Can Hollywood films pass the ‘climate reality check’? Justice League, Glass Onion do. San Andreas, The Meg do not

What do 2017’s Justice League, 2019’s Marriage Story and 2021’s Don’t Look Up have in common? They are all reflective of the climate crisis – and an exception

Researchers studied a decade’s worth of Hollywood films and found most failed to mention climate change, putting the industry out of touch with its audience

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Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio in a still from Don’t Look Up, which is a metaphor for climate change. Fewer than 10 per cent of 250 films in a study failed to present climate change or even acknowledge it. Photo: TNS

Associated Press

Published: 4:15pm, 30 May 2024

Aquaman might not mind if the oceans rise, but film-goers might.

That is one of the takeaways from research that set out to determine if today’s Hollywood blockbusters are reflective of the climate crisis. The vast majority of films failed the “climate reality check” proposed by the authors, who surveyed 250 films from 2013 to 2022.

The test is simple – the authors looked to see if a movie presented a story in which climate change exists, and whether a character knows it does.

One film that passed the test was the 2017 superhero movie Justice League, in which Jason Momoa’s Aquaman character says to Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne: “Hey, I don’t mind if the oceans rise.”

But most films fell short – fewer than 10 per cent of the 250 films passed, and climate change was mentioned in two or more scenes in than 4 per cent of the films.

Jason Momoa in a still from Aquaman, which passed the “climate reality check”. Photo: Warner Bros Pictures

That puts them out of touch with a moviegoing public that wants “to see their reality reflected on screen”, says Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, lead researcher on the study and English professor at Colby College in the US state of Maine.