The problem with “Don’t Look Up” isn’t that it’s crude or exaggerated. Quite the opposite. The true nature of Trumpian decision making & manipulation, science- & reality-denial, & the bizarre input of some ultra-wealthy, ultra-powerful individuals, is more extreme … /1.
… & more disturbing than the movie is able to convey. Probably no movie could do it. Journalists, film critics & others comforting themselves with criticism that “Don’t Look Up” is over the top, clunky & unpersuasive, either don’t understand the truth, or do but think … /2.
… it needs to be sugar-coated to land with a broad audience. But, as the movie itself makes clear, sweetening the message is a major part of the existential problems we’re facing. Certainly not a path to mass acceptance of the radical, immediate & sustained action required. /3.
Typically, some people are likely now to ask me if I have been “in the room”: the implication being that if not a 24/7 companion of Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson & Co, or their little English, European, Russian & other helpers, I’m making this stuff up. So: two responses. /4.
First: yes, I have. No, I won’t share details. You’ll just have to make your own judgements about that.
Second: so what? For the most part, you don’t need to have been in the room to know “Don’t Look Up” is accurate. If anything, understated & overly witty. /5.
Second: so what? For the most part, you don’t need to have been in the room to know “Don’t Look Up” is accurate. If anything, understated & overly witty. /5.
Finally, it’s legitimate to examine “Don’t Look Up” for production, writing, direction, performances etc. (I think they’re all strong). But to claim it’s crudely over the top, excessively brutal or unhelpfully off-putting, is badly divorced from the reality it addresses. /6. End
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