Letter to the Editor: ‘Don’t Look Up’: A Political Allegory

Dr. Sabrina McCormick, GWSPH

January 22, 2022

scene from Don't Look Up of three people walking through a grocery store

From left, Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet in the film “Don’t Look Up.” Credit: Niko Tavernise/Netflix

CHI Co-Director, Director of the Climate Media Lab, and Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dr. Sabrina McCormick, writes a Letter to the Editor in response to a New York Times article entitled, 'Blocking a Mandate, the Supreme Court ‘Sided With Covid-19.'

Her Letter to the Editor is in response to the popular Netflix film, 'Don't Look Up,' a star-studded flick featuring Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Meryl Streep, whose plot serves an an allegory for climate change. McCormick warns against the risks of portraying climate change as 'scary with few solutions,' urging future creators to consider storytelling through lines that motivate action. She says, "My research investigating how audiences react to climate content finds that there can be unintended effects of stories like this one."

Read the full letter here.