still being disproportionately affected. While waiting for their deaths, the protagonists and their loved ones gather for dinner. At this point, the most powerful line of the movie is spoken, and I don’t mean Timothée Chalamet’s enthusiastic delivery of “I fucking love fingerling potatoes.” It is DiCaprio who says “We really had everything, didn’t we?” Humanity as a whole keeps on striving for more, especially when it comes to material wealth, but this necessitates the sacrifice of the greater good of humanity. Ultimately, the movie uses satirical devices to criticize our current economic system, as the desire to create and release harmful gasses comes at the expense of human life.
In the post-credit scene, the passengers on the presidential ship land on an alien planet. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I didn’t want to see the passengers butt naked while they roamed around an alien planet (even if Meryl Streep had a butt double). All in all, Don’t Look Up was an enjoyable and thought-provoking film, but it is not exempt from criticism– and I’m not just saying that because my application to be an extra was rejected. Some of the jokes were forced and dry, and at times the movie was an overdose of social commentary rather than an enjoyable comedy. However, the movie’s sobering messages about climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic not only reflect today’s world but comment on the likelihood of disaster, which ultimately makes this movie a must-see.
by ANIKA BASU