More films that consider how humanity could limit global warming, adapt to a changing world or even cope with climate anxiety - could get people talking more about climate change. As the time available to bring global emissions under control shrinks, this is an all-hands-on-deck situation. Hollywood can, if it chooses, use its cultural power to influence the response to the climate crisis. Most climate films and TV series only nod to global warming - for example, the easy-to-miss overtones in “SpiderMan: Far From Home.” Only a handful tackle the topic head on, such as “Woman at War.” Together, Svoboda and I updated his research to include 100 climate change films and television series, spanning 1966 to present day, and found that 66 percent depict disaster or a grim future. But with global warming, he said, “we cannot let bedtime stories lull us into inactivity.” “It’s a psychological thrill, a fun bedtime story, and then we go back to what we were doing,” Svoboda told me. And despite being highly entertaining - I, myself, love them! - tales of doom, told over and over, don’t encourage action. The trouble is, audiences have become inured to end-of-the-world stories. The fossil-fuel industry is rarely even acknowledged. ![]() The genre includes all sorts of catastrophes, from floods and ice ages to hurricanes and sea-level rise. After watching 61 of them, Michael Svoboda, an assistant professor of writing at George Washington University, found that most featured disaster. So far, most climate-fiction movies have told bleak tales. Roosevelt called it a “necessary and beneficial part of the war effort.” ![]() During World War II, Hollywood churned out nearly 300 propaganda movies to maintain morale.
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