Don’t Look Up is Turning Into a Reality
By: Marsha Rusli
Edited by: Fiorina Siamir
‘Don’t Look Up,’ a film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, is a film some of us may be familiar with. It is an American apocalyptic political satire black comedy film where a discovery is made regarding a comet orbiting within the solar system. This is one problem discussed in the film; however, another issue is that no one seems to care about the crisis. Recently, a social discourse has focused on whether ‘Don't Look Up’ is becoming a reality.
To provide you with a deeper understanding of ‘Don't Look Up’, it tells the story of two astronomers discovering an approaching comet that may threaten human civilization. However, the threat is struggling to receive public attention as the human population denies the comet’s existence. In contrast to the hazard it brings to Earth, the comet is discovered to contain trillions of dollars worth of rare-earth elements.
This knowledge delays the mission to divert the comet from Earth using nuclear weapons. In summary, ‘Don’t Look Up’ satirically explores how a scientific fact is being denied and made political by world leaders who make decisions that only benefit the wealthy.
You may be thinking, how does the story of a comet approaching Earth relate to the lives we are living now? Well, we live in a similar society where greed and ignorance tend to overtake us. We tend to turn a blind eye to scientific facts and threats for our own personal gain. An example of this is the threat of climate change. The climate crisis we are currently facing is without a doubt a real occurring problem across the globe. However, global leaders such as Donald Trump spread lies about this emergency and ignored the extremity of this situation. This correlates to the message ‘Don’t Look Up’ aims to deliver: humanity is living in a world of ignorance, and it is time for us to take action towards what deserves our attention. If we continue to ignore climate change, the wildlife we love will start to go into extinction. Natural disasters such as superstorms, drought, and heat waves will also start to intensify and happen more frequently.
‘Don’t Look Up’ also parallels the Covid-19 situation. Even though there is evidence the virus is very real and threatening, there is still a part of the human population around the world that believe the virus is a hoax. Covid-19 is also facing the same response as the comet in the film. Because of this lack of awareness, there has been an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. When there are people who deny the virus and disagree with the measures taken to slow the spread of the illness, Covid-19 tends to infect more people faster.
Nevertheless, watching the film should help us realize the ignorance that is prevalent in today’s society. We should bring light to issues that threaten the future generations of the world before ‘Don’t Look Up’ turns into a reality. We can do this by expanding our own knowledge about the problems present in the world as well as inform others around us with the world’s current affairs.