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The Media Earth Movies

Should Climate Change Be Acknowledged In Movies? (latimes.com) 130

Posted by EditorDavid from the weather-or-not dept.
The Los Angeles Times publishes a weekly "Boiling Point" newsletter about climate change and energy issues. And this week they examined whether the scientific fact of a change climate is reflected in the mass media: For the second year running, nonprofit consulting firm Good Energy applied its Climate Reality Check to the actual Oscar-nominated films [which] tests whether a movie and its characters acknowledge global warming... Of last year's 13 Oscar-nominated films that met Good Energy's criteria (feature-length movies set in present-day or near-future Earth) three passed the test. This year, there were 10 eligible films. Only "The Wild Robot" passed...

Maybe a few years from now, studios will release a torrent of movies and shows reflecting the realities of a scary-but-still-salvageable world, helmed by producers and writers jolted into renewed awareness by the infernos. But for now, the picture is bleak. A peer-reviewed study slated for publication this month, led by Rice University English and environmental studies professor Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, analyzes climate change mentions in 250 of the most popular movies of the last decade. The authors found that just 12.8% of the films allude to global warming. Just 3.6% depict or mention the climate crisis in two or more scenes. "A lot of times, it's really being mentioned in passing," Schneider-Mayerson said...

[Good Energy Chief Executive Anna Jane Joyner] pointed to another analysis led by Schneider-Mayerson, which found that movies passing the Climate Reality Check and released in theaters earned 10% more at the box office, on average, than films failing the test. Netflix, meanwhile, says on its website that 80% of its customers "choose to watch at least one story on Netflix that helps them better understand climate issues or highlight hopeful solutions around sustainability...." [Netflix's "Sustainability Stories" collection includes Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, and Waterworld]

Sponsors are interested in selling audiences on climate-friendly products, too. I was sitting in a movie theater last weekend enjoying "Captain America: Brave New World" — the latest entry in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe — when, to my surprise, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) got out of his SUV and pulled his iconic red-white-and-blue shield out of the front trunk. Yes, a front trunk, where an internal combustion engine would normally be. That meant Captain America was driving an electric vehicle, right? Indeed, he was. I did some research after I got home and learned that Wilson was driving a GMC Hummer EV, the result of a paid partnership between Marvel Studios and GMC parent company General Motors.
Ironically, the movie does not at any point acknowledge global warming, the article points out (adding "Also, SUVs kill more pedestrians and cyclists than smaller cars.")

"But the more movies and TV shows spotlight climate solutions — electric vehicles, solar panels, induction stoves — the more likely people are to support those solutions. For Hollywood, that's a step in the right direction."

Should Climate Change Be Acknowledged In Movies? More | Reply

Should Climate Change Be Acknowledged In Movies?

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  • It doesn't care whether you believe or acknowledge it, or not. It just is.

    • You're describing reality. Science is just our interpretation.

  • Easy question (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cmseagle ( 1195671 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @07:44AM (#65190799)
    Is it relevant to the story the writers are trying to tell? Then sure. If not, then no.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      This, or maybe something akin to passive product placement like driving past a solar/wind farm instead of rows of "nodding donkeys" extracting oil, but only if it's relevant to the plot and/or not entirely out of place. That said, totally random and irrelevant to the plot dialogues do work from time to time; the "Like a Virgin" discussion in "Reservoir Dogs", for instance, although somehow I doubt any discussion on rising sea levels or whatever would prompt as much after movie discussion as the real meanin

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by XXongo ( 3986865 )

      Is it relevant to the story the writers are trying to tell? Then sure. If not, then no.

      +1 insightful!

      If climate change has nothing to do with the movie, no, don't put it there?

      • If climate change has nothing to do with the movie, no, don't put it there?

        One could always have a five second scene where two characters are talking. One says something to the effect, "Summer is gonna be even hotter than last year." To which the second might respond, "Wasn't like this twenty years ago. Be nice if it was."

        Or maybe make reference to a certain crop not being available except at high prices, such as coffee or chocolate [nbcnews.com].

        There are ways to incorporate climate change into (select

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      'Luke, I am your father. Also, isn't it getting a bit warm?"

  • They already did that (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stealth_finger ( 1809752 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @07:50AM (#65190807)
    They made the day after tomorrow and a bunch of other disaster movies. What if climate change has no relevance or bearing on the plot at all, are they going to start having forced refences to it like some character arbitrarily saying they are gay/trans/whatever for no reason other than to tick a box?
  • When someone does a reboot movie of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', or 'Oklahoma!', I expect that all of the horses will be replaced with Hummer EVs.

  • Hollywood doesn't dare (Score:5, Informative)

    by Artem S. Tashkinov ( 764309 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @08:16AM (#65190865) Homepage

    They had a brilliant movie, Don't Look Up, four years ago.

    Half the people dismissed it as woke propaganda. The public doesn't care, doesn't want to see, "none of my business!"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by havana9 ( 101033 )
      You should look at Cinecittà with Dry [imdb.com] (2022).
      Interesting thing there was a draught in Rome and Latin areas in 2022 See how Tevere water level was low [rainews.it]
      You can make some disaster movie following some actual news facts related to climate change.

    • It was woke propaganda.

  • The Water Knife (Score:4, Informative)

    by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @08:16AM (#65190869) Journal
    I'd love to see a Hollywood treatment of Paulo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife [wikipedia.org]. It's climate change-adjacent, dealing with water scarcity in the American southwest, but the "things are fucked and it's our fault" theme is front and center, as are the clear delineations between who's scrambled into a survivable future and who's left behind to rot. (You see similar themes, for instance, in Mad Max, but this story is more grounded in the here and near future.) In my mind's eye, it's helmed by Denis Villeneuve, who I feel could be trusted with the source material, and done in a style similar to his Sicario [imdb.com].

    Ultimately, though, Hollywood is a business, and (most) projects only get greenlit when studios see there's money to be made. There's unfortunately not a lot of money to be made in polemics, no matter how entertaining.
  • Some group with a bug up its ass wants everyone else to have bugs in their asses and wants the entertainment industry to help jam them up there. That is BS. We should all just ignore them.
  • SO we update Its a wonderful life to have George complain about the weather and all the snow before throwing himself off the bridge. Maybe Luke Skwalker can complain about the barren land and the damage climate change has caused or Legally Blonde 3 Elle can sue companies for skin damage done by the sun? No climate change doesnt need added to moves where the climate change is not part of the movie.
  • my low wattage laptop or handheld for viewing pre-Code Hollywood or films on free servers on a cool/breezy hilltop without AC like our house

    Phuck some ignoramouses bugging us all the time with their particular political message, on our leisure time.
    Maybe this is controlled opposition for MAGA, just pissing people off with intrusive climate messaging.

    Reminds me of one Rice University prof in the early 1970s claiming there was a problem with a lack of new [strategic metal] mercury reserves being disco
  • What makes it a necessary part of the story? A key element? Chances are it's as relevant to the movie's story as dropping contend about Idaho on potatoes into Starship Troopers.

  • Seriously, do it. Cram in all the Forced References you want.

    Then, when you go broke because no one will pay to watch your climate change tripe, new creators will pop up to replace your now-dead, staid legacy business, and make films we want to watch.

    .

    • Well, your first line is 100% spot on but I seriously doubt your second line will come to life. Hollywood will just double down after insulting the intelligence of the viewers.

  • politics in cinema (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Iamthecheese ( 1264298 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @08:53AM (#65190985)
    I can only speak for myself, but I personally don't care what universe a movie is in. i.e. I don't care what assumptions they're making it about the world. If you think the evil white man is keeping women down but you don't push that one me with far-fetched plot points, inappropriate dialogue and poor actor choices I may enjoy your movie just the same. It's not your beliefs that bother me, it's the poor quality of movies that attempt to force those beliefs into my brain with ham handed rants and blatant plot devices that make the movie inconsistent or unbelievable for its universe. Take The Day After Tomorrow. It's set in a world where we're all gonna die because climate. I enjoyed the movie despite disagreeing with its premise and despite the laughable physics because it was consistent. There may even have been a rant or two about the climate in there, it's fine because it fit the movie.

    Take those same rants and shoehorn them into the middle of a superhero movie about explosions and man vs gods, and now you're not in the same universe. Now those rants stick out like a bug in my soup. That's the wrong way to do it. Or as I said before on Slashdot. Take TOS. It pushed a lot of leftist themes, but it was in line with the universe. Lt Uhura was on the bridge and that was that. If they had made it a huge deal and included long rants about how a strong black woman deserves to replace a white man it would have pissed me off even though I don't care about race. But even if I had started out racist just having her there on the bridge, just another member of the crew? That may convince me maybe black people are just humans like you and me.

    One more thing: James Bond, a series of movies about a white male spy who goes around womanizing and using preposterous devices.. It's about fast cars and explosions, with money, luxury, and clever one-liners. They had to start injecting diversity into the Bond universe. I wouldn't have cared if you made your own universe featuring all the wokeness you like. And that's why you had to mess with the Bond universe. It wasn't about making your own art, it was about ruining someone else's. That's why it pisses me off. I don't give a toss about whether a protagonist is black, white, green, male, female, or androgynous. I care about internally consistent movies that are well-written and don't disrespect me by preaching at me and shoehorning things into my franchise that don't fit. See also: Terminator, Star Wars, various super hero franchises.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

      I can only speak for myself, but I personally don't care what universe a movie is in. i.e. I don't care what assumptions they're making it about the world. If you think the evil white man is keeping women down but you don't push that one me with far-fetched plot points, inappropriate dialogue and poor actor choices I may enjoy your movie just the same. It's not your beliefs that bother me, it's the poor quality of movies that attempt to force those beliefs into my brain with ham handed rants and blatant plot devices that make the movie inconsistent or unbelievable for its universe. Take The Day After Tomorrow. It's set in a world where we're all gonna die because climate. I enjoyed the movie despite disagreeing with its premise and despite the laughable physics because it was consistent. There may even have been a rant or two about the climate in there, it's fine because it fit the movie.

      Good post.

      I was on a jetboat ferry from Naples to Key West when they were playing that movie. I was laughing so hard and often that the wife had to elbow me to quiet down. But yes, it was about climate. So while having sketchy physics, and that last scene where astronauts revel how clear the atmosphere while not even thinking about the billions dead took me from laughing to WTF. Wife told me very subtly maybe I could get a short nap in before we got to Key West.

      Take those same rants and shoehorn them into the middle of a superhero movie about explosions and man vs gods, and now you're not in the same universe. Now those rants stick out like a bug in my soup. That's the wrong way to do it.

      We're there to be entertained, and when "Th

  • Should? Movies are, for the most part, for entertainment. They can be educational too. In that sense, they are welcome to show the effects of climate change. But - should? I don't think - we do not want the kind of things typical of such charming regimes as Russia or North Korea.
  • Ah, movies. Where people go when they want lectured. Where people go to because pop stars are the smartest people on earth, and we must listen to and obey them.

    Now don't get me wrong, if a mention of global warming has an integral place, then sure. And documentary movies of course. But a lot of times, indeed most of the time, I watch a movie to get away from the world, and relax a bit.

    If I read the tea leaves correctly, this whole thing is the checkbox culture getting ready to demand more of their kook

    • Watching Captain America: Brave New World sure scared the crap out of me. I know I'm NEVER gonna take pills laced with gamma radiation now! See... we CAN learn from movies!

      • Watching Captain America: Brave New World sure scared the crap out of me. I know I'm NEVER gonna take pills laced with gamma radiation now! See... we CAN learn from movies!

        8^) !

  • Sensationalize it , get the best directors & producers of the scariest movies to make it really scary too

  • Yes. (Score:3)

    by snowshovelboy ( 242280 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @09:17AM (#65191061)

    This is totally what Gladiator 2 needed.

    Maximus Jr. steps into the arena. A faceless gladiator enters the arena opposite him, to thunderous applause. A bead of sweat drips down Max Jr's forehead.

    Maximus Jr. : Its really hot out today, I wish the emperor would do something about climate change.

    Faceless Gladiator: YOU'LL NEVER TAKE AWAY MY INTERNAL COMBUSTIAN ENGINE TRUCK, I NEED IT FOR WORK!

    Their swords clash.

  • No, it's obvious slave training by elites who want to kill the middle class by taxing them more.

    • Are the richest man in the world and a guy that shits in a gold toilet in some way not "elite"?

      • He has golden toilets to match his golden showers.
      • With Tesla stock price plummeting, he won't be the richest man in the world for long. Estimating net worth based on stock holdings that can't all be sold at face value is fiction and fantasy.

  • Where everything is drowned in water, but apparently nobody has taken a bath in five years.

  • Fear sells.

    Be not afraid - fear dampens right action.

    I'd rather more movies show the homeless veterans with PTSD living on the streets but they won't do that. Almost like they don't want movies to be used to highlight important social issues.

    If they want to show the ocean being 2cm higher than it was in 1900 that doesn't bother me. Hardly a dramatic plot device, though.

  • This just draws attention away from the much simpler Bechdel test, which movies still fail regularly.

  • If it is part of the story then sure, have it in there. If not, then no, and don't try to shoehorn it into the story.

    Make all the documentaries about it that you want, but movies are supposed to be for entertainment and escapism, not activism.

  • No. The purpose of film is to escape reality, not relive it.

    Why do you think superhero action movies are so popular? Reality bites.

  • It won't work. Because the simple act of placing something as susceptible to current political fashion will reveal the "science" for what it is.

    Try applying these tests to "The Day After Tomorrow" and see how many red flags pop up. And yet, in it's day, the depiction of climate disaster in major media productions was lauded by "climate scientists". Even if the science was shit. The important thing was the message of impending doom. But if the story keeps changing, pretty soon the audience just calls bullsh

  • The question makes the assumption that there is something happening to the climate that is important enough to perhaps require 'acknowledgment', presumably meaning mentioning or featuring in the plot.

    This is very commonly believed here and on other similar US forums, but it has to be accepted that it is a minority view. Its a minority view within the USA, and even then, the USA is in a minority in having a significant body of opinion on these lines. China, for instance, you will find that the political cl

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

      I agree with you. People suggesting this is absurd. Yeah, maybe next in Hollywood movies they can start posting content that's better for the environment if you work your low wage job, just accept it, don't take sick days, and even take a pay cut as if you have less money you'll less things that cause pollution. Maybe eventually that a class based system helps the economy and environment to be more sustainable.

      What a joke.

  • I'm reducing the environmental impact Hollywood has, to less power consumption through data centers, internet transport, and their sets, by not buying their movies and / or watching them,

    This will have a positive impact on the environment. Remember, the first step starts with you.

  • We're screwed. Movies get everything wrong historical facts and figures, space and physics, government and regulation, medical knowledge and practice, biology, geography, technology, even basic human interaction and relationships, etc...so why would introducing anything factual about climate matter. You watch movies to escape reality and to have some entertainment. If you cant tell the difference, thenyou are a dangerous individual. Facts and figures should come from well researched books and documentaries.

  • Not unless it's fundamentally relevant. (Score:3)

    by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Monday February 24, 2025 @12:41PM (#65191799)
    This is one of those questions where I feel like if you need to ask, the answer is just "no" because you lack the finesse needed for a more complex answer.

    People who are very emotionally invested into political issues frequently believe their issue is of such utmost importance that everyone should be thinking about it all the time (and thinking it about it in a way they approve of). Maybe that's even true for issues like climate change, considering the potential consequences... but the reality is that approaching it that way ignores human psychology. If you are constantly preaching to people about something all the time and invading their hobbies with your preaching, they're going to tune you out or become hostile. That's just how people work. If you are trying to actually reach people and motivate them, to win them over to your side, you need nuance, finesse, subtlety. Repeatedly bashing them over the head with your beliefs is just not going to be effective. And the people who might be inclined to ask the question "Should Climate Change Be Acknowledged In Movies" generally do not strike me as the kind of people capable of the finesse required to effectively convey their message without making a nuisance of themselves to the people they are trying to reach.

    So the short answer to the question is simply "no." But if that's insufficient and you really feel strongly about the topic, then at the very least tell a story where climate change is the focus, don't try to wedge it into something unrelated. Like with Unix, entertainment media and art benefit from "doing one thing and doing it well." Focus is important; by losing focus, you dilute what you are trying to achieve. Trying to account for everything doesn't leave sufficient room to effectively address anything. So, if climate change is what matters most to you, put your heart into making something compelling that illustrates how you feel about it, so that you can craft a really compelling narrative about that topic and how you see it. And just maybe, if you do a really good job, people might begin to understand why you see things that way.

  • By order of Dear Leader, all movies must now include praise of Dear Leader.

  • So we know which ones to see or not see.

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