Hollywood Movies Rarely Reflect Climate Change Crisis: Researchers Aim to Change That

PORTLAND, Maine(A. P. ): While the hero in the film Aquaman seems to be careless as oceans ascend, audiences do not have that luxury. This is according to a study carried out by Colby College and Good Energy that revealed that most of Hollywood’s blockbusters between 2013-2022 neglect climate change. The study selected 250 films and then put forward the concept of a ‘climate reality check’; the climate change test; the survey asked if the films depict an awareness of climate change.

Less than 4 percent of the films discussed climate change in more than two scenes, and only about 10 percent of the films passed this test. Such critics suggest that in leaving out the target market, it fails to consider the audience’s yearning for their daily lives to be portrayed on the big screen. As it was revealed by the study’s lead researcher Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, an English professor at Colby College, the majority of films popular among the population produced in the last ten years fail to depict the topic of climate change.

Surprisingly, some films that are not about climate change as a theme passed the test successfully, including the movies Marriage Story shot in 2019 and Glass Onion released in 2022. Some movies, like 2021s Don’t Look Up were about climate change in a more direct way. Yet, movies in the disaster genre such as San Andreas released in 2015 and The Meg in the same year failed. The study identified that while streaming services offered more climate awareness movies than the major studios.

Published in April and currently under review, the study is a framework for both filmmakers and spectators to analyse the representation of climate troubles in film. The views of its effectiveness are shared by Harry Winer of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts who expects it to be used in marketing and raising awareness, calling it “the discussion opener. ”

The authors explained that their climate reality check can be compared to the Bechdel-Wallace test checking gender bias. The climate test has been applauded by Alison Bechdel, the creator of the now-infamous Bechdel Test that many praised for helping to encourage awareness of women’s representation and roles in media and entertainment, all the more so in the modern setting. However, she was very keen to discourage gimmickry and encouraged proper incorporation of the awareness in narrative.