What are takeaways from movie ‘Don’t Look Up?
Atique Ur Rehman:
Our successive governments and power players have been involved in their political ambitions more than resolving the issues of masses
Insensitivity of politics towards human miseries and diversion techniques of media are lethal set of combination to deprive public of their basic right of knowing the truth. Politics in collaboration with corporate sector aims to wield power and media is obsessed with non-issues for ratings.
A recent Hollywood movie ‘Don’t look up’ brings out daringly the inner motives of politics, corporate world and media . Plot of the story revolves around a PhD scholar Kate Dibiasky, who is doing her research at Michigan State University. She incidentally discovers that an unidentified comet is moving towards the earth planet. She informs her supervisor Professor, Dr. Randall Mindy, who verifies the data and calculates that an impact will take place in about six months, killing all life on earth in the process. They contact NASA head who also endorses their findings. An official meeting is set with President of US to discuss the situation. Three scientists reach White House for a meeting but to their surprise, President is busy in other issues. They kept on waiting for 7 hours but at the end meeting is postponed till tomorrow due to some petty political issue. Next day, when meeting takes place, the top US administration including POTUS do not pay much attention and rather make fun of scientists. All three scientists move out of office embarrassed.
Then, three scientists Oglethorpe , Kate and Randall embark on a media tour to inform the public through a popular morning show. Their media interaction shockingly go comical. Host also make fun of them and makes no effort to inform public about the coming danger. Within minutes social media joins the bandwagon to bash scientists. Luckily, Kate’s on-camera antics go viral online. Once public come to know about danger, their reaction immediately change from comic to pensive and fear.
Meanwhile, President Orlean becomes involved in a sex scandal. POTUS takes the opportunity of comet and publicly declares it a threat, primarily to divert the attention of masses. The news is finally spread by the media and the launch of a spaceship that can hit and divert the comet, saving the planet, is announced. However, the operation is canceled mid-flight when Peter Isherwell, a technological billionaire and prominent funder of President and his political party, discovers that the comet is composed of trillions of dollars worth of precious minerals that have become scarce on Earth. The White House plans to commercially exploit the comet by crushing it to reduce its size and recovering the fragments. The story goes on but till the comet hit the planet.
Though the films has earned criticism in US but it has made its point that how governments are mostly obsessed with their image and pay least attention to public issues and give importance to interest of rich and elite.
We can correlate our political environment to similar situation. Our successive governments and power players have been involved in their political ambitions more than resolving the issues of masses.
US situation is no different from rest of the world. Mafias and cartels indirectly rule the nation states and politicians are only a tool in their hands. Public issues remain unsolved, only those issues surface which can benefit the government and corporate sectors. A famous book “Why Nations Fail” focus on that nations only fail when they don’t take the inclusive issues which involve public problems. On the contrary, government takes on issues which mainly concerns the rick and elite.
