DON'T LOOK UP- Scathing Satire or Hollywood Virtue Signaling? Jared's Review

[DonMiguelLaBestia]

I viewed the Ariana Grande concert as a demonstration of progressive media being ineffective virtue signaling, rather than making any actual change. The world still ends after all so I’m not sure I agree that the movie is that self-congratulating.

[MikeRink]

I happen to disagree about Ariana's concert bit, the movie was self aware when it showed the big concert was ultimately useless, that "raising awareness" was not enough at that point and that it was mostly a self serving exercise. It reminded me of the Live Earth concerts, that while entertaining did little too address the underlying issues.

This is a great discussion, keep the great ideas coming Jared!

[EvilArtifact]

One thing that didn't get mentioned here that was particularly effective for me was that in the post-credit scene when the ship that was supposed to save humanity arrives at our new planet, the only people on it are rich old people who are too old to reproduce.

[AdanALW]

I disagree that the concert is supposed to be "good" or "productive" art. I saw this also as satire of all these concerts like Live Aid or whatever, which are basically just virtue signaling but don't actually do shit for the cause, it is just a pat on the back for the pop culture stars. It was shown to be as impotent as it really is.

[dameetreemoorland]

Always love your commentary! No loyalty to a stupid political party, just truth seeking and analyzing what the artist has to say. Your comments always make me question my own beliefs, political and philosophical. You're the best Jared

[JamesDecker]

As a psychiatrist…I would agree with you when discussing FOR PROFIT mental healthcare providers. Even more so the “wellness” industry peddling bandaids for the worried well.

Those of us who are treating actual bipolarity, psychosis, and severe depression, etc. as well as trying to help our communities and even countries change to indeed fix the systems that worsen EVERYONE’s mental health would probably take great offense to the broad brush used on our professions. I don’t provide McMindfulness bandaids. I also take a 50% paycut compared to my “for cash” compatriots. This is what pushing back on the capitalist drivers in USA medicine looks like.

[pressxtojason]

I'm so happy you're doing your own thing after wisecrack. This new format is everything that I loved about your time over there just 100 times better. Glad you're staying healthy and I'll talk to you soon. Peace ✌️

[anthonygordon]

It all comes down to a saying I heard from my teacher a long time a go. "A person is smart, people are stupid". That has always stuck with me. People as a collective are generally stupid.

[iamthebearjew]

I have to say, I really think you missed the thread towards the end of the analysis. The Ariana Grande concert wasn't, "oh this is good, progressive art." I read it as them saying that this is also not working, because, which you for some reason left out of the review, the comet does come and destroy everyone in the end. The point is that if we lack the capacity to just be able to say things to each other and be able to hear them, then this is how we are all going to die. With a bunch of Hollywood lefties dancing about it to Ariana Grande and a bunch of righties being manipulated into not believing the problem is even real. If anything, this film is utterly fatalistic. None of what we have right now can save us, and we are all probably going to die. So in that sense, yes it's not productive. But for someone like me, who is also utterly fatalistic about our capacity to prevent climate change and biodiversity loss from killing most of us off, it was incredibly cathartic. I would recommend taking a look at how climate scientists are reacting to the film, because they seem to fucking love it. It perfectly exemplifies the frustration they've been feeling for decades. The timeline is obviously very different, but most of them are sitting at that dinner table, waiting for the end to come. I'm perfectly happy to hear other perspectives, and I'm always interested to hear your take, but I really do think you missed the thread in a big way here.

[MRJDXTRA]

I think Don't Look Up is an existential film to me. It reminded me more of films like Arrival and kinda The Day the Earth Stood Still. Where humanities inability to get the fact straight, ignore our personal interest, complacency and us being the Last Man (nietzsche) are a hindrance to facing threats that are possible to wiping us out.

Arrival notes that even though the aliens are peaceful we are too quick to judge and tribalistic therefore because we lack poise we are more damaging to ourselves.

Don't look up reminds me of how our politicians or people in power are the most inept individuals ever and that not even the world ending wouldn't stop them from being selfish cunts. The pandemic is the perfect example of this.

Don't look up kinda makes me want to live as if the world is ending or reminds me that my life is finite and I shouldn't live in death denial and have comfort. I must go and make something for myself.

Plus the music in this film slapsss so fucking hard it's crazy.

I do appreciate your point though since I never saw it how you did. I do love this film though

[cdubbart]

Not sure I fully agree here. I think the title itself (Don't Look Up) says it all. The fact that things had gotten so bad in the film to the point where you didn't even need science anymore to prove that something was wrong... you could simply LOOK UP and see the problem for yourself... and yet ppl still refused to do that... I think that was the larger message; the harm that stubborn or fearful way of thinking can bring to the world. Does the movie portray science in a more altruistic & positive light? Sure. Does that imply Adam McKay's biases towards science-based takes over more fundamentalist/conservative view points? Absolutely. But ultimately science failed to solve anything for the world and the main characters ended up praying, despite being non-believers. I don't think a liberal can get anymore open-minded or balanced than that lol.

And just because the movie seemed contradictory in its executed messaging doesn't preclude it from having something productive or deep to say about humanity & society. SOMEONE will gleam something from this movie that they hadn't thought about before, something that challenges their world view however slight. And I'd wager it'll stay longer with them than whatever they could take away from Matrix Resurrections.

[stevenfrancis]

Great review. At first I thought you were gonna jump on the Hollywood liberal bandwagon but you really came through with a pretty unbiased review. It’s honestly refreshing.

[grantlauzon]

The anesthesiologist was a political appointee not an astronomer.

[TheJazzMan]

The South Park fan in me can only think of "OH NOT A FIN-RIN" at every mention of Finland

[jdw]

The concert scene to me felt like another issue of the media landscape. It didn't feel like it was saying the concert was "good" or "The solution we need" because the comet still hits. Maybe I'm looking at it from a different perspective but I always think of the Kurt Vonnegut quote: “During the Vietnam War, every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.” It doesn't matter that everyone "did the right thing" or "believed in a better solution", the comet is still coming, and no amount of concerts or charity will fix that.

[TheCynicalPhilosopher]

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but what criteria must a movie satisfy in order to be a truly effective criticism of the system? Isn't any movie that accomplishes this simply going to give the viewers the illusory feeling of "doing something" while remaining placated?

[draexian]

Been going through my own mental conundrums, and many of my allys have advised seeking medication in response, which has frustrated me given how little a chance that has of actually improving how content I am. Out of many takes seen, this film's pleased me.

[Thedarkknight]

I don’t think it points at conservatives too much. Making the president a woman makes the President embody Trump and Clinton. People on both size have their issues with authority despite evidence being right in front of them. People in charge are only concerned with their own long term careers. The people on the ground become divided because their struggling to grapple with something so horrifying (denial, panic, despair, etc. much like the stages of grief)

[janetkelly]

Thanks fro a very thoughtful and open minded crit. My take on the Ariadne Grandi was slightly different. I think it was set up to look tacky and I’m sure I remember Jennifer Lawrence’s character saying something like - look at them, they’ve only come to hear her sing.

[blowing_up]

I appreciated this analysis, but I don’t necessarily think movies being made by studios or actors makes its criticisms inherently invalid. I also don’t think something that’s a reflection of our reality needs to offer a solution, or how that wouldn’t come off as much MORE preachy. The way we responded to the pandemic made it pretty clear that this is how we’ll be reacting to threats from now on; I think it’s helpful to find the humor at this reality when we can…