Don’t Look Up (film)

Status: Finished on 12/25/2021

Movie about how the world reacts to the discovery that a comet large enough to kill all life on Earth is on a trajectory to hit Earth in 6 months.
The world reacts badly.
- Politicians are focused on midterms.
- Tech companies are focused on profit and ego-boosting projects.
- The public is focused on social media and celebrity culture.
- Even scientists get distracted with becoming Fauci-like celebrities, and seem to lose sight of their priorities.
- The only “sane” character, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is treated as crazy, such that she is sidelined from the action.
The makers of this movie seem to dislike Republicans, tech companies, and the media climate. It has a lot of fun despising those people/things.
The movie seems to be pushing a “trust the science” message. Though it doesn’t seem to have much respect for nuance.
The movie seems to believe that the most important problem is public apathy, moral impurity and imperfect messaging.
Things this movie doesn’t seem conscious of:
- Often, the scientific evidence doesn’t translate to obvious policy recommendations.
- Lack of respect for how much innovation is needed to solve hard problems.
- Excessive partisanship is a problem.
- Excessive bureaucracy is a problem.
The only funny part was the general who charged for free snacks.
I don’t think it’s actually a realistic depiction for how the world would respond to such a crisis.

December 25, 2021