We Say, “Look to the working class!”
This film “Don’t Look Up!” is quite good at criticizing the lies and deceit of the ruling class, its short-termism, its self-indulgence. It is a parody of climate disaster denialism, free-market attempts to solve it, and conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is ultimately a pessimistic and sinful surrender to the system it is attacking.
“Don’t Look Up” is a clear example of the immediate present where the same mistakes are made over and over again. You can see the same corrupt politicians abusing power, personified by far-right demagogues. There are capitalist entrepreneurs who are a parody of our modern technological billionaires. They take advantage of situations for their own well-being and always exploit reality and appropriate it to their advantage. There is a ruling class unable to mobilize society and science to overcome the imminent calamity of the collision with a giant comet.
Scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence try to overcome political, bureaucratic and media obstacles to warn the world of impending doom. They organize on the social networks, and many people respond. Some viewers will be inspired by this response and see it as a call to organize better and sooner.
But the fact that all the organizing is done by a couple of scientists hides the key role of organized workers and a communist party. Viewers sure won’t learn that from this movie and may very well conclude that the workers are helpless victims.
In a scene at the end of the film, there’s a “Last Supper” moment, where there is harmony, forgiveness, love and union for the working class. This includes those who fought to the end, standing up and fighting for their ideas and convictions, but did not defeat the system.
The end is a desperate but worse scenario as the ruling-class billionaires and presidential courtiers, unlike the subjugated masses, escape the doomed planet, ultimately to meet their own doom.
The contradiction that this film presents is that it shows the horror of the system and criticizes its worst contemporary features but offers no hope of change. Those of us who are communists know that social transformation and revolution is the only way to overcome this system that is parodied in this film. And some viewers will be inspired to fight harder by seeing the urgency of the disaster we face.
But the majority of those who see this movie will say, “This system is terrible and cruel, but there is nothing we can do.” And that’s a lie. As communists, we know that when the masses mobilize and engage in struggle, communist revolution can end this system forever.
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