Climate change in popular culture

Fictional Films And Climate Reality Checks

An analysis of two hundred fifty of the most popular fictional films released between 2013 and 2022 found that only twelve point eight percent passed the first part of the Climate Reality Check. This check requires that climate change exists within a narrative and that at least one character knows it is happening. Only nine point six percent of these films passed the second part where a character acknowledges the crisis. A global environmental problem such as freshwater pollution or species extinction appeared in twenty-six percent of these films, yet climate change remained rare. When climate change did appear, it was generally mentioned in just one or two scenes without emphasizing gravity or urgency. Research analyzing thirty-two commercially significant fiction films from 1972 to 2023 showed portrayals of environmentally motivated violence tended to present extreme acts of climate defense as morally illegitimate. Recent and commercially successful films favored binary hero-villain characterizations over morally complex narratives. Early examples like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea from 1961 depicted a meteor shower igniting the Van Allen radiation belt causing abrupt global warming. The Day the Earth Caught Fire from 1961 showed nuclear weapons testing tilting Earth's nutation by eleven degrees toward the Sun.

Common questions

What percentage of popular films from 2013 to 2022 passed the Climate Reality Check regarding climate change awareness?

Only twelve point eight percent of two hundred fifty popular fictional films released between 2013 and 2022 passed the first part of the Climate Reality Check. This check requires that climate change exists within a narrative and that at least one character knows it is happening.

Which documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim became a major cultural touchstone for climate communication in 2006?

An Inconvenient Truth released in 2006 covered former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign related to raising awareness about global warming. Davis Guggenheim directed this American documentary film which became a major cultural touchstone for climate communication.

When did Bill McKibben publish The End of Nature as the first book on climate change written for a general audience?

Bill McKibben published The End of Nature in 1989 as the first book on climate change written for a general audience. Elizabeth Kolbert won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2015 for The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History explaining the concept of the Holocene extinction.

How many references to climate change appeared in English-language songs entering Billboard charts between 1999 and 2019?

The New York Times found one hundred ninety-two references to climate change in English-language songs entering Billboard charts between 1999 and 2019. Around half of those eighty-seven songs appeared between 2015 and 2019 indicating a surge in musical engagement with environmental topics.

What specific date did late-night television hosts devote portions of their shows to climate change material?

Late-night television hosts Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, James Corden, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon devoted portions of their shows to climate change material on the 22nd of September 2021.

Climate change in popular culture.

Fictional Films And Climate Reality Checks

Documentaries And Scientific Communication

Literature And The Anthropocene Epoch

Musical Responses To Environmental Crisis

Television And Interactive Media Representations

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