Don’t Look Up is a movie directed by Adam Mckay which features Leonardo Dicaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. This movie is a comedy revolving on the event of a comet that is about to destroy the Earth, in six months and fourteen days, yet no one seems concerned about it. 

In attempts to express the seriousness of the matter, the characters, Dr. Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Ms. Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) go to President Orlean and NASA. The president dismissed this issue which transitions to the Dr. Mindy and Ms. Kate attempts to let the public know through the media, yet this does not work either. The founder of BASH cell phones uses their product to convince the public to remain calm, and how it would be beneficial to society if the comet were to come to Earth. 

 In the end, the movie had everyone together at a family table as the comet hits. It then fast-forwards to centuries later when the people that are left in the ship can now land on a planet similar to Earth, where they start a new life and a new civilization. 

The directors and writers’ idea was to create an idea of a comet hitting Earth as a metaphor for the global warming crisis that has been  going on. As global warming issues continue to rise, and as the years go on, the blinded public in the movie is compared to the actual people of society being close minded to its effects on their environment and society. No one pays attention to this serious matter which could affect future generations. Global warming, or  climate change, is where throughout the years of burning fossil fuel, heat gets trapped into the atmosphere due to all the gas that is being produced. This affects the environment and the weather as a whole. 

Now, this theme was not the first thing I noticed about this movie. In this lengthy film I found that there was more of a relation to COVID-19 and Faith instead. 

Even though their intent may have been to satirize global warming, I saw it as more of a metaphor for COVID-19. COVID-19 prevented communication and connection with others, like how in the movie the public is separated in opinion and connection or empathy for one another, which not only resulted in a blinded community, but a society which believes the media and its manipulative manners rather than common sense and factual evidence spoken by those who speak out, or in the public’s views, the crazy or incorrect people. I say “blinded” in the sense of how the public is now fixed to a certain way of thinking and routine, which is to stay away or be aware of people and remind others to be conscious of one another. 

The phone reference can be based on how this generation is more focused on their phone, blinding us from the realities surrounding us. With the different scenes of the public being split between “Look up” and “Don’t look up” it represents how officials would tell society, through media, that there should be no fear with the events that are to occur due to everything being prepared, yet those who don’t see it like this would see the closed environment occurring around them and protest against it. 

I also believe that this movie has the idea of Faith. It can be taken as religious or emotional and mental faith. Having faith can be based on different views and different backgrounds so this part can be up to the viewer.  I see  how society as a whole has given up on faith and have little in each other. I can go as far to say that society does not have faith in themselves. They don’t have faith to speak up or the faith that their opinion matters. 

In a religious sense, it can be seen as society not having faith in their future, and the comet can represent the coming of Judgement day. This faith relates to the public being blinded in the movie, relating to those who will be left behind due to lack of faith or knowledge. The media portrays it as something not to worry about because they can not emotionally grasp the true meaning of the comet. With scenes which include prayers and faith, this theme can also be seen in the movie.