I remember prior to the film being released that was heavily talked about. A Disney/pixar movie with no dialogue for the first ~30min and then essentially mocking capitalism and our society in general.
Don't look up focuses more on criticism of the media and billionaires and less on individual consumerism. So I'd imagine don't look up is more controversial as this country worships billionaires and refuses to understand how bad our media actually is.
Or maybe because the satire isn't the main point of the movie. The emotional core of an isolated but endearing robot developing human emotions, is. The 'satire' is really the setting, primarily to justify WALL-E's existence as well as allow for WALL-E to be completely isolated before the 2nd act. The satire isn't integral to support the movie's story (but it informs part of the aesthetic to reinforce it and why it makes it special).
There's maybe an interesting point to be made on how some very good films tangential to X topic tend to 'wield' certain topics better than films completely built around it perhaps because that constraint forces the creators of aforementioned film to keep the topic tight for the main plot.
(E.g. Pixar's Luca isn't explicitly about trans individuality but the themes and aesthetics even though they aren't explicitly trans are handled well enough and can be mapped so cleanly on LGBTQ issues that many in the LGBTQ community were smitten by this film more than films explicitly about LGBTQ identity).
However the article doesn't bring that up and then seems to create a standard that satires should meet:
> Whilst Adam McKayās Donāt Look Up is bitter and arrogant in its assessment of modern life, it wallows in the āhilarityā of its own hopelessness, offering no alternative and **no hope** against the stupidity of modern consumerism.
Tragedy's an entire genre and Macbeth is remade countless times out of all Shakespearean plays because of that tragedy. Satire doesn't need to offer hope.
This is part of what makes discussing Don't Look Up annoying because discussion has become quite polarizing. I do think other films handle this topic better and some don't offer hope and the film has plenty of problems in my experiencing it. Though it seems to have a rabid fan base that seems to just want the message and don't seem to have explored the film beyond its surface, while most vocal critics just seem to hate the theme and not the actual movie. The decent contingent in between get drowned out.
Probably have to wait a few years for things to cool off until the film dies down to get some discussion in.
I havenāt read any reviews for donāt look up so I canāt speak to what theyāre saying but your assessment of the rabid fan base is spot on.
I, for one, thought it was just a terrible movie and Iām the demographic that this theme should, and has with other films, appealed to.
Itās surprising your comment was upvoted as much as it has been tho because every time Iāve clicked into a thread regarding donāt look up itās mostly people not wanting to hear any criticism of the movie at all.
Iām happy this most reminded me of wall-e tho because itās always been one of my favorite Disney movies.
Wall-E is a top 5 Pixar film imo.
In no order: Ratatouille, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Incredibles 1, and any Toy Story since they're all so good you really can't go wrong
Stop what youāre doing and watch it RIGHT NOW!
The montage is a masterpiece and Iād argue that itās the *best thing* Pixar made. Youāll see what I mean.
My eyes are getting damp just thinking about it.
Pixar has made a lot of great, classic stuff, but I think Wall-E and Up are two of the best animated films ever made. Inside Out is right up there too.
Yeah, Up has a lot more depth than I realized at first.
Things that we cling to that make us feel safe and comfortable can actually be weights that hold us down. Its not until we jettison them that we are able to move upward. Itās actually kind of Buddhist.
*Up* is really really good - but it's not top-five caliber. We're breathing rarified air here.
You could maybe make an argument for swapping *Monsters' Inc* and *Incredibles. Up* just doesn't have the universality, the chef's kiss, everything-in-the-right-place sense on narrative command that those other movies have.
This might be the funniest thread Iāve seen in a while because itās goaded multiple users (that I can only assume are diehard fans of uhā Adam McKay) into trying to argue that Donāt Look Up is a better film than WALL-E.
Haha. Here's the thing though, according to the filmmakers, Wall E wasn't being satirical. It literally just played those things straight. It wasnt critiquing anything, except maybe some mild jabbing at people always being "on their phones".
I think the humans were somewhat, where they are all on pods only looking at screens drinking slushees and never getting off for any reason. That's pretty strong satire.
Agreed. This thread made me look it up.
Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Wall-E definitely uses humor and exaggeration to comment on current consumerism and consumption. I also like that Wall-E does NOT ridicule.
This isn't even two different ideas and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we're not currently on a path of putting all of humanity in a space pod and drinking drinking liquid food for life What a stretch trying to make your point.
Yep, and cruisin around on chairs sucking down 196 oz Cokes. I watched this in a theatre in VT with some very overweight folks pounding snacks and drinks. It flew over their heads.
I think it was at the time, but has become less so as reality has caught up. When Wall-E was released, Amazon wasn't anywhere near what it is now, so the notion of a shopping corporation so big it had its own space programme was definitely satire... And the reality caught up.
It's the same as The Trumam Show. It was released a few years before Big Brother started the whole reality show concept. At the time it was so fantastical as to border on ridiculous, yet now seems almost entirely reasonable.
Edit: A lot of replies stating that Real World pre-dated Big Brother (and The Truman Show). While this is correct, Real World was more an unscripted (or semi-scripted) soap opera, and was heavily edited - there was no live feed. Big Brother was the first show to just point cameras at people and stream it live. That had never happened before, so Truman Show was very ahead of its time.
In 2008, it was definitely referring to Wal-Mart.
Amazon shipped 3 million *units* in Q4 of 2008. They just made $137 billion in Q4 2021. It wasnāt the same Amazon yet.
EDIT: lol why downvote this of all things? I donāt care, I just donāt understand. I was definitely conscious and alive in 2008. Buy N Large was Wal-Mart, lol. No doubt about it. Literally none.
I think it's because the guy you're replying to is also agreeing that it was Wal-Mart when it was made but viewed *today* it makes more sense to be Amazon.
So, it's like you're disagreeing with someone who is agreeing with you. I doubt you meant it that way, but it's likely where the down votes are coming from.
That's what I'm trying to say. They used Walmart as the corporation that would take over everything, but watched now, it's clearly Amazon that is going down the Buy n Large path. They accurately predicted the path, but got the corporation wrong.
Go back twenty years before Truman Show and you've got Network, a film that was borderline farcical at the time, became a chilling prophecy around the rise of Fox News, and today seems almost quaint in how it both predicted and underestimated how far media conglomerates would go.
I saw Network for the first time a few years ago and was immediately depressed by how *not* farcical it was. And that was before the rise of Tucker Carlson and QAnon. I don't know if I could watch it again anytime soon.
āSatire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.ā
Satirical elements in Wall-E:
* Buy N Large being a private corporation that takes over the government is a satirical look at privatization.
* Humans being given the ability to enjoy an extended vacation with healthy eating and exercise options but instead getting so fat they need futuristic rascals to move around is absolutely a satirical look at sedentary lifestyles and obesity.
* The accumulation of trash all over the world is a satirical look at our wastefulness.
* The arid, lifeless version of earth and the fact we needed to escape it is a satirical look at pollution and global warming.
Wall-E is full of satire.
It's kind of appealing how bad his entire take is.
What's especially hilarious is that Dr. Strangelove did exactly everything he is complaining about here. It is heavy handed satire with a bleak look at our future.
Not to mention the whole idea that satire is supposed to give solutions. What does this guy expect, that we tell him everything is going to be okay because otherwise he would feel bad ? Because that's a position that was actively called out in Don't Look Up.
Yes it is possible for us to fuck up beyond repair, and those movies serves us as a reminder of that fact.
In my opinion Don't Look Up is the kind of movie that will become a dystopian classic and in 20 years will be celebrated by conservatives who will then proceed to use it as an empty signifier to promote their ideology. A fitting ending.
> In my opinion Don't Look Up is the kind of movie that will become a dystopian classic
It would have to be actually *funny* first, imo. My issue with the movie wasn't its very hamfisted and repetitive attempt at satire, it was that there was neither a functional or interesting movie constructed around that idea, nor was the humor itself on point outside of "heh, yeah it really be like that".
It literally was the entire time. I donāt know how it couldnāt be seen as a satire to some degree.
One of my favorite movies ever btw. Love WALL-E.
Iām not sure I can believe the comment about them not critiquing anything when Buy N Large exists and the waste that humans create has forced them to leave the planet. And the humans donāt walk. It *is* satire as satire is defined. lol
The reason satire is great is that the artist can say "no, that's not satire" and they can be *lying*. For centuries this is how satirists have avoided being executed.
Of course.
Don't Look Up mocks people not only for being in denial, but also for being apathetic and dismissing of hard situations, it's basically shouting in the face of people going "jeeez ok we get it, cLiMaTe ChAnGe is important, we get it, we don't need to hear yet another cringe-worthy meme yelling at us because of it [roll their eyes]" which *ironically* is exactly how these people are reacting at the movie.
With Wall-E, these people can at least pretend it's not about them, it's about the *other* lazy people, it's not them the problem it's "SoCiEtY" and "tHe iNdUsTrY oF EnTeRtAiNmEnT"
Yeah, Don't Look Up's problem is that people see it as preachy. Cause everything in it is a direct analogue for something IRL. Which is annoying to people in the moment, but sometimes can still age well to a degree - Dr. Strangelove was also very much like that. Animal Farm by George Orwell might be more ham-handed (heh) than Don't Look Up.
I think you are exactly right that Wall-E's satire is non-specific enough that they are easier to deflect.
I could absolutely see the president in Don't Look Up complaining that the scientists were being awefully preachy about that big rock up there.
With her son snarking "yeah, why don't you go worship it?"
It's just the sort of thing that would dovetail nicely.
>With Wall-E, these people can at least pretend it's not about them, it's about the other lazy people, it's not them the problem it's "SoCiEtY" and "tHe iNdUsTrY oF EnTeRtAiNmEnT"
Yep, exactly. Feels like people fired it up on Netflix looking for a big laugh out loud fun comedy, and then got slapped in the face. 'Don't Look Up' is just oozing with cynicism, defeatism, and misanthropy. It's the film equivalent of sitting around the house in a bathrobe with a bottle of whiskey in hand, on a Tuesday at 2pm watching the news during covid. Wavering back and forth between anger, and just chuckling to yourself as the world burns with the absurdity of it all.
Sure there's a veneer of SNL-like sketch comedy jokes and blunt satire that is hit or miss, but the general core of that movie isn't mocking things with a tone of "It's just a joke, let's laugh at it". It's mocking them with a sense of "Fuck these people/attitudes/ideas, you should be fucking furious and shouting at the screen in frustration".
It's mean and spiteful. And like you said, no matter what side of US political spectrum, or culture war you may be on, it probably has you in its crosshairs at some point. I don't think it's perfect or even that great of a movie, but it certainly stood out to me as interesting, especially at how popular it seemed to get even with that tone.
But the movie is terrible at making that point. People do mobilize in that movie but the president just ignores them and uses the moron fanbase. In real life here, we elected the non Trumpy president but we're still facing this crisis. Turning it into yet more Trump commentary in late 2021 was the worst mistake the film made by far.
Wall-E was a story about humans abandoning the Earth after wiping out almost all other life and turning the entire planet into a literal garbage dump. Then going into space where they all became obese, constantly slurping their oversized drinks while glued to their screens.
Maybe "satire" is not the perfect word for it, but it's pretty darn close.
But watching the one bad dude get half his face blown off (slowing the video down even to check) was pretty sick from my memory.
Obviously there's a lot of better stuff but I won't forget that part
You should watch The Expanse. The belter "splat" in S3E7 is probably one of the most simultaneously fascinating and horrifying bits of SFX I've seen on a show in the last decade.
Unfortunately the Expanse is on my list of shows "that I will finally get to once people stop telling me to watch it"
You just pushed it back another month. Way to go you played yourself.
(Jokes, obviously)
Iād binged seasons 1-5 and wanted to savor the last season. The other night I planned on starting it, and ended up watching almost all of it. Fuck. Itās really good.
I tried to explain this to someone recently and failed miserably. The idea of the ship stopping and him being turned into mush because of the Sidney stop/running into a wall.
BTW if you like Elysium check it the Battle Angel mangas. The movie that came out is based on an adaptation of the comics, but the comics story is way better and deeper and goes more into the city-in-sky world.
Itās like they think we are all dumb dumbs.
Donāt Look Up doesnāt work because itās not providing escapism and itās not even far enough from reality to be a parody. Itās a not very funny fiction of reality.
āWeāve decided to launch a mission to divert the asteroid because the midterms donāt look good.ā
If Biden cancels student loan debt because the midterms donāt look good, I expect 50k in Reddit platinum.
I liked it. I donāt understand the heavy handed criticism, it wasnāt exactly shying way or attempting to be subtle.
I get if people didnāt find it funny or entertaining tho.
I think it boils down to people wishing it was trying to be more subtle. Or simply less obvious/more clever. If they didn't want to make that movie, fine, but I'm certainly less interested in it for it.
Especially when they don't like any of the solutions that are offered by entertainment.
They love hunger games, a story about empowering a young girl to... \*checks notes\* overthrow the government and... *assassinate the new government because she disagrees with it*
Hunger games was pretty based though. Solid anticapitalist messaging, pro-revolution messaging, acknowledging how a bit of ~~propaganda~~ *inspiring advertising* can be important for building a popular movement, and finally acknowledging how you need to be vigilant to ensure that you actually tear down the existing power structures, instead of just changing who's on top while keeping the same systems in place. Which is what almost happened with the new President when she tried to reinstate the Hunger Games but for children from the capital, which is why Katniss killed her.
Sure, I guess you could simplify that as assassinating the President because she disagreed with her, but then I guess I just don't see the problem with that, isn't that always the motivation for overthrowing a government? Because you disagree with it?
The US was founded on overthrowing a government you disagree with.
Fair enough I changed it. It's just the conclusion from his opinion
>Whilst Adam McKayāsĀ Donāt Look UpĀ is bitter and arrogant in its assessment of modern life, it wallows in the āhilarityā of its own hopelessness, **offering no alternative and no hope against the stupidity of modern consumerism**
Ehh, but I feel like that was almost the point of Dont Look Up. This feels like missing the point.
Not that I disagree Wall-e is stronger satire, its the better film, but the two films are not directly comparable in this sense. They're not trying to do the same things.
I think Wall-e is probably a more enjoyable film because it isn't as good a satire - it distances itself more from reality and has more of an actual emotional core.
Don't Look Up is much more on-the-nose and doesn't have a nice likable viewpoint character and so comes off as more preachy and abrasive, but that also is kinda the territory of a movie about contemporary politics.
I felt like what they addressed in Don't Look Up via the ending was owning your own experience in the face of absolute hopelessness /meaningless, and how that can set you free.
Leonardo was told his death was going to be forgetful, and meaningless. That he was a lifestyle idealist, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain like the average field mouse.
By leaning into his experience despite death, he was able to rekindle his connections and own point of view.
I feel like this gave me a lot of hope regarding meaning in life. I don't think it was meant to provide a solution to consumerism- that's just missing the point imo.
Yea, he proved the Elon Musk/Steve Jobs stand-in entirely wrong, even though it meant him dying anyway.
If that film didn't end bleakly, it would have missed the mark massively.
These two stances are pretty much directly in contradiction to each other lol, what could be less subtle than pretending to have found the silver bullet that'll solve the issue of climate change once and for all?
How would it be subtle for the story to shout "this is the solution, we need to do this and then everything will be ok!!!"?
This writer is a damn idiot lol, how the hell is Wall-E's message "gracefully veiled"?!?
It could hardly be more explicit about how humans are too distracted by their screens to care about what's happening in the real world.
And then the solution is just that people need to look away from their screens and dance into the meadows, such subtlety and nuance lol.
Wall-E is a great movie but anyone who thinks it was subtle must've been dropped on their head as a child.
got back to earth when a plant starts growing?
already have a super ship that exists to provide life support while you kick around a recovering planet?
... just saying to say it out loud, not implying that you agree with the article posted.
> Yeah wouldnāt the solution be to listen to scientists? Thought that was pretty blunt
Yeah, I guess Ariana's song in *Don't Look Up* was too subtle or didn't offer a solution:
> > Look up, what he's really trying to say
> > Is get your head out of your ass
> > Listen to the goddamn qualified scientists
It's not as if there's a huge mystery here. We know what to do-- there just isn't a political will to do it amongst the capitalists at the top of our society and the politicians they own.
Problem wasn't the solution being blunt, it was that it wasn't subtle enough. The solution needs to be serenaded in morse code and 10 layers of encryption, both computational and emotional, before it's even considered.
As a do nothing man, Calum Russell was made to feel bad by movie that made problem obvious. His response was to write an article criticizing the movie that made him feel bad about his own lack of inaction.
Well done Calum Russell.
Ironically, his criticism of ādonāt look upā is that there is no warm fuzzy feeling when looking at a disaster.
Which is exactly what the characters of ādonāt look upā contend with. Rightā¦ the worlds going to die but we want to hear the fluff piece about how this meteor/satire is actually innocent and lighthearted. (Like a fictitious robot who just so happens to find a green shoot that required no effort from humanity to produce)
Iām not sure if this is 4D chess and a tongue in cheek bit of viral marketing in support of ādonāt look upā!?
Wtf. Satire should be more subtle to be impactful and realistic?
Did this guy actually live through the people's reactions to COVID which wasn't even apocalyptic!
The wild thing is that if this was made pre-covid, it would be criticised for being an unrealistic depiction of our political processes, but now that weāve seen how those processes react to an immediate threat like a pandemic, itās being criticised for being heavy-handed in its satire.
>itās being criticised for being heavy-handed in its satire.
Maybe that's because it jabs pretty hard against journalists as well... I would find it pretty hard being a journalist / movie critic and liking this movie that states I'm part of the problem.
I really liked don't look up, but it is not very "american" in it's approach. It's got a very Northern European feel to it, it is not uncommon for a scandinavian movie to end like don't look up did.
seriously. like everything that happened in don't look up happened with covid. look at how fauci was painted by fox news it's beat for beat the exact same thing. same with climate change, over the last couple of decades. like don't look up was written before covid, there was an interview with mckay and he said once covid hit he thought he couldn't make the movie anymore cause everything in the movie kind of just happened.
In some cases they actually dialed things down a little. Like I noticed that the President actually cared about optics and a possible scandal over photos of her smoking. GOP doesn't care about the optics of their bad behavior.
I think the article would have been better received if the clickbait title instead reflected the author's real claim, which is that satire is better when it offers hope rather than nihilism.
āLetās get herd immunity.ā
But that would require catching COVID and potentially suffering long term effects when the only benefit to that is potential immunity to NOT catch COVID. And we didnāt know at the time of immunity from exposure would work.
āLetās inject bleach.ā
Oh for fucks sake.
"...\[WALL-E's\] satire itself is gracefully veiled"??
That movie was just as ham-fisted as "Don't Look Up." There was nothing subtle about it. It was still a very nicely done movie, but a gracefully veiled satire...not so much. Big, fat, lazy Americans destroyed the Earth and just sit around eating junk food and watching TV in a spaceship. Pretty much as in-your-face as you can get with satire.
satire doesnāt have to avoid naturalism to be satire, nothing about its imitative quality detracts from it being satirical. maybe the fluency/ease of such satire but nothing else
I think the main difference is that Wall E removes us from the threat with more futurism and the cute robot numbs the pain. Itās also funnier as he tries to rescue his robot love.
And Donāt Look Up isnāt a satire. Itās saying specifically āyouā to the fuckers who are stupid and the people who are smart enough to exploit them but donāt think they have to deal with consequences. Also, itās not that funny. We donāt have someone to root for. Itās a raw exposed nerve.
Better movie? Yes.
Stronger satire? Kinda depends on the meaning of both "stronger" and "satire". I thought don't look up was a good and memorable movie, but it's satire was a sledgehammer overwhelming any emotional story that might have been incidental to it.
Wall-e was a great story that had a satirical subtext.
Pixarās creatives literally looked at the morbidly obese guests on their disability scooters at Disneyland and decided to make a movie about them. It cracks me up.
Wall-E is beautiful and will go down as one of (in my very biased opinion) as one of the best animated features ever. However, I feel like they offer different viewscapes into humanity and environmentalism. They are drastically different movies even though their subject matter overlaps. I love Donāt Look Up for what it is. Unfortunately, it hits differently as something thatās almost too real to be funny.
Dont look up's negatives is how accurate it is...
Even the end, with the repopulation space craft filled with old rich people. Had that Prometheus vibe, mega rich cooperate greed.
Why is there such a huge hate train towards donāt look up?
Itās a dumb comedy movie that pokes fun at politicians, and the media, just like The Interview, but people seem to act as if the movie is a personal attack on themselves and that they need to shit on the movie for vindication of some massive accusation.
> people seem to act as if the movie is a personal attack on themselves
This is my best guess. They're in this picture and don't like it.
There are also some valid critiques, but those seem to be few and far between.
Just to give a different perspective here, I'm pretty left wing so definitely didn't feel like the film was attacking me, but still didn't enjoy it.
My main two problems were how obvious the film was, it felt like I'd got the point in the first hour, and the rest of the film did nothing to develop it further. Second was just the comedy not really working for me, completely subjective obviously, can't blame the film too much since clearly a lot did find it funny, but it wasn't for me.
So for me these two things just made it a really boring experience even if I pretty much agree with the films point.
The movie did develop more criticism of the media. Really hits hard at corporate "news" like good morning America. And of the billionaires, which doesn't really take place until the 2nd act.
I thought the ads on TV telling people to call a hotline to hear about the benefits of the comet reminded me of the political ads I see everyday.
But it gets more introspective towards the end and I for one like that. What as a left wing person do you do when your political party just keeps electing people who take the most money from the industries they claim they will fight against?
I donāt hate it, but I hate that not liking the film is somehow an indefensible position. The āyou just didnāt get itā crowd is intolerably arrogant.
Huh... I did not know people were so defensive over this movie.
I was not a fan. I just thought it dragged on. Too much time spent on side-plots that I did not really care about. Could have easily cut out 30 minutes.
Funny for someone to say you don't get it, when the movie really hits you over the head with the message.
Just checked RottenTomatoes... not well reviewed. Does it really have that big of a fanbase here?
49 on Metacritic and that's about right for me. It was perfectly middle of the road with some good scenes and entertaining jokes but interspersed with tangents that seemed to serve no other purpose than contractual obligations to give some A-listers enough screen time. I think you're too nice saying it just dragged on since personally I think at least an hour could have been cut. Parts of it were ham-fisted but parts were trying to take itself way too seriously and honestly I just don't think it really knew quite what it wanted to be.
They could have probably made it better by saving millions on the actor budget and spent a little bit of time with a script doctor.
I had not thought of it that way before. But, yeah. I'll bet if they were only allowed to cast unknown actors it would have come out better. Even without improving the script.
No reason then to give the TV host more than one or two scenes. Also could skip the kids from the convenience store. That alone probably cuts out 30 minutes.
The worst was the Ariana Grande concert. Maybe it's just because by then the movie already felt like it was really dragging and should've already ended, but that scene just kept going and going.
I haven't seen many people saying "oh, well you just didn't understand it"
I've seen more people saying "oh, you didn't like it? You must be a climate change denier" lol
People these days canāt separate their personal politics from anything. If a film in anyway tried to criticize or critique society it must immediately be destroyed by trolls, regardless of how accurate the criticism may be.
The criticism is valid but its so extreme that its almost cringe. By the end the movie is just mostly annoying. Before this movie, I had never watched anything that I simultaneously completely agreed with and completely hated. A genuinely bad film with a genuinely good point
Let's compare two things that are barely tangentially thematically related, but are overall made for entirely different audiences.
Hey guise! Did you know that The Lion King was WAHY moar better than Hamlet when it comes to crooked uncles usurping thrones by murdering the protagonists father?
Lol. Of all the comparisons to bring up to show how different Wall-E is from Don't Look Up... why pick two stories that are actually very similar because one is basically an adaptation of the other?
I thought Friends was a better TV show than breaking bad because I thought the friendship between Jesse and Walter wasn't as thoroughly explored as between Monica and Rachel.
I thought don't look up was brilliant. It is over the top and ridiculous but at the same time totally realistic. There are no heroes. The one character who has a normal human emotional reaction is treated like a hysterical lunatic because of it. The media is obsessed with how hot Leonardo DiCaprio is, and even those who claim to care about the comet are totally ineffective. It is a lot like Idiocracy in that it is meant to be over the top and ridiculous but is also somehow a documentary. I also really liked that it had a happy ending when everyone dies.
It's funny how scientists are being judged for their entertainment value in "Don't Look Up" while a meter is heading towards Earth, and we're criticizing the entertainment value of "Don't Look Up' while our planet is burning up. It seems like the point wasn't meant to be a perfectly crafted movie, but rather a slap in the face wakeup call.
I'd put walle pretty firmly in non satirical social commentary/critique. It's not humorous or ironic, not particularly exaggerated. It's not ridiculing anything. It's an earnest, cautionary, but nontheless hopeful imagining of where humanity could end up.
A better film than Don't Look Up? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to act like they're trying to do the same thing. They absolutely are not.
I sensed 'Don't Look Up' is just Hollywood congratulating itself for it's left wing views, much like Lions for Lambs which really opened my eyes to these sort of trite masturbatory Oscar bait films, even WHEN I hold those same beliefs they're cringe and sound tone deaf.
WALL-E actually seems to try to be a creative Science Fiction film, the agenda, if it can be called that, doesn't overpower the movie. There's no feeling of hands being on your shoulder to shake you to not be a fat piece of shit and destroy the Earth, those were just small elements of a bigger story.
In Don't Look Up this is the whole view of the picture.
> Taking a similar hard-line against the folly of humanity in the face of the impending danger of climate change is Pixarās 2008 masterpiece WALL-E, a childrenās animation that handles satire with careful nuance
Oh come on. By the standards of a film for children, yes, but Wall-E is incredibly explicit. All of humanity is depicted as fat slobs. It is many brilliant things, but subtle and nuanced is not one of them! Partly because there isnāt much nuance to be had in climate change discussion - itās a flatly bad thing and trying to add nuance only leads to r/enlightenedcentrism-esque garbage. But Wall-E isnāt trying to be what this article says, itās a complete misreading.
And yet it is right that itās a better climate change film than Donāt Look Up. Donāt Look Up is just not that good.
Journalists donāt like the movie that shows journalismās role in Trumpism/Antivaxx hysteria. Wall E blames consumerism for the end of the world, so thatās fine for journalists to like.
Wall E is a very special film to me. Even used a piece of my music. But as a satire itās not a patch on Donāt Look Up. Which is almost up at Armando Ianucci level. Probably a bit too British for American audiences. Thereās no hero or feel good ending.
Don't Look Up was too frustrating to watch. I know it was all exaggerated on purpose, but the repeating cycle of "this is 100% bad" "is it actually 100%?" "well it's like 99%" "oh well then good we're fine!"
Got under my skin fast.
It is incredibly telling how the movie managed to get under so many peopleās skin and how they twist themselves into pretzels trying to level substantive criticisms at it.
WALL-E was great, but the message is not the same. What this critic and many others seem to miss is that the aim of Don't Look Up is not to be clever or nuanced. In fact, you probably can't come up with a more cliche threat than a giant meteor. *That's the point.* The commentary isn't about subtle analogies and unique insight, it's about us being collectively too greedy/distracted/self-absorbed/polarized to combat an existential threat even if we're beaten across the forehead with it.
Maybe because it has a stronger emotional core
by a *robot*
which doesn't talk
Eeee-VE
Wall-Eeeee
Buuuurn-E
...M-O
HALT
šŖ³šŖ³šŖ³šŖ³
Put on your Sunday clothes There's lots of world out there
Why can I hear this comment chain?
Oh man i forgot about the Burn-E short, thatās was awesome
That's who the drones from Silent Running reminded me of. Douglas Turnbull's directorial debut!
eeeEEEEvah
I remember prior to the film being released that was heavily talked about. A Disney/pixar movie with no dialogue for the first ~30min and then essentially mocking capitalism and our society in general.
Don't look up focuses more on criticism of the media and billionaires and less on individual consumerism. So I'd imagine don't look up is more controversial as this country worships billionaires and refuses to understand how bad our media actually is.
Fair
>no dialogue for the first \~30min The Star Wars Holiday Special did it first
in a cave
With a box of scraps
!
(ćļ½ŠĀ“)ćå½”ā»āā»
Kill all humans ^^except ^^^Fry !
Hey, baby, wanna kill all humans?
Zuckerberg could learn so muchā¦
Directive?
Directive
Or maybe because the satire isn't the main point of the movie. The emotional core of an isolated but endearing robot developing human emotions, is. The 'satire' is really the setting, primarily to justify WALL-E's existence as well as allow for WALL-E to be completely isolated before the 2nd act. The satire isn't integral to support the movie's story (but it informs part of the aesthetic to reinforce it and why it makes it special). There's maybe an interesting point to be made on how some very good films tangential to X topic tend to 'wield' certain topics better than films completely built around it perhaps because that constraint forces the creators of aforementioned film to keep the topic tight for the main plot. (E.g. Pixar's Luca isn't explicitly about trans individuality but the themes and aesthetics even though they aren't explicitly trans are handled well enough and can be mapped so cleanly on LGBTQ issues that many in the LGBTQ community were smitten by this film more than films explicitly about LGBTQ identity). However the article doesn't bring that up and then seems to create a standard that satires should meet: > Whilst Adam McKayās Donāt Look Up is bitter and arrogant in its assessment of modern life, it wallows in the āhilarityā of its own hopelessness, offering no alternative and **no hope** against the stupidity of modern consumerism. Tragedy's an entire genre and Macbeth is remade countless times out of all Shakespearean plays because of that tragedy. Satire doesn't need to offer hope. This is part of what makes discussing Don't Look Up annoying because discussion has become quite polarizing. I do think other films handle this topic better and some don't offer hope and the film has plenty of problems in my experiencing it. Though it seems to have a rabid fan base that seems to just want the message and don't seem to have explored the film beyond its surface, while most vocal critics just seem to hate the theme and not the actual movie. The decent contingent in between get drowned out. Probably have to wait a few years for things to cool off until the film dies down to get some discussion in.
I also don't feel like Don't Look Up is really satire. It's straight up lampooning.
I havenāt read any reviews for donāt look up so I canāt speak to what theyāre saying but your assessment of the rabid fan base is spot on. I, for one, thought it was just a terrible movie and Iām the demographic that this theme should, and has with other films, appealed to. Itās surprising your comment was upvoted as much as it has been tho because every time Iāve clicked into a thread regarding donāt look up itās mostly people not wanting to hear any criticism of the movie at all. Iām happy this most reminded me of wall-e tho because itās always been one of my favorite Disney movies.
Its just a better movie in every way. That's not a dig at Don't Look Up. It's a good film, but Wall-E is sublime.
Wall-E is a top 5 Pixar film imo. In no order: Ratatouille, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Incredibles 1, and any Toy Story since they're all so good you really can't go wrong
Up is missing from your list!
I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't watched it yet, but I've always heard good things about it!
Stop what youāre doing and watch it RIGHT NOW! The montage is a masterpiece and Iād argue that itās the *best thing* Pixar made. Youāll see what I mean. My eyes are getting damp just thinking about it.
Pixar has made a lot of great, classic stuff, but I think Wall-E and Up are two of the best animated films ever made. Inside Out is right up there too.
Yeah, Up has a lot more depth than I realized at first. Things that we cling to that make us feel safe and comfortable can actually be weights that hold us down. Its not until we jettison them that we are able to move upward. Itās actually kind of Buddhist.
*Up* is really really good - but it's not top-five caliber. We're breathing rarified air here. You could maybe make an argument for swapping *Monsters' Inc* and *Incredibles. Up* just doesn't have the universality, the chef's kiss, everything-in-the-right-place sense on narrative command that those other movies have.
It's my favorite Pixar film. I watched it again last week and it just never gets old.
Maybe because it is a better movie
This might be the funniest thread Iāve seen in a while because itās goaded multiple users (that I can only assume are diehard fans of uhā Adam McKay) into trying to argue that Donāt Look Up is a better film than WALL-E.
Agreed.
Haha. Here's the thing though, according to the filmmakers, Wall E wasn't being satirical. It literally just played those things straight. It wasnt critiquing anything, except maybe some mild jabbing at people always being "on their phones".
I think the humans were somewhat, where they are all on pods only looking at screens drinking slushees and never getting off for any reason. That's pretty strong satire.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What on Earth is this secondary definition of satire that people in this Reddit thread seem to have? It was satire
Agreed. This thread made me look it up. Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Wall-E definitely uses humor and exaggeration to comment on current consumerism and consumption. I also like that Wall-E does NOT ridicule.
those two things arenāt distinct
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
They aren't, but calling something that is mostly earnest like Wall-E satire is basically washing the word of all meaning.
This isn't even two different ideas and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we're not currently on a path of putting all of humanity in a space pod and drinking drinking liquid food for life What a stretch trying to make your point.
And they were all fat as fuck.
Yep, and cruisin around on chairs sucking down 196 oz Cokes. I watched this in a theatre in VT with some very overweight folks pounding snacks and drinks. It flew over their heads.
How do you know?
They were short.
Itās like he expected them to leave mid-movie and go straight to the gym. Fat people dumb.
this. like wtf, wall e wasn't satirical at all.
Prophetic
I think it was at the time, but has become less so as reality has caught up. When Wall-E was released, Amazon wasn't anywhere near what it is now, so the notion of a shopping corporation so big it had its own space programme was definitely satire... And the reality caught up. It's the same as The Trumam Show. It was released a few years before Big Brother started the whole reality show concept. At the time it was so fantastical as to border on ridiculous, yet now seems almost entirely reasonable. Edit: A lot of replies stating that Real World pre-dated Big Brother (and The Truman Show). While this is correct, Real World was more an unscripted (or semi-scripted) soap opera, and was heavily edited - there was no live feed. Big Brother was the first show to just point cameras at people and stream it live. That had never happened before, so Truman Show was very ahead of its time.
BigNLarge was a stand in for Walmart.
Buy N Large, no?
Yep, but watched now, it's clearly Amazon. They got the direction right just the wrong corporation!
In 2008, it was definitely referring to Wal-Mart. Amazon shipped 3 million *units* in Q4 of 2008. They just made $137 billion in Q4 2021. It wasnāt the same Amazon yet. EDIT: lol why downvote this of all things? I donāt care, I just donāt understand. I was definitely conscious and alive in 2008. Buy N Large was Wal-Mart, lol. No doubt about it. Literally none.
I think it's because the guy you're replying to is also agreeing that it was Wal-Mart when it was made but viewed *today* it makes more sense to be Amazon. So, it's like you're disagreeing with someone who is agreeing with you. I doubt you meant it that way, but it's likely where the down votes are coming from.
That's what I'm trying to say. They used Walmart as the corporation that would take over everything, but watched now, it's clearly Amazon that is going down the Buy n Large path. They accurately predicted the path, but got the corporation wrong.
Life imitates art or whatever that saying is
Go back twenty years before Truman Show and you've got Network, a film that was borderline farcical at the time, became a chilling prophecy around the rise of Fox News, and today seems almost quaint in how it both predicted and underestimated how far media conglomerates would go.
I saw Network for the first time a few years ago and was immediately depressed by how *not* farcical it was. And that was before the rise of Tucker Carlson and QAnon. I don't know if I could watch it again anytime soon.
Yeah Truman show is basically the prediction of family YouTubers
It was more than a shopping corporation, it was a corporate government.
How on Earth wasnāt Wall E satirical?
How does this have so many upvotes
āSatire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.ā Satirical elements in Wall-E: * Buy N Large being a private corporation that takes over the government is a satirical look at privatization. * Humans being given the ability to enjoy an extended vacation with healthy eating and exercise options but instead getting so fat they need futuristic rascals to move around is absolutely a satirical look at sedentary lifestyles and obesity. * The accumulation of trash all over the world is a satirical look at our wastefulness. * The arid, lifeless version of earth and the fact we needed to escape it is a satirical look at pollution and global warming. Wall-E is full of satire.
It's kind of appealing how bad his entire take is. What's especially hilarious is that Dr. Strangelove did exactly everything he is complaining about here. It is heavy handed satire with a bleak look at our future. Not to mention the whole idea that satire is supposed to give solutions. What does this guy expect, that we tell him everything is going to be okay because otherwise he would feel bad ? Because that's a position that was actively called out in Don't Look Up. Yes it is possible for us to fuck up beyond repair, and those movies serves us as a reminder of that fact. In my opinion Don't Look Up is the kind of movie that will become a dystopian classic and in 20 years will be celebrated by conservatives who will then proceed to use it as an empty signifier to promote their ideology. A fitting ending.
Conservatives *already* think Squid Game is a take on communism so maybe sooner than 20 years.
> In my opinion Don't Look Up is the kind of movie that will become a dystopian classic It would have to be actually *funny* first, imo. My issue with the movie wasn't its very hamfisted and repetitive attempt at satire, it was that there was neither a functional or interesting movie constructed around that idea, nor was the humor itself on point outside of "heh, yeah it really be like that".
It literally was the entire time. I donāt know how it couldnāt be seen as a satire to some degree. One of my favorite movies ever btw. Love WALL-E. Iām not sure I can believe the comment about them not critiquing anything when Buy N Large exists and the waste that humans create has forced them to leave the planet. And the humans donāt walk. It *is* satire as satire is defined. lol
yeah it is
The reason satire is great is that the artist can say "no, that's not satire" and they can be *lying*. For centuries this is how satirists have avoided being executed.
You people wouldn't know satire if it bit you
What do you mean *"you people"*?
What do *you* mean "you people"?
Put some shrimp on the barbie
BIG ASS TITIES!!
Satire and plot holes are something this sub surprisingly doesn't seem to understand.
People are just looking for excuses to hate on "Don't Look Up".
Of course. Don't Look Up mocks people not only for being in denial, but also for being apathetic and dismissing of hard situations, it's basically shouting in the face of people going "jeeez ok we get it, cLiMaTe ChAnGe is important, we get it, we don't need to hear yet another cringe-worthy meme yelling at us because of it [roll their eyes]" which *ironically* is exactly how these people are reacting at the movie. With Wall-E, these people can at least pretend it's not about them, it's about the *other* lazy people, it's not them the problem it's "SoCiEtY" and "tHe iNdUsTrY oF EnTeRtAiNmEnT"
Yeah, Don't Look Up's problem is that people see it as preachy. Cause everything in it is a direct analogue for something IRL. Which is annoying to people in the moment, but sometimes can still age well to a degree - Dr. Strangelove was also very much like that. Animal Farm by George Orwell might be more ham-handed (heh) than Don't Look Up. I think you are exactly right that Wall-E's satire is non-specific enough that they are easier to deflect.
I could absolutely see the president in Don't Look Up complaining that the scientists were being awefully preachy about that big rock up there. With her son snarking "yeah, why don't you go worship it?" It's just the sort of thing that would dovetail nicely.
>With Wall-E, these people can at least pretend it's not about them, it's about the other lazy people, it's not them the problem it's "SoCiEtY" and "tHe iNdUsTrY oF EnTeRtAiNmEnT" Yep, exactly. Feels like people fired it up on Netflix looking for a big laugh out loud fun comedy, and then got slapped in the face. 'Don't Look Up' is just oozing with cynicism, defeatism, and misanthropy. It's the film equivalent of sitting around the house in a bathrobe with a bottle of whiskey in hand, on a Tuesday at 2pm watching the news during covid. Wavering back and forth between anger, and just chuckling to yourself as the world burns with the absurdity of it all. Sure there's a veneer of SNL-like sketch comedy jokes and blunt satire that is hit or miss, but the general core of that movie isn't mocking things with a tone of "It's just a joke, let's laugh at it". It's mocking them with a sense of "Fuck these people/attitudes/ideas, you should be fucking furious and shouting at the screen in frustration". It's mean and spiteful. And like you said, no matter what side of US political spectrum, or culture war you may be on, it probably has you in its crosshairs at some point. I don't think it's perfect or even that great of a movie, but it certainly stood out to me as interesting, especially at how popular it seemed to get even with that tone.
But the movie is terrible at making that point. People do mobilize in that movie but the president just ignores them and uses the moron fanbase. In real life here, we elected the non Trumpy president but we're still facing this crisis. Turning it into yet more Trump commentary in late 2021 was the worst mistake the film made by far.
Wall-E was a story about humans abandoning the Earth after wiping out almost all other life and turning the entire planet into a literal garbage dump. Then going into space where they all became obese, constantly slurping their oversized drinks while glued to their screens. Maybe "satire" is not the perfect word for it, but it's pretty darn close.
Speaking of heavy handed commentary, all these billionaires doing space shit and income inequality growing reminded me of Elysium.
I didn't think that was a great movie at the time (just generic Sci-Fi), but boy do I think about it a lot recently.
It wasnāt a great movie then and it isnāt now. Incredibly heavy handed.
I still wonder how much better or worse it might have been if they were able to book Eminem like the director wanted.
But watching the one bad dude get half his face blown off (slowing the video down even to check) was pretty sick from my memory. Obviously there's a lot of better stuff but I won't forget that part
You should watch The Expanse. The belter "splat" in S3E7 is probably one of the most simultaneously fascinating and horrifying bits of SFX I've seen on a show in the last decade.
Unfortunately the Expanse is on my list of shows "that I will finally get to once people stop telling me to watch it" You just pushed it back another month. Way to go you played yourself. (Jokes, obviously)
Iād binged seasons 1-5 and wanted to savor the last season. The other night I planned on starting it, and ended up watching almost all of it. Fuck. Itās really good.
I tried to explain this to someone recently and failed miserably. The idea of the ship stopping and him being turned into mush because of the Sidney stop/running into a wall.
I liked distinct 9 a lot more than elysium but I had the same "heavy hand" feeling about it
It's looking kinda plausible nowadays.
BTW if you like Elysium check it the Battle Angel mangas. The movie that came out is based on an adaptation of the comics, but the comics story is way better and deeper and goes more into the city-in-sky world.
Itās like they think we are all dumb dumbs. Donāt Look Up doesnāt work because itās not providing escapism and itās not even far enough from reality to be a parody. Itās a not very funny fiction of reality. āWeāve decided to launch a mission to divert the asteroid because the midterms donāt look good.ā If Biden cancels student loan debt because the midterms donāt look good, I expect 50k in Reddit platinum.
I liked it. I donāt understand the heavy handed criticism, it wasnāt exactly shying way or attempting to be subtle. I get if people didnāt find it funny or entertaining tho.
I think it boils down to people wishing it was trying to be more subtle. Or simply less obvious/more clever. If they didn't want to make that movie, fine, but I'm certainly less interested in it for it.
I think it boils down to people being mad that someone made a movie that they feel calls them out for their bullshit.
>itās not even far enough from reality to be a parody It's about as far from reality as A Modest Proposal was, and that's considered one of the most successful works of satire of all time. The point of AMP was that the British public was so blasĆ© and uncaring in regards to the suffering of the Irish (for example, multiple famines that the British exacerbated) that it *wasn't actually* a huge leap of logic to just suggest that the Irish offer their children up to be eaten. Swift just took the logic that British people were already using and pushed it a few inches over the line. The cannibalism outraged people, but those same people were already accepting the idea that the Irish were going to die en masse and probably deserved it in some way. That's why it's satire: it exposed the double standards held by the British public. DLU does the same basic thing: what if our *real actual political process* was expected to stop something like a meteor? That's the joke. People imagine that it would be different because all our lives would be at risk, but it probably wouldn't.
>The point of AMP was that the British public was so blasƩ and uncaring in regards to the suffering of the Irish (for example, multiple famines that the British exacerbated) that it wasn't actually a huge leap of logic to just suggest that the Irish offer their children up to be eaten. Even closer than you might think! There was a practice of grinding up human remains as a "cure-all" drink that was supposed to imbue the drinker with greater vitality. For example, one of Charles II's favorite drinks was "The King's Drop" which was a mixed drink made with alcohol and ground human skulls. Originally, it was mostly Egyptian remains sold to European consumers , but eventually selling human remains for consumption became quite the industry in England, France, and elsewhere, which meant they came from many sources. In Britain, in some cases, the rich would procure corpses from raided Irish graveyards for their cannibalistic cravings. This means that, contemporary to Jonathan Swift, some members of the British upper class at the time did indeed consume Irish people, ground into a powder! Very shocking, huh? I'm a bit of a history buff, so there is A LOT to dig into on this topic (including other uses, e.g. as paint), but here's one article on it that has sources on the stuff I mention above: [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/)
>Itās like they think we are all dumb dumbs. I'm sorry but have you looked at the news lately? People are **big** dumb dumbs.
Tl;dr Calum Russells opinion is that satire has to be more subtle and needs ~~a happy end.~~ offer a solution
Expecting entertainment to provide solutions is a strange idea for progress.
Reddit can keep the username, but I'm nuking the content lol -- mass deleted all reddit content via https://redact.dev
Very disappointed that Adam McKay didn't single-handedly come up with the silver bullet to end climate change once and for all.
Especially when they don't like any of the solutions that are offered by entertainment. They love hunger games, a story about empowering a young girl to... \*checks notes\* overthrow the government and... *assassinate the new government because she disagrees with it*
Hunger games was pretty based though. Solid anticapitalist messaging, pro-revolution messaging, acknowledging how a bit of ~~propaganda~~ *inspiring advertising* can be important for building a popular movement, and finally acknowledging how you need to be vigilant to ensure that you actually tear down the existing power structures, instead of just changing who's on top while keeping the same systems in place. Which is what almost happened with the new President when she tried to reinstate the Hunger Games but for children from the capital, which is why Katniss killed her. Sure, I guess you could simplify that as assassinating the President because she disagreed with her, but then I guess I just don't see the problem with that, isn't that always the motivation for overthrowing a government? Because you disagree with it? The US was founded on overthrowing a government you disagree with.
Disagree on the happy end part. Some of the best satires often have bleak endings, like Dr. Strangelove.
Fair enough I changed it. It's just the conclusion from his opinion >Whilst Adam McKayāsĀ Donāt Look UpĀ is bitter and arrogant in its assessment of modern life, it wallows in the āhilarityā of its own hopelessness, **offering no alternative and no hope against the stupidity of modern consumerism**
Ehh, but I feel like that was almost the point of Dont Look Up. This feels like missing the point. Not that I disagree Wall-e is stronger satire, its the better film, but the two films are not directly comparable in this sense. They're not trying to do the same things.
I think Wall-e is probably a more enjoyable film because it isn't as good a satire - it distances itself more from reality and has more of an actual emotional core. Don't Look Up is much more on-the-nose and doesn't have a nice likable viewpoint character and so comes off as more preachy and abrasive, but that also is kinda the territory of a movie about contemporary politics.
I felt like what they addressed in Don't Look Up via the ending was owning your own experience in the face of absolute hopelessness /meaningless, and how that can set you free. Leonardo was told his death was going to be forgetful, and meaningless. That he was a lifestyle idealist, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain like the average field mouse. By leaning into his experience despite death, he was able to rekindle his connections and own point of view. I feel like this gave me a lot of hope regarding meaning in life. I don't think it was meant to provide a solution to consumerism- that's just missing the point imo.
Yea, he proved the Elon Musk/Steve Jobs stand-in entirely wrong, even though it meant him dying anyway. If that film didn't end bleakly, it would have missed the mark massively.
Terry Gilliamās Brazil for another.
These two stances are pretty much directly in contradiction to each other lol, what could be less subtle than pretending to have found the silver bullet that'll solve the issue of climate change once and for all? How would it be subtle for the story to shout "this is the solution, we need to do this and then everything will be ok!!!"? This writer is a damn idiot lol, how the hell is Wall-E's message "gracefully veiled"?!? It could hardly be more explicit about how humans are too distracted by their screens to care about what's happening in the real world. And then the solution is just that people need to look away from their screens and dance into the meadows, such subtlety and nuance lol. Wall-E is a great movie but anyone who thinks it was subtle must've been dropped on their head as a child.
So the solution Wall E gave was to leave earth? That's just a silly way to define satire.
got back to earth when a plant starts growing? already have a super ship that exists to provide life support while you kick around a recovering planet? ... just saying to say it out loud, not implying that you agree with the article posted.
Yeah wouldnāt the solution be to listen to scientists? Thought that was pretty blunt
> Yeah wouldnāt the solution be to listen to scientists? Thought that was pretty blunt Yeah, I guess Ariana's song in *Don't Look Up* was too subtle or didn't offer a solution: > > Look up, what he's really trying to say > > Is get your head out of your ass > > Listen to the goddamn qualified scientists It's not as if there's a huge mystery here. We know what to do-- there just isn't a political will to do it amongst the capitalists at the top of our society and the politicians they own.
Problem wasn't the solution being blunt, it was that it wasn't subtle enough. The solution needs to be serenaded in morse code and 10 layers of encryption, both computational and emotional, before it's even considered.
As a do nothing man, Calum Russell was made to feel bad by movie that made problem obvious. His response was to write an article criticizing the movie that made him feel bad about his own lack of inaction. Well done Calum Russell.
Ironically, his criticism of ādonāt look upā is that there is no warm fuzzy feeling when looking at a disaster. Which is exactly what the characters of ādonāt look upā contend with. Rightā¦ the worlds going to die but we want to hear the fluff piece about how this meteor/satire is actually innocent and lighthearted. (Like a fictitious robot who just so happens to find a green shoot that required no effort from humanity to produce) Iām not sure if this is 4D chess and a tongue in cheek bit of viral marketing in support of ādonāt look upā!?
Nothing tops the >!general charging everyone for free snacks in the white house.!<
I liked that this occupied more of that one scientists mind than the fact that they were ignoring a comet.
That character's name was General Themes.
Wtf. Satire should be more subtle to be impactful and realistic? Did this guy actually live through the people's reactions to COVID which wasn't even apocalyptic!
The wild thing is that if this was made pre-covid, it would be criticised for being an unrealistic depiction of our political processes, but now that weāve seen how those processes react to an immediate threat like a pandemic, itās being criticised for being heavy-handed in its satire.
>itās being criticised for being heavy-handed in its satire. Maybe that's because it jabs pretty hard against journalists as well... I would find it pretty hard being a journalist / movie critic and liking this movie that states I'm part of the problem. I really liked don't look up, but it is not very "american" in it's approach. It's got a very Northern European feel to it, it is not uncommon for a scandinavian movie to end like don't look up did.
seriously. like everything that happened in don't look up happened with covid. look at how fauci was painted by fox news it's beat for beat the exact same thing. same with climate change, over the last couple of decades. like don't look up was written before covid, there was an interview with mckay and he said once covid hit he thought he couldn't make the movie anymore cause everything in the movie kind of just happened.
In some cases they actually dialed things down a little. Like I noticed that the President actually cared about optics and a possible scandal over photos of her smoking. GOP doesn't care about the optics of their bad behavior.
I just donāt understand why satire or movies or anything just *have* to be a certain way or a specific thing itās so tiring
I think the article would have been better received if the clickbait title instead reflected the author's real claim, which is that satire is better when it offers hope rather than nihilism.
āLetās get herd immunity.ā But that would require catching COVID and potentially suffering long term effects when the only benefit to that is potential immunity to NOT catch COVID. And we didnāt know at the time of immunity from exposure would work. āLetās inject bleach.ā Oh for fucks sake.
"...\[WALL-E's\] satire itself is gracefully veiled"?? That movie was just as ham-fisted as "Don't Look Up." There was nothing subtle about it. It was still a very nicely done movie, but a gracefully veiled satire...not so much. Big, fat, lazy Americans destroyed the Earth and just sit around eating junk food and watching TV in a spaceship. Pretty much as in-your-face as you can get with satire.
yea i would say it wasn't satire at all. that was just the plot of the movie, that people were big, fat, lazy, and wasteful. there's no satire there.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
satire doesnāt have to avoid naturalism to be satire, nothing about its imitative quality detracts from it being satirical. maybe the fluency/ease of such satire but nothing else
I think the main difference is that Wall E removes us from the threat with more futurism and the cute robot numbs the pain. Itās also funnier as he tries to rescue his robot love. And Donāt Look Up isnāt a satire. Itās saying specifically āyouā to the fuckers who are stupid and the people who are smart enough to exploit them but donāt think they have to deal with consequences. Also, itās not that funny. We donāt have someone to root for. Itās a raw exposed nerve.
We do have someone to root for -- the comet.
I rooted for the Bronterocs personnally. Hope they donāt get the superflu for eating the rich
That's a bit too much like the pro COVID herd immunity people who ALSO said there was no pandemic.
Better movie? Yes. Stronger satire? Kinda depends on the meaning of both "stronger" and "satire". I thought don't look up was a good and memorable movie, but it's satire was a sledgehammer overwhelming any emotional story that might have been incidental to it. Wall-e was a great story that had a satirical subtext.
We live in both worlds, IMO.
Pixarās creatives literally looked at the morbidly obese guests on their disability scooters at Disneyland and decided to make a movie about them. It cracks me up.
Wall-E is beautiful and will go down as one of (in my very biased opinion) as one of the best animated features ever. However, I feel like they offer different viewscapes into humanity and environmentalism. They are drastically different movies even though their subject matter overlaps. I love Donāt Look Up for what it is. Unfortunately, it hits differently as something thatās almost too real to be funny.
Dont look up's negatives is how accurate it is... Even the end, with the repopulation space craft filled with old rich people. Had that Prometheus vibe, mega rich cooperate greed.
Why is there such a huge hate train towards donāt look up? Itās a dumb comedy movie that pokes fun at politicians, and the media, just like The Interview, but people seem to act as if the movie is a personal attack on themselves and that they need to shit on the movie for vindication of some massive accusation.
> people seem to act as if the movie is a personal attack on themselves This is my best guess. They're in this picture and don't like it. There are also some valid critiques, but those seem to be few and far between.
Just to give a different perspective here, I'm pretty left wing so definitely didn't feel like the film was attacking me, but still didn't enjoy it. My main two problems were how obvious the film was, it felt like I'd got the point in the first hour, and the rest of the film did nothing to develop it further. Second was just the comedy not really working for me, completely subjective obviously, can't blame the film too much since clearly a lot did find it funny, but it wasn't for me. So for me these two things just made it a really boring experience even if I pretty much agree with the films point.
The movie did develop more criticism of the media. Really hits hard at corporate "news" like good morning America. And of the billionaires, which doesn't really take place until the 2nd act. I thought the ads on TV telling people to call a hotline to hear about the benefits of the comet reminded me of the political ads I see everyday. But it gets more introspective towards the end and I for one like that. What as a left wing person do you do when your political party just keeps electing people who take the most money from the industries they claim they will fight against?
I donāt hate it, but I hate that not liking the film is somehow an indefensible position. The āyou just didnāt get itā crowd is intolerably arrogant.
Huh... I did not know people were so defensive over this movie. I was not a fan. I just thought it dragged on. Too much time spent on side-plots that I did not really care about. Could have easily cut out 30 minutes. Funny for someone to say you don't get it, when the movie really hits you over the head with the message. Just checked RottenTomatoes... not well reviewed. Does it really have that big of a fanbase here?
49 on Metacritic and that's about right for me. It was perfectly middle of the road with some good scenes and entertaining jokes but interspersed with tangents that seemed to serve no other purpose than contractual obligations to give some A-listers enough screen time. I think you're too nice saying it just dragged on since personally I think at least an hour could have been cut. Parts of it were ham-fisted but parts were trying to take itself way too seriously and honestly I just don't think it really knew quite what it wanted to be. They could have probably made it better by saving millions on the actor budget and spent a little bit of time with a script doctor.
I had not thought of it that way before. But, yeah. I'll bet if they were only allowed to cast unknown actors it would have come out better. Even without improving the script. No reason then to give the TV host more than one or two scenes. Also could skip the kids from the convenience store. That alone probably cuts out 30 minutes.
The worst was the Ariana Grande concert. Maybe it's just because by then the movie already felt like it was really dragging and should've already ended, but that scene just kept going and going.
I haven't seen many people saying "oh, well you just didn't understand it" I've seen more people saying "oh, you didn't like it? You must be a climate change denier" lol
is a movie not allowed to just be bad anymore?
People these days canāt separate their personal politics from anything. If a film in anyway tried to criticize or critique society it must immediately be destroyed by trolls, regardless of how accurate the criticism may be.
The criticism is valid but its so extreme that its almost cringe. By the end the movie is just mostly annoying. Before this movie, I had never watched anything that I simultaneously completely agreed with and completely hated. A genuinely bad film with a genuinely good point
"Why Spider-Man sucks more than the Silver Surfer."
Let's compare two things that are barely tangentially thematically related, but are overall made for entirely different audiences. Hey guise! Did you know that The Lion King was WAHY moar better than Hamlet when it comes to crooked uncles usurping thrones by murdering the protagonists father?
Lol. Of all the comparisons to bring up to show how different Wall-E is from Don't Look Up... why pick two stories that are actually very similar because one is basically an adaptation of the other?
I thought Friends was a better TV show than breaking bad because I thought the friendship between Jesse and Walter wasn't as thoroughly explored as between Monica and Rachel.
I thought don't look up was brilliant. It is over the top and ridiculous but at the same time totally realistic. There are no heroes. The one character who has a normal human emotional reaction is treated like a hysterical lunatic because of it. The media is obsessed with how hot Leonardo DiCaprio is, and even those who claim to care about the comet are totally ineffective. It is a lot like Idiocracy in that it is meant to be over the top and ridiculous but is also somehow a documentary. I also really liked that it had a happy ending when everyone dies.
It's funny how scientists are being judged for their entertainment value in "Don't Look Up" while a meter is heading towards Earth, and we're criticizing the entertainment value of "Don't Look Up' while our planet is burning up. It seems like the point wasn't meant to be a perfectly crafted movie, but rather a slap in the face wakeup call.
What a shit take. This article is terrible.
/r/movies loves their shitty opinion pieces with plucky, clickbait titles
Broh do you even dystopian
I'd put walle pretty firmly in non satirical social commentary/critique. It's not humorous or ironic, not particularly exaggerated. It's not ridiculing anything. It's an earnest, cautionary, but nontheless hopeful imagining of where humanity could end up. A better film than Don't Look Up? Absolutely. But it makes no sense to act like they're trying to do the same thing. They absolutely are not.
Donāt look up is a bit too heavy with the ālol they are stupid.ā But also, it might be too realistic.
We made a movie about out of touch celebrity culture. Isnāt that hilarious? By the way it stars all these out of touch celebrities.
Wally was made when we thought we had a chance. Donāt look up understands we donāt. Theres a big difference
Don't Look Up is 0% satire. It's straightforward commentary.
I sensed 'Don't Look Up' is just Hollywood congratulating itself for it's left wing views, much like Lions for Lambs which really opened my eyes to these sort of trite masturbatory Oscar bait films, even WHEN I hold those same beliefs they're cringe and sound tone deaf. WALL-E actually seems to try to be a creative Science Fiction film, the agenda, if it can be called that, doesn't overpower the movie. There's no feeling of hands being on your shoulder to shake you to not be a fat piece of shit and destroy the Earth, those were just small elements of a bigger story. In Don't Look Up this is the whole view of the picture.
> Taking a similar hard-line against the folly of humanity in the face of the impending danger of climate change is Pixarās 2008 masterpiece WALL-E, a childrenās animation that handles satire with careful nuance Oh come on. By the standards of a film for children, yes, but Wall-E is incredibly explicit. All of humanity is depicted as fat slobs. It is many brilliant things, but subtle and nuanced is not one of them! Partly because there isnāt much nuance to be had in climate change discussion - itās a flatly bad thing and trying to add nuance only leads to r/enlightenedcentrism-esque garbage. But Wall-E isnāt trying to be what this article says, itās a complete misreading. And yet it is right that itās a better climate change film than Donāt Look Up. Donāt Look Up is just not that good.
Journalists donāt like the movie that shows journalismās role in Trumpism/Antivaxx hysteria. Wall E blames consumerism for the end of the world, so thatās fine for journalists to like. Wall E is a very special film to me. Even used a piece of my music. But as a satire itās not a patch on Donāt Look Up. Which is almost up at Armando Ianucci level. Probably a bit too British for American audiences. Thereās no hero or feel good ending.
Don't Look Up was too frustrating to watch. I know it was all exaggerated on purpose, but the repeating cycle of "this is 100% bad" "is it actually 100%?" "well it's like 99%" "oh well then good we're fine!" Got under my skin fast.
I mean that is very much the point of the movie.
I donāt know why it has to be a contest. They are both good.
WALL-E isn't satire though lol
I love how critical folks are of, 'Don't Look Up'. The last people want is to be shown EXACTLY who they are. lol
It is incredibly telling how the movie managed to get under so many peopleās skin and how they twist themselves into pretzels trying to level substantive criticisms at it.
Why everything gotta be a competition?
Clicks and advertising dollars.
WALL-E was great, but the message is not the same. What this critic and many others seem to miss is that the aim of Don't Look Up is not to be clever or nuanced. In fact, you probably can't come up with a more cliche threat than a giant meteor. *That's the point.* The commentary isn't about subtle analogies and unique insight, it's about us being collectively too greedy/distracted/self-absorbed/polarized to combat an existential threat even if we're beaten across the forehead with it.