Don’t Look Up: Satirical Science Fiction Film Addresses A Possible Humankind Catalyst

Wrapping up 2021, Netflix premiered the satirical science fiction film Don’t Look Up, written, produced, and directed by Adam McKay. Starring Hollywood favorites, the movie follows astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) in a frenzied media tour to spread awareness and urgency of humankind’s impending doom as per a planet-killer comet.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up critiques it all—politics, society, technology. Instead of delivering a (preferred) happy ending, McKay did the complete opposite. His intention was to create a warning for society, allowing people to understand that nothing and nobody can rise to the occasion of doomsday scenarios.

Let’s start with the politics. Portrayed by the power-hungry President Orlean (Meryl Street) and her privileged and spoiled son Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), McKay made a clear statement: it’s everybody for themselves. At first, when Mindy and Dibiasky approached the President for her government support on the issue, her rejection was confusing, to say the least. Why would a president turn down a scientifically-backed finding of a plant-killing comet? It’s quickly conveyed to the audience that President Orlean strictly values her own wealth and power above such a crisis, hence a critique of world leaders and their poor inaction upon important issues of today.

Following politics is society. Many decided to turn their heads to the severity of the comet, as seen in media reporter Bree Evantee (Cate Blanchett). Her media-trained laugh is ideal for her television program, The Daily Rip, where she and her co-anchor deliver news under positive and upbeat limelight. However, as noted by Dr. Mindy near the end of the film, some issues are supposed to be frightening, so this fear can motivate society to take action. Yet, much to the dismay of Mindy and Dibiasky, society failed to recognize their Ragnarok until it was shining like a star above their houses.

As it seems, technology isn’t quite a dependable ally when it comes to the end of days either. Entrepreneur Peter Isherwell’s (Mark Rylance) promise was that his machines can offer a twofold result: break the comet apart into pieces (save humankind) and mine it for valuable components (making the rich richer). While it is no doubt a compelling proposition, dependence on these machines led to humankind’s downfall. Simply put, the pros of tech do not seem to be a good-enough solution, according to McKay.