Esther Grace B.

Puno 30th of May 2022

BA Political Science 1 Sir Alvert Dalona
B2-6

MORE THAN JUST A MOVIE

Don't Look Up Reflection Paper

Over the years, there has been a myriad of these wickedly imaginative minds creating
hypothetical films regarding situations of the end of the world including The Day After Tomorrow,
Greenland, I Am Legend, and other narratives conveying a frightening image of the human race
extinction. As usual, the ‘hero’ starts being an ordinary citizen of the world doing what regular
people do; but circumstances call for it and they figure out that they are more than ordinary
individuals. The fate of the world and humankind rests upon their choice to save or to be apathetic
humans. Clear as the daylight, Netflix’s 2021 hit movie “Don’t Look Up” does not stick far from
this genre of film.
The movie begins with two scientists, Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky (who the comet
was named) discovering a massive comet headed speedily toward the earth. Troubled by their
discovery they head to the office of the US President with hopes to spread the alarming event.
However, as they brought this pressing matter up to the government, they were just ignored. The
scientists, together with Dr. Teddy Oglethrope of the Planetary Defense Coordinator Office,
resorted to media outlets to raise awareness to the public, but in a distressing turn of events, their
intention to caution citizens of the world was brushed aside. Not until a scandal brought the
President’s image into almost a turmoil and caused her to change her mind. She airs to the public
about the discovered threat to the planet and plans to destroy it with weapons to divert its course.
Ir resulted in a schism, the believers and unbelievers of the potential destruction. However, the
spark of optimism that enveloped the scientists was quickly taken aback when the CEO of a big
tech company, Peter Isherwell, revealed that the comet has benefits from its minerals worth
gazillions of dollars. Orlean was convinced, the mission was canceled, and Isherwell took
advantage. Regardless, scientists did what they can yet it was still a helpless case. The doomsday
came, Isherwell and Orlean’s plans flunked, thus the planet was inevitably annihilated by their
arrogance and vested interest.
I must say, mostly everything in the film is a metaphor for the acrimonious reality of human
experiences and societal issues sprinkled with a dash of satirical humor. I could remember that I
relate among the characters was Kate Dibiasky. She was a highly emotional person, as seen on live
TV. The people's reaction to that part was sorrowful for me to see since they made fun of her but
not Randall because he was adored and he was a man. But with Kate, they looked at her with
humiliation and disgust. Straightforwardly, the director drew this from society’s sexist concept.
They view Kate as vulnerable and weak in her outburst when the truth is, that is how she showed
her fury towards those who disregard the gravity of the impending disaster. To quote Indian
religious leader Acharya Rajneesh¹, “Anger is active sadness; sadness is inactive anger. They are
not two things.” What she showed in that interview was both her anger and frustration with
disbelievers. Growing up, I had encountered adults who think that the strength of a person is based
on their gender. As a woman, we are seen by society to be submissive or lower than the male
species. When I stood up for myself in a critical situation, I was taught to be meek as a mouse, that
women are inferior to men. However, I do not feel to conform to that idea and I am offended
because I believe that despite what our gender is, we are capable individuals with strength
manifested in different ways and that we are equal entities living amongst nature. To hear someone
spilling such a degrading statement was mortifying for the young me. An excerpt from a Taylor
Swift² song, “I'm so sick of running as fast as I can. Wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a
man” would perfectly illustrate my situation. Another instance in the film that resonated with me
was Randall’s inability to fully express himself in front of many people. As a kid, I was aloft with
other children because I’d rather be inside and play alone. I think that was one of the reasons why
as a teen I had a hard time adjusting to different social situations and having friends that stay long.
Admittedly, now as a young adult, I try my very best to be expressive. Like Randall’s confidence,
I gradually rise. I admire how he flourished when he faced his insecurities( a major character
development!).
In a scene from the movie, Kate noticed everyone on social media would focus on
celebrities' lives rather than their precious planet. Maybe because we were born in one of the
biggest times of technological advancement and fast pace media consumption, it made us
somehow a disconnected connected generation that we are tethered to each other online yet it is
all superficial nonsense. For generation z, the trends of our times–especially at the height of the
pandemic, would keep on changing. Jumping from one trend to another. Thus, this is probbably
why we cannot keep up with real societal issues. Everything is somehow in a craze, which sadly
gives a grieving complement to the quote “Your 15 minutes famous!” and these hefty matters in
the community are left dumbfounded, the grave situation that should have been taken seriously
will be gone in people’s heads once the next big thing comes up. It was amazing how the director
incorporated real-life conundrums; like how scientists had been warning us about the
consequences of our choices and the natural disasters, the constant negligence of society to
environmental matters, and greedy powers in the political arena. He brilliantly used the comet as
a metaphor for climate change and as the problems of society that tends to be overseen by the
political actors. The characters are comparable to the real-life people who continuously make bad
decisions online and offline; I can also see how the director pointed out the government’s inaction
and persistently knocking down everybody who goes against them(which is indistinguishable from
the Philippine political setting, where political actors intermittently cover up their sin). There had
been a handful of conspiracy theories on the internet to which I encountered numerous fake news
peddlers on the various social media platforms I am in. It was difficult to fight dragons–by dragons,
I mean fake news outlets and those who were deceived by false information. Often, we must allow
ourselves to be uncomfortable with the truth because the truth is a hard pill to swallow. For my
endeavor, when I learned about a certain truth it would take me countless days to even process that
I was wrong. Perhaps those who believe in falsehood swallowed it like truth. It is nothing but
dismay to know that this is a contemporary thing in our human race. Add to that, significant
problems of capitalism presented by Peter Isherwell had become somewhat mirroring the recent
times where big corporations tend to use people for their gain. Thus, making the rich even richer
and the poor and exploited individuals are left with the scraps of the wealthy.
There was also a representation of a moral dilemma, a tug of war between political interest and
moral obligation by Pres. Orlean. She is a hypocrite, at first, the scandal that brought her image
into a commotion only forced her to side with the scientist to divert her wrongdoing. Then when
Isherwell proposed to mine the comet, her interest shifts to the idea of acquiring the money which
show that she was not after for the good of all but only for herself improvement. She used obscene
demagogy in her campaign to get the voter’s attention and sympathy for her “Don’t Look Up”
movement to cancel the scientists’ admonish of worldwide extinction. This goes in accordance
with what Karmina Constantino, a Filipino journalist once said “If youre gonna evolve backwards,
don't bring the country down with you.” and to Teddy Oglethorpe “ A man’s always got choices.
Sometimes you just gotta choose the good one.” In this case, Orlean’s choice was not a good one–
it was a failure to distinguish morality. Same with my recurrent dilemma, I ask myself how do I
make a good choice? Or how can I discern good and evil? These are the things I still need to work
on. I realized that Kohlberg’s stages of moral development could be applied to Mindy and
Dibiasky’s stage of moral development. They present stage 5 which aims to uplift society as a
whole that contradicts Orlean’s actions because she does not want to improve the people around
her and instead leaves them hanging on the edge of the cliff. How lucky are those powerful,
wealthy, and prominent individuals; yet they failed to recognize other people because of their self-
centeredness.
There exists an everlasting problem–that is our very own choices, that continually affect
the world, causing mother earth to slowly die. My epiphany would be to recognize that our actions
have consequences, consequences that do not only influence our future but to others and the
environment. If you look at history, it is indeed true. The human collective choices, actions,
pomposity, arrogance, and self-depicted pursuit have been rather damaging to both society and the
planet. We then question ourselves: “Is this what we have become? Ego-driven, apathetic
persons?” As a daughter, I would utilize my realizations as a driving force to be an example to the
young ones in the family; through standing up for what is moral, to care for others, to think
critically, and to possess equal balance of empathy and intelligence in life-changing decisions I
need to choose. It is not enough if we just speak, it takes action to change ourselves and eventually,
the world.
Don’t Look Up gave an impactful nod to these horrible realities. Life is never a single road
but it takes collective decisions, that stirs the future of us, our children, and the coming generation;
either to set it in the light or doom. That was more than just a movie, that was authentic; that was
the story of us.
1. Rajneesh Quote. (2022). A-Z Quotes. https://www.azquotes.com/quote/578195

2. Taylor Swift - The Man Lyrics | AZLyrics.com. (2019). Azlyrics.com.

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/theman.html