Opinion | The Critique of Apocalyptic Profit-Seeking in 'Don't Look Up' Hits Close to Home

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The movie is a parable about an existential threat to the planet and the inability of political leaders to deal with the looming crisis except through a prism of self-interest—both personal and corporate—that ultimately endangers all of humanity.

I'm often accused of being an"easy laugh" when it comes to political satire. I love political cartoons, movies, and TV shows, even those on the other side of the ideological spectrum if they're funny and make me laugh at my own biases.

Recently, I watched Adam McKay's apocalyptic cautionary tale"Don't Look Up" on Netflix. I laughed out loud enough times to recommend it, even though it isn't nearly as subversive as"Dr. Strangelove" or as razor-sharp a critique of the unholy symbiosis of politics and media in this era as"Network" was about the 1970s.

The conceit of the film is that it could easily be about global warming or an especially deadly pandemic, but it happens to be about something that allows us the dignity of ironic distance—a comet larger than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hurtling toward an extinction-level appointment with Earth in six months.

For her part, President Orlean is too distracted by a bungled Supreme Court nomination fight to focus on something that is"only a 99.78% certainty and not a 100% certainty." "I say we sit tight and assess," President Orlean says, hoping to forestall any action that might cause panic in the populace until after the midterms."Let get some other people in on this. Some Ivy Leaguers…"

What strikes me as most accurate about"Don't Look Up," besides its focus on the inability of the ruling political class to comprehend the seriousness of the moment, is how the media reacts to the challenge of false narratives churned out by such obviously self-serving leaders, including tech giants. Just as in real life, the credulous media portrayed in this movie does a terrible job communicating what the disaster means. It is conformist and far from being a watchdog.

 

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