In an apocalyptic 2012, is there a better time than Earth Day
to remind ourselves just how lucky we are to be spinning through the
void of space on this life-giving rock? From rapidly acidifying oceans
and shortsighted deforestation to perpetually pollutive wars and the
propping up of obsolete markets, Earth is taking killer blows that we're
going to seriously regret delivering.
Like the worsening news about the future of our planet, the following films have recently arrived in short bursts. They
deal out often visually spectacular but emotionally devastating losses
of sea ice, as well as the unheard voices of nations beneath the rising
waves. Some consider the double-edged sword of technological innovation,
whose parasitic profit motive has compromised its earthly host. Others
analyze those natural resources that so-called progress continues to
exhaust in search of the new shiny.
But
these Earth Day offerings are timely snapshots, because the
slow-dawning realization that we've unplugged from a lethal, consensual
hallucination can be screened far and wide in our pop-cultural
productions. You've seen it in the post-apocalyptic allegory of The Hunger Games, last seen slaying the box office, whose forthcoming king will no doubt be The Hobbit, which takes place in a bucolic Middle-Earth bouncing its way toward an epochal world war. You can throw in Game of Thrones' murderous power grabs, Don Draper's advertising fetishism and plenty more. READ MORE
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