Should more movies about environmental issues be produced?

Written by Yamini Murthy

The question above might seem like an obvious decision, and some might even wonder why you would even think twice about an opportunity to spread awareness regarding crucial environmental issues like climate change and global warming. The truth is the average f​ ilm budgets to produce a Hollywood movie can range from $100 – $150 million. To invest a minimum of $100 million is not a joke. In fact, it can take months just to achieve a thoroughly-read and immaculately-edited script. And then to find the perfect cast and crew. The point being, to create a movie about environmental issues, there must be an appeal to the targeted audience and a sufficient balance of plot to engage people and through this plot must the environmental issue be woven, like threads, small and casual but dramatised enough that the main objective (informing the audience about global dissipation) is also shown clearly. Such a balance is hard to obtain, and directors must be sure not to lean over to one extreme. However, there are still a variety of movies that proved successful in their objective to communicate the dangers our planet faces. An example of some of the earliest environment-educational movies include​ Revolution r​ released in 2012, was greatly applauded for it's cinematic approach to provoking sympathy and a new way of thinking. ​An Inconvenient Truth​ when released in 2006 and was more favoured for its inclusion of reality-based events and politically-flavoured plot. FernGully: The Last Rainforest​ was said to be ahead of the times when they attempted to enlighten the next generation of serious matters, through a fantasy animation, released in 1992. And finally ​On Deadly Ground,​ though faced a little controversy regarding the poorly-written script, still managed to construct direction through a highly-thrilling action. By listing such movies, one can conclude that many attempts have been made to try and inform the public of the environmental terrors that are taking place right now. Now that we know a number of people have demonstrated determination to spread awareness from a cinematic perspective, we can begin to examine the question above. Should the film industry pursue this endeavour, despite the risk of failing to engage the audience and subtly addressing global issues? Despite the millions of dollars susceptible to waste, throwing the failure into life-influencing debt? The answer that I and every single member of the European Union’s Environmental Legislative agree too is​ yes, any and every single form of addressing global contamination and corruption must be continued, for the

fate of the planet outweighs the debts of a man, if humans wish to remain an ally of nature and progress to safe keep it from the wrath of destruction. It was estimated in early 2020 that by 2050, the world will be stripped of basic and natural resources, and materials such as coal will be antiquated to nothing. Despite this, we must now turn our attention to the elephant in the virtual room; our ongoing global pandemic. Although the alleged COVID 19 has struck our planet with despair, grief and economic peril, it has, like all dark events, a bright side. During this time, lockdowns have been proposed and it is deemed crucial for one to exercise strict discipline of the art that is social distancing, the earth has rejoiced at the opportunity to heal. As a result of millions of self-isolating families, greenhouse gases have been curbed, carbon emissions have fallen steadily. Just in China, ​the number of days with “good quality air” was up 11.4% compared against the same time last year in 337 cities across the country. The question to behold about the pandemic is, once countries can control the spread and a vaccine is released, will the world ‘bounce back’ into bustling traffic, and will everything continue as “normal” as will we pretend that the wondrous blue-skied interlude that was blessed upon us never indeed happened? Because the answer to this question cannot, no matter how much research is implemented, be estimated, we are stuck in a state of confusion, and we must rest the fate of the planet in the hands of humanity, and have faith. However, must we make mistakes again, and countries do ‘bounce back’ into normality, the question at the top of the page proves as obvious as ever. And the answer, as crucial as before.

Bibliography: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350608/reviews?ref_=tt_ql_3 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200326-covid-19-the-impact-of-coronavirus- on-the-environment