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Movies and climate change

2023; Medknow; Volume: 19; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4103/amjm.amjm_28_23

2772-2805

Arathi P Nair,

Global Energy and Sustainability Research

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." Cinephiles everywhere would be aware of this famous opening line, a harbinger of entertainment set in a futuristic world. However, in the present context, a twisted dark version comes to my mind. A short time ahead in a world not far away, the land bears cracks, the air is not breathable, and human life is on the edge. Does the latter also sound familiar? Probably, yes, because it describes the dystopian society sold to us by numerous authors and filmmakers. In the first half of the last decade, there was a time when everyone was either watching or reading about an apocalyptic world. Most of the time, the viewers and readers were not made aware of the cause. Now we know that it is our actions against nature that is leading to such a situation, the operative term being "climate apocalypse." The concept was explored in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. But what about movies? As an avid bibliophile and a self-proclaimed cinephile, I believe that once you read or watch something that has a strong message, it can alter your psyche and make you think along the same lines. Therefore, this is a list of movies curated from my personal experience, for the present context, viz. climate change, its unpardonable anthropogenic causes, and disastrous effects. These are in no particular order other than purely subjective ones. 1) Wall-E (2008): A movie that defined my childhood. The thought of the earth turning into a wasteland and humans not being able to even walk properly was extremely confusing at that time. Later, rewatching this masterpiece brought home to me the impact of pollution and mismanagement of natural resources, and the apocalypse that can fall upon our home planet. Although on the surface, a love story between Wall-E and Eva, the movie is much more poignant. The preclimatic sequence features the robot nearly sacrificing its life in the hope of helping humans return to earth to plant a seed of new life, both metaphorically and literally. It will stick with the viewer for a long time. The movie does end on a happy note, but if our actions continue to be irrational, we will have to look for another ending. 2) Avatar (2009): My generation cannot probably imagine a time when the majority of movies released did not bother with VFX or green screens. Indeed, those were simpler times. But all of this changed after 2009, the year we all wished we were in Pandora, the attractive world created in James Cameron's magnum opus. The film beautifully portrays a world where the inhabitants respect and value nature, and also showcase the power of human greed, which can destroy a planet with resultant utter chaos. I am well aware of the fact that there may be only a handful of people who have not seen this movie. To my mind, this film (and series) is not just a cinematic masterpiece but also a deep look into the climate apocalypse. 3) Princess Mononoke (1997): Humans are gray. We have good and evil within us. However, sometimes we let evil take over our entire soul and eat us up alive. This aspect has been beautifully depicted in multiple scenes in this movie. Cited by James Cameron as one of the films that inspired Avatar, this Studio Ghibli classic showcases the clash of culture and civilization. The need to prosper forces the ostracized villagers of the fictional town of Iron Town to ask too much of Mother Nature. Eventually, nature or, in this case the spirits, starts to retaliate, leading to catastrophic events. This Japanese "animated epic historical fantasy film" is highly recommended especially for those who are not much into anime. This might be a good start. Saying this from personal experience, as this movie happened during the time that my school was going through an "anime phase". The so-called peer pressure forced me to watch it. Being a Disney fan girl, I was very apprehensive at the time, but now, I can declare that Princess Mononoke will always remain in my top three animated movies list. 4) Happy Feet (2006): Imagine going on an expedition to Antarctica to see a colony of penguins grooving to a Beatles song. That is Happy Feet for you. Penguins and humans have many characteristics in common, not realized by most of us. Maybe that is why when I saw this movie, it really spoke to me. One unhappy scene that stayed in my mind was the one in which a penguin's head gets stuck in a plastic can and it struggles to breathe. This movie is much more than an animated film about a bunch of dancing penguins. It is a deep dive (pun intended) into the effects of global warming, overfishing, and encroachment. You get great animation, messaging, and music in one movie. What more do you want? 5) David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020): How can one talk of the climate, natural world, etc., and not mention the "grand old man" of this theme? Anyone who has seen BBC Earth would associate it with one voice: Sir David Attenborough! And so, though technically not a movie, I felt that this recent documentary must be placed in this list. Personally, watching it took me back to the time when I was 12, and my father and I would watch Sir David talk about the wonders of the beetles, bees, tigers, deer etc. Ah, such pleasant, and invigorating, memories! Before Greta Thunberg was even born, Sir David was advocating ideas of reforestation, conservation, and the impact of climate change. This documentary serves as a pseudo autobiography, in which Sir David speaks about his illustrious career and the love that he has for mother nature. He also highlights his fear about the impending destruction due to our irresponsible acts (I shudder to think of the possibility of the Amazon rainforest changing into a savanna). But the wise grandfather that he is, he leaves us with hopes of a better future and steps that we should take to ensure the sustenance of this beautiful planet of ours. 6) Don't Look Up (2021): My favourite scene from this movie is this: the protagonists are sitting with their loved ones around a dining table, having a grand meal and discussing random things; interspersed is the sight of a deadly comet approaching Earth. The people are scared but they have accepted the reality and are ready to face their impending deaths with open arms. Hopefully, this scenario will never come true. There is also the subplot of how some pop stars' relationship status is more important than a comet crashing and destroying Earth. I cannot help feel that it is actually a mirror of what is happening in our society at present. 7) Kadwi Hawa (2017): I had postponed watching this movie until very recently. It seemed a little different and well, how right I was! In my humble opinion, I do not think there has been a movie made in our country similar to this one. With the warning that it is a slow burn, and extremely disturbing, I would still recommend it for its "reality check" quotient, especially in the present context. It takes a blind man (played eloquently by Sanjay Mishra) to make the viewers, who have hitherto turned a blind eye, see the harsh reality of farmer suicides, greed, and most importantly climate change. I sincerely feel that my compatriots must watch this movie, that is likely to make us question a lot of things wrong in our society, specifically wanton environmental degradation. So, dear readers, that was my list, by no means exclusive, on a literally and metaphorically "hot topic". Movies are often a peek into our lives and culture; some turn out to be transformational. As a student myself, I hope that at least the avid moviegoers view such films with one eye on the "learning" aspect in them, and not merely as mindless entertainment. Together let us achieve that cliched (but in this context most welcome), "happy ending" for mother nature. Let us all live happily ever after! Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.