‘Sit tight and assess’ the Not One, But Two Crises Presented in Don’t Look Up
Image Courtesy of Netflix
By Trinity Ruiz
Directed by Adam McKay and written by both McKay and David Sirota, Don’t Look Up can be classified as a quasi-satirical take on climate change and COVID-19, but most significantly as a mockery of society’s response to these consequential dilemmas.
Leaving no scene stagnant, the plot unfolds at the very beginning when Ph.D. candidate of Michigan State Kate Dibiasky (played by Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a comet. Just shortly after celebrating the discovery, Professor Dr. Randall Mindy (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) confirms with calculations that the newly uncovered comet will destroy the earth in under seven months. When taking this evidence to the White House, the audience is introduced to the narcissistic President Orlean (played by the one and only Meryl Streep) who is blatantly indifferent to the news and concerned solely for the public’s opinion of her.
Only adding to society’s distraction, an exaggerated version of corporations such as Apple and Google entitled BASH Cellular is presented as a mobile company that caters to one’s every need. The implementation of this fictional mobile company parallels dystopian novels such Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 in its idea of control, instant gratification, and privacy infringements. CEO of BASH cellular Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) is an allegorical symbol for the many companies operating on vast consumerism despite the stakes.
The plan to resolve the impending doom goes awry when Orlean and Irshwell abort the missile that was meant to destroy the comet. The overturn of the missile is justified when Isherwell presents his discovery of rare minerals within the comet to the Presidential Cabinet. These scarce findings are presented to be the “revelatory” ending to social crises such as world hunger and social injustice as they contain trillions of dollars in assets. While still enabling the comet to hit the earth, the new proposition is to use nanotechnology to break the comet into thirty individual pieces. As the film’s musical composition encapsulates that of an SNL skit, this particular scene reveals its irony through a paradoxical symphonic and angelic tune during Isherwell’s presentation.
As a previous writer for Saturday Night Live in 1995, it is no surprise that director Adam McKay implemented uncountable parallels to a skit; no scene in this film hid from its meticulous attempt to evidently and ironically warn society of the direction in which it is heading. The accuracy of pointed memes at Lawrence’s character and so-called “launch challenges” circling social media reflects society’s most-likely reaction to the crises today. McKay does a forceful job of ridiculing media and its influences while reminding society of the inevitable end that can come about because of it.
Critic for The Washington Post Ann Hornaday points out that this film “may be less a political satire than a sociocultural one.” One of the countless times this is proven in the film is when the populace deems Kid Cudi and Ariana Grande’s celebrity characters’ breakup as the most significant tragedy occurring whilst oblivion’s time is ticking. The political partisanship between the few realists and those in denial of the crisis escalates as the film progresses. With merchandise encouraging those to refrain from looking up sported by Orlean herself, McKay warns audiences, through the ending, that if the government is not in favor of the common good, then there is no chance of achieving it.
This film is bittersweet in regards to the derisive jokes and the disappointment of them actually being funny. The movie makes it evident that every crisis has become political rather than universal. While proving society’s preoccupation in fleeting and insignificant matters, McKay makes known the alarming apathy expressed towards an existential crisis.
