Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1440009
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JANUARY 2022 OPINION THERE is a repeated reference during the much-acclaimed sat- ire "Don't Look Up" which I can completely relate to. Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Kate Dibiasky, the Ph.D candidate who discovers the comet hurtling towards earth, at first is grate- ful that the General waiting with them to break the news to the President, has brought them some snacks from the White House canteen (which he tells them cost $10 a pop). However, she is then completely gobsmacked to dis- cover that the snacks are actually available to everyone for free. Throughout the film she fixates on this point, "he's a three star General, he works at the Penta- gon, why would he do something like that?". The sheer pettiness of the behaviour niggles at her until, after bringing it up over and over again with several people, it dawns on her that it's simply a power move, and that he did it, "because he can". I feel you Kate. That kind of behaviour sticks in my craw too, and often gets to me more than if someone had to rob a bank to steal $10 million. When I hear accounts of those who are already rich and powerful who stoop so low as to try and rip off others (who are less well off) for a few bucks, it makes my blood boil. It's just so small-minded, so unnecessary, so MEAN. In the film, it also clearly illustrates something intrinsically corrupt about the General's char- acter, which is further confirmed by the way he behaves when it comes to the bigger issues. Be- cause let's face it, if he can lie about something so trivial, he will lie about anything. To someone who is a "nobody" like Kate, the idea that someone of such a high rank would scam them of their money bewilders her, shocks her and ultimately, fills her with in- explicable rage. This seemingly minor incident almost becomes a metaphor for the way the ones with no power in the film will be the ones paying the highest price. "Don't Look Up", for those who have not yet watched it, is about a world so completely obsessed with image, banalities, social me- dia fame, political spin and frivol- ity that not even the possibility of the world ending can shake peo- ple out of their self-induced stu- por. Above all, it is about the de- nial of cold, hard science and facts because everyone believes they are entitled to their 'opinion'. If it is bad news and depressing they don''t want to know about it, but would rather' sex' it up by making it fun and entertaining so that it can go viral on Twitter. The real revelation, however, has not been the movie itself but the very polar reactions to it. For some (like me) it was a brilliantly executed wake up call, mirroring actual events in which climate change deniers voice their opin- ion as clamorously and vocifer- ously, and get as much airtime, as any distinguished scientist. Eerily enough, the script was written be- fore Covid hit, but the plot can be equally applied to the current sce- nario of conspiracy theorists who are convinced that we are being forced to take the vaccine so that the Government, and possibly Bill Gates, can control us. Interviewed by The Atlantic, writer/director Adam McKay recalled how after writing the script and they were about to start production in 2020, everything went into lockdown. "We basi- cally went home … and sat on our hands for six months with the rest of the world… The entire time I'm getting emails and texts from our crew, 'Oh my God, did you see there's people denying COVID exists?' At one point I'm like, we don't make the movie. It happened! We're too late!" When he returned to the script, he had to make it "20 percent crazier, be- cause reality had played out crazi- er than the script." For other viewers, however, the parody has been completely lost. I read so many comments describ- ing it as crap, that they hated it, or dismissing it as a typical far- fetched "Amerikanata" that it was clear they just didn't get the mes- sage and that the tongue-in-cheek tone of the film had gone com- pletely over the heads. Perhaps they were expecting a light-heart- ed comedy for these troubled times and were disappointed by the often dark, twisted humour which sneaks up on you like an unexpected punch to the gut. Perhaps the fact that it was a deliberate exaggeration of today's world which is a bit too close for comfort is not what they want to see right now - in which case, fair enough. After watching some- thing which is very real, I often switch to sheer escapism and dive into something so superficial and silly that I don't even have to think. "Emily in Paris", I'm talking about you. Our brains do need a break from the daily tragic events we read about, otherwise we will not be able to cope with the enor- mity of it all. However, try as we might, the danger of science denial is not something which we can escape from, even if we wanted to, be- cause it is all around us. It didn't start now either. I watched a Ted Talk dated February 2010 by jour- nalist Michael Specter which was so way ahead of its time that I had to keep checking the date. 22 years ago he was terrified about anti-vaxxers who were making outlandish claims that the oblig- atory childhood vaccines were causing autism. Despite all the peer-reviewed research which went into debunking this myth, it persisted and grew. He warned against opinion taking the place of scientific facts, and that this wor- rying trend would spell disaster for human progress. He is also the author of Denialism: How Irra- tional Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives which basi- cally sums up the whole crux of the film "Don't Look Up". I have not read his book, but I completely agree with him that we are in the grip of too much irrational thinking. I also have a few theories about why denialism has taken such deep root. There is a lack of reading of actual books and newspapers (rather than just scrolling and skimming the day's headlines); there is the fact that a good grasp of languages (both verbal and written) has been wa- tered down to its bare minimum enabling people to get into Sixth Form and University who are barely coherent and borderline illiterate. General knowledge is practically non-existent, unless it is about pop culture. There are too many shortcuts which are applauded rather than frowned upon (why buy a book when you can just photocopy a few pages? Why read the book when you can watch the film ad- aptation? Why research some- thing for yourself by going to the actual source when you can just rely on 'what they said on Face- book?'). Above all there is the be- lief that, 'everyone is entitled to their opinion and all opinions are equally valid' which is perhaps the biggest fallacy of all. Then there is the mesmerised obsession with reality shows, ce- lebrities who become famous for being famous and probably one of the terms I have come to hate the most 'influencer'. It is a society built on branding, pouting colla- gen lips, hype, marketing, narcis- sistic selfies, froth and a lack of any real depth. It is about whipping out our phone at every opportuni- ty to chronicle the fact that, "Look at me, I am here at this place/ event and I have to tell the world about it". It is the glorification of the banal which is so precisely and incisively portrayed in "Don't Look Up". When the love life of a pop star far out shadows the find- ings of the two scientists, they are bluntly told that they are not get- ting any likes or re-tweets because they are too boring and dull. The other scientist, played by a bum- bling Leonardo di Caprio, is given a complete makeover because he has not caused too many ripples and because the bimbo newscast- er has a thing for him, while Kate, who refuses to compromise her principles, is turned into a meme whom everyone ridicules when she snaps, screaming out the un- palatable truth on TV. Kate's tel- evised meltdown is mocked even as the apocalypse approaches, but when she is finally taken serious- ly, the public lashes out at her in fury, riots and looting ensue and it's everyone for himself. The self- ishness of a selfish society reaches its apex during a crisis, as we have seen time and again. As we embark on this new year, more and more I see a world which is divided into those who can see what is happening and those who want to remain blind and oblivious. There are those who claim that, "Don't Look Up" won't change anything because those who "get it" do not need to be convinced, while those who shunned it are the ones who really need to understand the message. That may be so, but I still believe that we should keep trying. This one film gives me hope that even film-makers can use their art to open people's eyes so that maybe we will come to the realisation that our mad rat race for more material wealth is utterly mean- ingless. In the end, what will count are the people sitting with us around our dining room table. The world is being divided into those who 'get it' and those who don't Josanne Cassar There are too many shortcuts which are applauded rather than frowned upon. Above all there is the belief that, 'everyone is entitled to their opinion and all opinions are equally valid' which is perhaps the biggest fallacy of all