Why Don’t Hollywood Films Talk About Climate Change?
Inspired by the film Twisters’, I reflect on the role of movies in inspiring climate action — and find that mainstream cinema is falling woefully short.
“I just wanted to make sure that with the movie, we don’t ever feel like it is putting forward any message. I just don’t feel like films are meant to be message-oriented.”- Lee Isaac Chung, Director of ‘Twisters’, speaking to CNN.
Recently, I had the chance to watch the film Twisters on the big screen. Though I’m not usually first in line for big-budget blockbusters, two things about this film enticed me. One, it was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the director of the film ‘Minari’, a meditation on being an immigrant in the American Heartland, that I liked. Two, it seemed like the movie would deal with the impacts of climate change. Finally, a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster tackling, you know, the world’s biggest challenge.
But as the minutes passed, this extreme weather movie only made some passing references to droughts and wheat prices. Nothing more. The words ‘climate change’ were left unuttered. I was surprised, as were several liberal media outlets. The director faced questions about why the theme of climate change was absent from his film. His…
