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Associated Press Is Disappointed More Movies Don’t Talk About Climate Change – Twitchy

May 29, 2024

Over the last several years, movies have been lackluster, both in terms of production values and box office receipts. Big budget flicks like ‘Madame Web’ or ‘The Marvels’ fail to do well at the theaters, and some movies have such a blatant political agenda, like Billy Eichner’s gay rom com ‘Bros’ (the one where he told half the country not to see his movie), that it’s no wonder people are staying away from the theater. We go to movies to escape reality, not get whacked in the face with a political message.

It’s also part economics: going to the movies is not an inexpensive thing, and when disposable income is decreased, families are going to make different decisions (it also doesn’t help that most movies hit streaming a couple of weeks after hitting the theaters).

So there’s a problem, and it’s one that the Associated Press wants to make worse by making movies more political and focused on the ‘climate crisis.’

Hollywood movies rarely reflect climate change crisis. These researchers want to change that https://t.co/aoLPVbUjdR

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 28, 2024

They write:

Aquaman might not mind if the oceans rise, but moviegoers might.

That’s one of the takeaways from a new study conducted by researchers who set out to determine if today’s Hollywood blockbusters are reflective of the current climate crisis. The vast majority of movies failed the “climate reality check” proposed by the authors, who surveyed 250 movies 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, “Hey, I don’t mind if the oceans rise” to Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne.

But most movies fell short — fewer than 10% of the 250 films passed, and climate change was mentioned in two or more scenes of fewer than 4% of the films. That’s out of touch with a moviegoing public that wants “to see their reality reflected on screen,” said Colby College English professor Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, lead researcher on the study.