Global warming is a word that is thrown around is today’s language. A few weeks ago, I thought it was self-explanatory; it has warming in the name. It’s a very ignorant answer but I’m probably not the only one who thought this. It brought to my attention that why I am not concerned with global warming and why haven’t I been informed?
Most of the population is probably not well informed on the topic of global warming. They are most likely just as oblivious to the significance it has to the Earth and the population as I was. For example, I have seen the Hollywood movies based on the near destruction of the world. World War Z, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow have the underlying message that “the world is coming to an end” but used that thought and made it into entertainment. They fanaticize it, focusing on one character and then, like most movies today, someone comes in and, literally, saves the world. Global warming is usually not the main headline on social media and gets swept under the rug; people are uneducated and blinded to the distresses it has already caused. The “information” people are getting about global warming from these movies may make an unconscious impact in the back of their mind. In most stories, there is shown to be this continuous pattern that everything in the end will be fine and that someone will always be there to save the day. Is that why people aren’t doing anything? That sounds almost absurd but for me, almost every movie, TV show or book I have read or seen ends on good terms. We expect things to go right; we expect things to go our way. If things don’t go our way, is it really true? If we look at the world today and see all our great innovations and history we have created over the past few decades, it’s extraordinary and shows tremendous progress. When we hear the talks on devastation and are told that it is happening but all we see is progress, then is it really happening?
Almost all of the stories we have read in class have used scare tactics to try and persuade readers to change. After retaining this information, the reader is informed on what the impacts look like but not told how to help. After the recent “Climate Change” reading, I now know ways that I can save energy. The thought I have in my head, which I’m sure most people do too, is that I am only one person, how much can I do? Social media and social networking have an enormous impact on almost everything. I feel that that may be the biggest factor that could help or hurt us. People glorify celebrities so if more celebrities start posting about using solar panels, electric cars and wind mills, would that encourage more people to do it? Would making movies with realistic possibilities of the future have an impact? What would happen if we as students branched out to people now that we are more educated and have found ways to help? Even though I didn’t elaborate much on all of the readings we have done, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the massive impact that social media has and could do.
I like how you talk about the portrayal of climate change in movies. I think that by presenting “the end of the world” as something so dramatic and sudden, it makes people think that since climate change is gradual it must not be as serious and need attention right away. I also agree with you that having one character “save the day” is significant not only because we think there is a quick fix but that it makes us think that fixing the problem is one person’s job, when really it’s a job for us all.
I’m glad that I’m reading the “Climate Change” book. It has given me some very useful information about climate change. It is a bit of a dry read, I admit, but it is still interesting and informative.
I really like your idea about how many Hollywood films often “fanaticize” the end of the world, turning apocalypse into a spectacle and an occasion for a single individual to be a hero and “save” everyone (or at least everyone who is left alive and who is characterized as the “good guys”). You are definitely onto something interesting here about the genre of apocalyptic narratives. Do you think there are any key differences between how literature portrays disaster (like in the stories we have read so far) and how these big blockbuster films portray disaster?
Also, your post makes me think about the possible connection between those apocalyptic films that portray a hero saving the world and the focus on individual solutions to climate change. As you note, it can be overwhelming to think about, well, what can I, being only one person, really do to help? Maybe it would send a better message if films didn’t focus so much on being an individual hero in the apocalypse and instead focused on collective and community solutions to keep the apocalypse from happening in the first place. But perhaps that wouldn’t be as entertaining? What do you think?