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English Digital ExhibitMain MenuIntroductionTimelineA timeline of the ecohorror genreInterstellarOryx and Crake: Climate Change Eco-Horror in Dystopian FictionA drawing of the Crakers, the man-made super race created by Crake, dancing in the face of humanity's destruction at the hands of a violent plague.Dark Souls: An OverviewA glance over the themes, ideas and potential complexities of Dark Souls as we analyze it through an climate change lens.The Last of UsAn overview of the ecohorror themes of The Last of Us video games series (2013-now) and The Last of Us show (2023-now)The Day After TomorrowWorks CitedAman Patel30884edd78485645a46f9eb7f9c58f4bfe40c24aMadeeha Anjum3941ce045f3abf24e95b4a97a9b5bcb04ec0027eDavid Calderon06cbd73250ddf44a8721d11344ce2628ad5e4116Vincent Michael Griffo4f13320fd67b16f793d62e643199f6961d7e7ebd
1media/bigwave.jpg2023-03-12T12:48:11-07:00The Day After Tomorrow: Climate Change15image_header2023-03-17T12:54:46-07:00Climate change is depicted to quite an extreme extent in The Day After Tomorrow. The special effects and scenes of mass destruction are meant to strike fear into the audience and consequently raise concern about the very realistic problem of climate change.
In the clip, we can see people take pictures or stand in awe. This suggests that humanity is aloof to the rapidly rising dangers of climate change. But how effective is the film at raising climate change awareness?
While the film’s emotional appeal is quite strong backed by special effects, its logical appeal and scientific basis are more shaky, as discussed in the controversies section. According to Yale research scientist Anthony A. Leiserowitz, “...some of the scientists complained about the physical impossibility of a ‘quick freeze’ or a storm surge tidal hundreds of feet tall… (Leiserowitz 4).” Evidently, many scientific occurrences in the movie are exaggerated for cinematic purposes, which could have weakened its argument. However, the data in surveys conducted by Leiserowitz shows that the movie successfully influenced perceptions about climate change. Take a look that the graphic below: It is important to note that the sample was controlled for political and demographic factors to reduce bias in the study. From the graph, it can be seen that people who watched the movie were more inclined to environmentally friendly behaviors. This data along with other statistically significant results from the study lead to the conclusion that The Day After Tomorrow did successfully raise awareness for climate change. The film's powerful emotional appeal outweighed the scientific fallacies, leading to a shift in climate change perception, reaching as far as voting preferences.
The combination of political critique and depiction of passivity towards climate change makes The Day After Tomorrow a strong call to action to do something about it, despite its scientific shortcomings. This, however, does raise the ethical question as to the integrity of the argument brought by The Day After Tomorrow to act on climate change. Do the ends justify the means? More specifically, is it okay for the film to exaggerate the science to get its message across, even if the message is for the good of humanity? The answers to these questions are not easy and the answer depends on the person's values.
