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The Hill
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Only one Oscar-nominated movie passes ‘climate Bechdel test:' report
The vast majority of Academy Award-nominated movies do not acknowledge climate change or environmental issues, despite those issues being increasingly present in mainstream blockbusters, according to a new report from the consultancy Good Energy. The group on Thursday released its second annual Climate Reality Check, a two-pronged test that assesses whether climate change exists within the world of a movie and at least one character knows it. It was inspired by the Bechdel Test, named for cartoonist Allison Bechdel, which measures whether a work of fiction contains at least two named female characters who discuss a subject other than a man. The group narrowed down the 30 nominated films to the 11 set on Earth in the present, recent past or near future. Only one, the animated science fiction film 'The Wild Robot,' met the Reality Check criteria. The movie, the story of a robot shipwrecked on an island only inhabited by animals, includes a shot of San Francisco Bay depicts the Golden Gate Bridge as submerged due to sea level rise. Good Energy founder and CEO Anna Jane Joyner told The Hill in an interview that while only one film met the full criteria, the film's box office and critical success demonstrated that such themes can find an audience. 'What I love about 'The Wild Robot' is it's a story that really incorporates climate throughout all of it, and so it's a much richer depiction of climate change, and I loved a lot of the themes. I thought they were really relevant, especially after such a harrowing year where we all experience climate disasters,' she said. She pointed to devastating flooding last fall in the Asheville, N.C., area, her hometown, as well as the wildfires that ravaged much of Los Angeles this year. She also pointed to the success of other 2025 movies, such as 'Dune Part Two' and 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.' Those movies did not qualify either because they are set on another planet and in the distant future, respectively, but still found box office success addressing many of the same themes, she said. 'Dune Part Two,' for example, depicts how the plundering of natural resources on the desert planet Arrakis 'not only affects the people who are living there, and the ecosystems.. but also the exploiters and the people in power, because they come very close to risking the source of energy that powered the entire universal economy,' she said. The number of qualifying films is down from last year, when only two, 'Barbie' and the biopic 'Nyad,' fulfilled the test.
CNN
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
‘The Wild Robot' earned a surprising and important honor this award season
In 'The Wild Robot,' Lupita Nyong'o voices Roz, an intelligent droid who must navigate the challenging natural world of the future. The DreamWorks film, based on the classic children's book by Peter Brown, has nabbed three Oscar nominations this year – including best original score, best sound and best animated feature – but it has also earned a lesser-known distinction. Good Energy – a nonprofit that helps TV and film creators tell stories that 'honestly reflect,' even in part, climate-related issues – last year launched a Bechdel-Wallace-like test that explores how climate awareness shows up in the content we watch. After this year's Oscar-nominated movies were put to the Climate Reality Check test, 'The Wild Robot' stands as the only one to pass muster. The criteria for the test are relatively simple. The film or TV show must take place on Earth, be set in the present, recent past, or future, and the following two statements must be true: climate change exists in the world of the story, and a character knows it. While it sounds easy enough, this year's crop of Oscar picks failed to clear those conditions, save for 'Robot,' 'with its stunning portrayal of our watery future,' according to Good Energy's Climate Reality Check Report released on Thursday. The question is, how can movies and TV shows that depict climate change spur viewers into action, or even to just become more climate aware, without scaring them? It's become irrefutable that climate-related emergencies have grown more common and urgent in today's world – just look at the recent wildfires that ravaged Hollywood's hometown of Los Angeles, or hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall, which left the southeastern United States grappling with the loss of more than 200 lives and billions of dollars in damages. With that comes a renewed focus on how climate awareness and normalization is represented in popular culture, which is where Good Energy's new tool comes in. 'Humans are wired for stories,' Anna Jane Joyner, founder and CEO of Good Energy, told CNN in an interview. 'TV and film have a profound impact on shaping public opinion and behavior,' she added, going on to cite how TV shows introducing the concept of a designated driver in the 1980s led to a stark decline in alcohol-related driving fatalities or how a 2020 GLAAD report found that a clear majority of Americans felt TV shows and movies influenced their acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. Joyner and others are eager to see the same happen when it comes to climate awareness, with stories featuring characters that model conscientious behavior with regard to the planet and our collective footprint – not just people running and screaming from some natural disaster. 'We must meet the moment, which means we must create stories that shift our relationship to our earth,' said adrienne marie brown, a writer, podcast host and climate justice activist who styles their name lowercase. She added that it is 'non-negotiable' to include themes of climate change and activism in popular film, television and beyond. 'Climate catastrophe impacts and threatens everything that lives,' brown, who recently published the book 'Loving Corrections,' also said. 'We need stories that show what's coming, how to prepare and build community.' But both brown and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson – a marine biologist and policy expert – are adamant that modeling climate activism in popular culture need not be all about just ringing warning bells. In fact, Johnson told CNN there's even space for joy in this area. 'What I personally would like to see, what I have pitched,' said Johnson, who recently published 'What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures,' 'is more climate rom-coms. Where the meet-cute is, like, at a composting facility. They bump into each other with their food scraps!' Her ideas don't stop there. 'Like, you're trying to go on a romantic ski trip, and there's no f***ing snow! Right?' This is just life now, Johnson added. So having climate themes integrated into movies organically – say, two people 'falling in love in the context of an electric car charging station,' she brainstormed – could be a way to reach more audiences. brown also talked about the need for 'stories that show us a compelling future' as opposed to a bleak one, as seen in movies like the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring 'Day After Tomorrow' from 2004, or the more recent 'Twisters.' These films are often grouped under the term 'cli-fi.' 'There is a part of what's coming to us that is inevitable,' brown acknowledged. But she also stressed the 'need to normalize people being prepared for cataclysmic change as communities' and 'weave it in and make it joyful, sexy, admirable and powerful to love the earth.' 'I actually don't think we need more apocalyptic stories,' Johnson shared. 'We're all very clear on what the bad version of the future is. But what kind of future do we get if we actually deploy all the solutions we have?' Those solutions include things like renewable energy, more public transit, regenerative agriculture and more, she said. 'I really do feel like we can take climate change seriously without taking ourselves seriously,' she added. 'The sort of sanctimonious earnestness, or intensity and terror, doesn't really work for everybody.' There's a place for humor in storytelling around climate awareness and activism, too, Johnson said. She mentioned AppleTV+'s winsome comedy 'Ted Lasso,' in which the teammates decide as a group to no longer allow an oil company to sponsor their team because the business wreaked havoc in the African country from which one of their players hails. 'I thought that was just such a smart way to do it,' she said. Johnson was also quick to point out how the climate activism implicit in the storyline was properly contextualized. 'At no point did it feel like, 'Wait, how did this get to be about climate?'' she said. 'It was just like, 'Of course, a creepy oil company would be trying to take advantage.'' For Joyner, there is a pressing and personal stake in getting more climate-normalizing stories out there for mass consumption. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, and her family has roots there for five generations. During Hurricane Sally in 2020, they had to evacuate in the middle of the night as the region was blindsided. 'Every year, I see my home disappearing before my eyes. I've struggled with climate anxiety, anger, fear, and grief – as do millions of people,' she said. 'I need to see my world on-screen. I need help making meaning of all this – and finding joy, courage, and possibility in the midst of it.' Acknowledging climate change in our stories is as simple as 'authentically writing about what it feels like to be alive today,' Joyner added. 'Showing the climate crisis in our stories helps audiences process their own difficult emotions, and find the courage to face it,' she said. 'We need to talk about it in our stories so that we can talk about it in real life. We need to explore what it means to be human in this new age of climate change.'
Los Angeles Times
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Boiling Point: Not a great year for climate change at the Oscars
And the Oscar for best climate change film of 2024 goes to ... 'The Wild Robot,' a beautiful animated movie that takes place in a world irrevocably altered by rising seas. Not that there was much competition. For the second year running, nonprofit consulting firm Good Energy applied its Climate Reality Check to the actual Oscar-nominated films. Intended as a climate version of the Bechdel test, which measures representation of women, the Climate Reality Check tests whether a movie and its characters acknowledge global warming. Compared to last year, the results weren't great. Of last year's 13 Oscar-nominated films that met Good Energy's criteria (feature-length movies set in present-day or near-future Earth) three passed the test. This year, there were 10 eligible films. Only 'The Wild Robot' passed. The climate silence 'does feel a little striking after the harrowing year we've all had,' Good Energy Chief Executive Anna Jane Joyner said, referring to the fossil-fueled wildfires that tore through Altadena and Pacific Palisades. 'I think Hollywood is learning firsthand that it's on the front lines of climate change,' she added. Maybe a few years from now, studios will release a torrent of movies and shows reflecting the realities of a scary-but-still-salvageable world, helmed by producers and writers jolted into renewed awareness by the infernos. But for now, the picture is bleak. A peer-reviewed study slated for publication this month, led by Rice University English and environmental studies professor Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, analyzes climate change mentions in 250 of the most popular movies of the last decade. The authors found that just 12.8% of the films allude to global warming. Just 3.6% depict or mention the climate crisis in two or more scenes. 'A lot of times, it's really being mentioned in passing,' Schneider-Mayerson said. It's also possible some Hollywood studios could be wary of acknowledging climate change on the silver screen so long as Donald Trump is president, given his history of climate denial and fealty to the oil and gas industry — and his growing propensity to threaten and bully media companies whose content displeases him. Joyner, though, doesn't think studios will shy away from climate. She pointed to another analysis led by Schneider-Mayerson, which found that movies passing the Climate Reality Check and released in theaters earned 10% more at the box office, on average, than films failing the test. Netflix, meanwhile, says on its website that 80% of its customers 'choose to watch at least one story on Netflix that helps them better understand climate issues or highlight hopeful solutions around sustainability.' 'Clearly, audiences are more and more interested in these stories,' Joyner said. Sponsors are interested in selling audiences on climate-friendly products, too. I was sitting in a movie theater last weekend enjoying 'Captain America: Brave New World' — the latest entry in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe — when, to my surprise, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) got out of his SUV and pulled his iconic red-white-and-blue shield out of the front trunk. Yes, a front trunk, where an internal combustion engine would normally be. That meant Captain America was driving an electric vehicle, right? Indeed, he was. I did some research after I got home and learned that Wilson was driving a GMC Hummer EV, the result of a paid partnership between Marvel Studios and GMC parent company General Motors. 'Brave New World' doesn't pass the climate test. Also, SUVs kill more pedestrians and cyclists than smaller cars. But the more movies and TV shows spotlight climate solutions — electric vehicles, solar panels, induction stoves — the more likely people are to support those solutions. For Hollywood, that's a step in the right direction. Moving forward, filmmakers need to understand that stories ignoring climate change don't reflect reality. 'It's going to feel like they're in a fantasy universe,' Joyner said. On that note, here's what's happening around the West: The fossil fuel industry faces a long, steady decline in California. But it's putting up a fight. Oil and gas companies and trade groups spent a record $65.8 million lobbying California legislators and agencies in 2023 and 2024, as Liza Gross reports for Inside Climate News. Those expenditures helped defeat a bill that might have led to PBF Energy facing steep penalties for a recent explosion at its Martinez oil refinery. Environmentalists and some lawmakers, meanwhile, worry the plastics industry may have enlisted Gov. Gavin Newsom in its campaign to delay a groundbreaking law that's supposed to phase out certain single-use plastics. (Plastics, you may recall, are usually made from oil and gas.) Details here from The Times' Susanne Rust. Even if fossil fuel companies don't ultimately block the transition to cleaner products, the road won't be easy. Take gasoline. As demand falls due to growth of electric cars, state officials are weighing many options to stabilize gas supplies — including taking ownership of oil refineries, as my colleague Russ Mitchell reports. Speaking of which, the Wall Street Journal has a good story on Chevron's decision to move its headquarters from California to Texas. One fascinating tidbit: Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth texted Newsom before making the announcement, hoping to get him on the phone first. Newsom wasn't interested in talking. A few other stories dealing with fossil fuels: I'm not sure what's worse: President Trump ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back efficiency standards for light bulbs (which will lead to wasted electricity and higher utility bills for Americans), or Trump not knowing that the Energy Department, not the EPA, writes those rules. I take that back: The underlying policy is definitely worse. Also bad: The Trump administration's funding freeze could interrupt vegetation clearing work in national forests intended to prevent devastating wildfires. Here's the story from my L.A. Times colleague James Rainey. Thousands of layoffs at the U.S. Forest Service, part of a massive round of job cuts affecting agencies including the National Park Service, could have similarly catastrophic consequences for wildfire prevention work. Those aren't the Trump administration's only questionable fire-related choices. My colleague Tony Briscoe reports that federal officials are skimping on soil testing meant to protect families from hazardous chemicals in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires, seemingly to speed up rebuilding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency insists its approach is scientifically sound, even though it's not what FEMA has done after past fires. In other news, Trump barred federal agencies from buying paper straws, The Times' Susanne Rust writes. Associates of Trump advisor Elon Musk, meanwhile, were granted access to the EPA's contracting system, even as Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle company, was fined for violating California rules protecting workers from dangerous heat. My colleague Suhauna Hussain wrote about Tesla's alleged violations at its Fremont plant. How should the Democratic Party respond to Trump's attacks on clean energy and democracy? Fellow L.A. Times columnist Mark Z. Barabak thinks Democrats should pick their battles; he commended Gov. Gavin Newsom for trying to stay on Trump's good side in hopes of securing federal wildfire aid for L.A. County. As you may recall from last Tuesday's Boiling Point, I have a different view. Mark and I engaged in a thoughtful, spirited debate. Lots of other stuff happening this week. Let's do a quick rundown, starting with fire: Moving on to America's public lands and waters: Last but not least, some urban planning. First, let's talk about billionaire developer and former L.A. mayoral hopeful Rick Caruso. He's been railing against Mayor Karen Bass, exaggerating her role in the Palisades fire getting so destructive. He's also a longtime critic of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, an important law that's sometimes used by bad-faith actors to try to block affordable apartment buildings, solar farms and other worthwhile projects. Well, now Caruso is using CEQA to his advantage. As my colleague David Zahniser reports, one of Caruso's companies, the Grove shopping mall, is suing to block L.A.'s approval of a $1-billion renovation of the former CBS Television City studio nearby. The Grove is contesting the project's environmental review under CEQA — exactly the kind of lawsuit Caruso has described as 'frivolous.' CEQA reform for thee, but not for me. Second: RIP Donald Shoup, brilliant economist and enemy of free street parking. If you haven't heard of him, that's OK; this obituary by The Times' Liam Dillon is a wonderful read. Shoup's work helped spur the elimination of mandatory parking requirements for most developments near mass transit in California, a win for climate. First: On this week's Boiling Point podcast, our guest is climate comedian Esteban Gast. Yes, he tells jokes about global warming. And not only is he funny, he has great insights about how the climate movement might adjust its messaging for America in 2025. (For more, I wrote last year about the burgeoning climate comedy movement.) Second: I'll be at Village Well Books & Coffee in Culver City this Saturday, Feb. 22, from 6 to 7 p.m., participating in a panel discussion focused on the current political moment. Conversation topics will include climate, immigration and disinformation. Feel free to join us. This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here. For more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth on X and @ on Bluesky.
