Don't Look Up

[Samwise]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL9aJcqrtnw

It's very good, and might make you want to throw things at your TV. 

A lot of people describe it as being "a satire about climate change", but I think it's more accurate to say that it's about how much the Internet has utterly fucked our general ability to get our shit together.  If climate change weren't a thing the whole movie would work just fine as an allegory for Covid.

[schild]

yeah it's also just absolutely shitting all over the right wing from the first until the last frame

[Surlyboi]

A lot of Performative Leftists are using it as their newest litmus test. If you don’t like it, you’re obviously a shitlib or a republican.

It blew too much smoke up its own ass for my taste but it did have some funny moments.

[Khaldun]

Man, you must really try hard to find your performative leftists, because my feeds full of leftists really didn't like it. Anyhoo. We're up here in the non-Politics.

[Surlyboi]

I didn’t try at all. Half my feed was Sirota and McKay stans telling anyone that had the temerity to say they didn’t like it that they didn’t like it because “it was holding up a mirror that they saw themselves in.”

And yeah, politics is down there but this flick was still a weird ass instance of a lot of culty people coming out to defend the creators. Like Zack Snyder fans jumping on people that didn’t like his cut of Justice League.

[Sir T]

I've a feeling Khaldun's "leftists" are pretty professional at best and downright fake at worst.

Personally, even I've seen a few people give "everyone needs to see this movie!" type phrases, so there must be a swell of missionary zeal abut it since I'm not exactly on the pulse of the internet.

[Lightstalker]

Much of my feed is pissed at the tropes and missed justice opportunities: the stereotypes, the gender roles, the lack of strong female characters, etc. wishing better of us than the realities of the people who are still alive and in the way of such opportunities.  Astronomy is a hotbed of gender shitstorms, where even punishments and rehabilitative attempts become controversial (if a big name institute attempts to rehabilitate someone it is seen as reward for the bad behavior because the offender keeps the prestige and that institute remains toxic for the victims, but if the big name just kicked the offender out they'd move to a smaller school and continue without changing behavior at all).  A lot of the classism and status-clout sniping between disciplines and authorities rings true, however.

It is super heavy-handed, but also not heavy enough because folks think it is political or about Covid and about cutting down their tribe personally.  It was filming before Covid broke out, so yeah, this isn't a pandemic parable, it is about people looking away but doesn't give any answer on how to break through the cognitive defensive shield.  I guess it is supposed to be an escape and entertainment?  There were funny parts I guess?  I heard about loss of grounding lines in Antarctic glaciers back in 2016, would have been a better movie back before that but now it feels like doomcasting and punching us while we're down.  Like a 5 year old yelling "I made you breathe!"   

How plausible?  Anyone remember 2003's Hydrogen Economy Initiative?  $1.2B from George Bush spent over 3 years to transform the future (spend enough to show it can't work) that was captured mainly by O&G and Automobile companies.  BMW created a 12 cylinder Hydrogen combustion engine to "show the potential of the hydrogen future."  So, the premise of doing enough and only enough for show and to push public opinion instead of achieve a meaningful end all lines up with what we do around here - down to the people causing the problem reaping the rewards for 'developing' the solution (but in the climate case they are getting paid to solve the problem they are being paid to create).  Funny that we're in the midst of phase 2 of the Hydrogen future, similarly bullshit with very narrow lines of theoretical utility supporting massive PR campaign with hydrogen of every color of the rainbow coming to save our world and keep the O&G companies in business.  This is all normal, and drawing attention to that doesn't encourage change.  While being right on the internet might feel great and a movie like this sings to the choir... is it helpful?  This doesn't rally the troops or convert the heathens, so it walks that dangerous path of alarm and doom that Uninhabitable Earth also walked (I liked Uninhabitable Earth much more, but also wouldn't recommend it to friends and family because it isn't meant to be entertainment).  It feels self-indulgent and designed to tweak noses instead of change the outcome (personally, that's not the encouragement I need right now, other's will have different mental states). 

The recent books: Saving Us, Ministry for the Future, and Electrify are all more hopeful and useful (general) calls to action.

[Khaldun]

So, yes, now I'm seeing people pass on a few links of folks who think this is the best most leftist thing ever. But plenty of folks with similar politics are like meh, no, in response.

[Setanta]

I enjoyed it and could see how it was going to play out. It does remind me of the issues we face with the Murdoch press, right wing leaders (Hi Scotty from Marketing/Engadine) denying issues of importance and fucking off to Hawaii as his country burned.

[Sky]

[slog]

My wife and I watched it.  It was a bit clumsy at times, but overall was decent satire.  I wouldn't pay to see it in a theater.  I certainly wouldn't say it's the best thing ever.

They do a great job demonstrating how non-serious the USA is .

[HaemishM]

Three years ago this movie would have seemed much too ridiculous to be taken seriously.

Now, it doesn't feel ridiculous enough. Satire is dead.