FILM AND IDEAS

CLIMATE CHANGE AND FILM

3 ways to an easier understanding

By Andy (Guanyu) Ding 

This is the future

Climate change is today’s biggest issue. However, not everyone has a clear vision of what the problem is. Everyone agrees that it will be a disaster, but at the same time we keep on treating it as if it’s a problem that will happen in the far-off future, when in reality it is a problem of the right now. Since we are people, we are lazy and since we are lazy, we wait for messages from anywhere to tell us what to do. Luckily for us, those messages are starting to come in with greater frequency and from a wide variety of sources. I want to look at one source, the movies, and see how they’re starting to deal with the issue of climate change. From movie to movie, they certainly don’t approach the problem in the same way, but that’s what makes these attempts so interesting: the strategies they use to try to make us realize the world is dying. So, here are three cinematic takes on climate change, all well-intentioned, and all quite unique: Ice Age 2, Snowpiercer, and Before the Flood.

Ice Age 2 (2006)

Ice Age 2 is a fictional animation movie that takes place in the ice age. Despite its title, the whole movie is about the weather getting warmer. Icebergs are melting and the ice age is coming to an end. This is great except that the lovely little world the main characters live in will soon be flooded and uninhabitable. These animals, ranging from a sloth to a saber-toothed squirrel to a wooly mammoth, try to lead their families and friends to the south to avoid the coming flood and certain death. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that Ice Age 2 is not about the ecological problems of animals, but is really about our coming climate catastrophe.

This is the beginning of the end of the...ice age

The beginning scene is a bunch of animals enjoying the water pool and ice slides. An anteater claims, “this global warming is killing me" while he fans himself. It’s clear right from the start that it’s much easier to address these issues with cute animals rather than human beings. There’s even a prophet figure named Master Tony who speaks about how the world is going to end and that the great flood is about to come. He is not really that wise, just a profiteer trying to scare everyone into selling their wooden straws for breathing underwater. However, he does make a point about the flood and ice melting. The reason he is able to scare people is that the situation is real. When the main character doubts what Master Tony says, the ice starts to melt into water. Changing our beliefs when confronted with the facts is a classic editing technique in movies. And the rising volume of water grabs the audience’s attention: we are in a dangerous situation.

Manny must think

When the main character Manny figures out the flood is about to come, he tries to warn everyone. They do not believe him and see him as a jock. A vulture comes to support Manny by saying he is hoping everyone dies so he can have a nice buffet feast. The scene then cuts to a huge ice mountain breaking down and water flooding out. This is when they understand the flood is real. Again, even though they’re animals, it’s a nice depiction of how we experience and come to understand the truth of the world. Despite scientists showing us tons of data and warning us of coming disasters, people only believe it when it happens. And when it happens, it’s often too late.

Everyone has to get together to figure it out

It might seem strange for an animated film, but the director is not easy on our poor characters. Manny, the main character, is a wooly mammoth and he worries he will be the last of his kind. Diego, the saber-tooth cat, is ferocious but afraid of water. Ice Age 2 makes it clear that these animals are at the limit. In the end, animals find a huge log shaped like a boat, a kind of symbolic Noah’s Ark and find a place in the south where they can build a new home. Diego overcomes his fear of water and Manny meets a tribe of mammoths, gets married and has a child. Ice Age 2 has a happy ending and educates the public in amusing ways.

Snowpiercer (2013)

Snowpiercer is South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s first English-language film. The script is based on the French science fiction manga "Le Transperceneige '' by Jacques Lob. In 2014, because of global warming, humans launch CW7 into the atmosphere to cool the planet, but they are a little too successful and their experiments leads to a great drop in global temperature, freezing and killing off a large part of the human population. The remnants of mankind live in a self-sufficient train called Snowpiercer, operated by the reclusive transportation magnate Wilford. This train can run forever as it travels around the earth.

The Rebellion

The people on the Snowpiercer live in two different sections. People in the front carriages live like kings, while people in the back live like rats in a cage. The main character, Curtis, the leader of the oppressed class wants to take control of the engine where Wilford and the rich live. In the beginning of the film, Wilford’s assistant steals children away from the poor to give to the rich, from the back of the train to the front of it. A middle-aged man throws his shoes at the assistant as she takes away his child. Because of his extraordinary act of anger and rebellion, he is punished: guards apply plaster to his arm, restrain him with an iron ring, open a small window, force the man’s arm out the window, freezes his arm, takes him inside and smashes it with a sledge hammer.

It's hard to tell the most violent: man or nature

We can see how social justice and climate change are interrelated and will probably be controlled by the rich people. If the climate changes and kills most people the ones who remain will not live easy but the rich ones will certainly live with greater ease. On the Snowpiercer, where the means of production are controlled by the rich, poor people live in the back section eating protein bars made of cockroaches: those who own the resources own the world. Curtis starts a revolution to take control of more carriages, but in order to succeed he needs help from a safety engineer, Namgoong, to open the gates for him. Namgoong agrees to help, but he demands to take his daughter with him and two pieces of Kronole for each gate he opens. Kronole is a drug, similar to heroin, made from industrial waste and highly flammable. Namgoong and his daughter Yona are both addicted to Kronole, but the reason they want it is to make a bomb to escape.

You might think that Namgoong is crazy when the outside world is covered in ice. But snow melts over time and in the world of Snowpiecer it’s both a hopeful message, the earth will self-repair, and depressing, things are bad. It’s an interesting climate change vision.

Before the Flood (2016)

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the greatest and most famous actors of his generation, but he’s also a committed environmentalist. DiCaprio spent three years producing Before the Flood. The film exposes just how far global warming advanced over the last three or four decades. By showing data and ecological change, we can clearly see the impact and possible consequences of climate change. This film’s sole purpose is to arouse public awareness.

A movie star on a mission

At the beginning of the movie, DiCaprio shows us a copy of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch and explains to us what is going on in the mural. It has three parts. The first panel, on the far left, depicts the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve standing on either side of Jesus along with animals gallivanting around. The center panel depicts human society: it is full of naked people, rare birds, animals, and a wide-variety of fruits. The far -right panel (when facing it) is a burning city and the world is at war. There is much suffering and the threat of a destructive flood looms over the whole scene.

Since the Anthropocene, the Industrial Revolution has engaged in a slow and steady violence against nature. Humans burn fossil fuels for more energy, the industry releases a large amount of greenhouse gases, and the world becomes both hotter and wetter. 2012 is the hottest year in history, which symbolizes mankind's gradual departure from the Garden of Eden and its coming destruction. So, we can clearly see why DiCaprio is showing us this medieval painting. It is a work that seems to prophesize global warming and the level of Biblical destruction it might bring. I like that he honestly says that he does not know much about climate change in front of the UN, but that he knows enough to know that something is going drastically wrong.

Bosch knew all these long years ago

DiCaprio travels the world to make the film in order to demonstrate the effects of climate change on the environment. People are extracting a lot of oil and cutting down the forest. The Arctic ice cap has been declining year by year, and climate change has caused melting of icebergs and rising sea levels. It’s not just human ignorance, but the interests of capitol.

DiCaprio also goes to India and learns that the carbon dioxide emitted by American is equal to 1.5 French, 2.2 Japanese, 10 Chinese, and 34 India. Climate change has caused flooding and flooded farmers’ farmland in India. After seeing so many real situations with his own eyes, DeCaprio begins to realize that his carbon dioxide footprint is higher than most people. I want to judge that he is still traveling with his luxury private jet. How dare he ask other people to change their lifestyle for climate change when he actually still lives a luxurious, high-carbon life. However, on the other hand, he is producing this film with his money. And that’s to say if rich people do not care, why would common people? This is a good documentary, revealing how the selfishness of capital and the changes in our daily lives can affecting our climate and the future.

Conclusion

Everyone agrees that climate change is a disaster, but at the same time we continue to see it as a problem in the distant future, when in fact it is a problem now. From Ice Age 2, Snowpiercer and Before the Flood, movies help us lazy people to agree that this will be a disaster, and it is not a problem in the distant future, and is in fact it is a problem right now.

©Andy (Guanyu) Ding and the CCA Arts Review