Climate change sceptics think we are living in a thriller in which plucky heroes fight dark conspiring forces. But no - it's a disaster movie in which plucky heroes fight self-interest and complacency. Casting has already begun. Which role will you play?
The public response to climate change is so much like a disaster movie that we can learn a lot from films like The Towering Inferno (1974) and The Savage Bees (1976). In particular we learn that both greed and lack of imagination will be punished with severe irony.
Disaster movies tend to work like this:
- A few people (the heroes) recognise a threat (e.g. killer bees) and try to warn the other people.
- The threat is inconvenient for most people (e.g. because they are organising a flower festival for Mardi Gras) so their response is sceptical (but not 'critical') and complacent:
a. ‘It won’t affect us’ (wishful thinking)
b. ‘Why is this idiot trying to spoil everything?’ (indignation) - Somebody (the villain) who was either the cause of the threat or who stands to gain from a poor response to it encourages the wishful thinking and indignation of the people and so hampers a timely response from the heroes.
- Lots of people die needlessly and a few people who started off as sceptics become heroes… and then die.
- The remaining heroes get the girl/boy and the villain gets what’s coming (e.g. a deadly bee sting).
In the disaster film that is climate change, you can cast yourself. These are the available roles and their prospects:
| Do you want to be... | Prospects |
|---|---|
| An action hero who’s prepared to use your intellect (like Steve McQueen playing the Fire Chief in The Towering Inferno) | Good: You’ll probably survive and get the girl/boy too (who may be the intellectual hero) |
| An intellectual hero who’s prepared for action (like Paul Newman playing the architect in The Towering Inferno) | Good: You’ll probably survive and get the girl/boy too (who may be the action hero) |
| An intellectual or technical hero who’s nice enough, but slightly odd, and not really cut-out for action | Bad: You’ll probably have to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure your friends can go on to save the day. On the plus side, although the audience won’t like you much while you are alive, they will warm to you once you are dead. |
| An action hero who’s loveable, but a bit dumb | Bad: You’ll probably have to make the ultimate sacrifice for your friends. There won’t be a dry eye in the house. If you are lucky, you will return Lazarus-like towards the end of the movie having been saved by improbable means and tears of joy will spill from audience and cast alike. |
| A sceptic who comes to realise the error of your ways | Good though precarious: when the crisis comes, you will reveal your intelligence and strength of character, which may save you from the fate of the sheep-like masses but may also put you in line for an ultimate sacrifice or two. |
| A determined sceptic who is not an inherently bad person but who suffers from a lack of imagination. You are probably also arrogant and ugly. You are responsible for the delay in responding to the threat, but it’s not totally your fault because you are flawed and gullible and have been manipulated by the villain. | Very bad: lack of imagination, and the actions of the unimaginative are punishable by death. You will die saying something like, “But no… no… It can’t be… Aggghhhhh” |
| A villain who’s self-interested, ruthless and evil and who is responsible for the threat but doesn’t care. (like Richard Chamberlain playing the greedy electrical specialist in The Towering Inferno) | Very bad: not only will you die, but it will also be a painful and ironic death, and the audience will cheer. (George W Bush – you have been warned!) |
| An extra | Very bad: you are only there to reveal the scale of the disaster. The best you can hope for is to still be around at the end of the movie to symbolise the despair of a broken people and the new challenges facing humanity. |
Climate change sceptics feel they are in a different film genre altogether – not a disaster movie but a thriller. In their film, dark forces in powerful institutions are manipulating the people for nefarious reasons. Only a few heroic characters can see through the deception. They have to fight both the indifference of the people and the dark forces themselves to ensure the world continues to be safe and free.
The questions you have to answer for yourself are:
- Am I in a disaster movie or a thriller?
- Which character am I going to play?
It’s pretty clear to me that we are in a disaster movie, not a thriller – and I’m Paul Newman :-)