A New York Times columnist has criticized the producers of the blockbuster “Twisters” for not including a climate change storyline in the film, despite the fact that the film’s anti-woke narrative would have made it a huge box office hit.
Margaret Renkl slammed director Lee Isaac Chung in a scathing op-ed published Monday. She criticized his decision to leave no reference to global warming in the film’s plot, arguing that films shouldn’t “tell a message.”
The film, a long-awaited sequel to the 1996 hit Twister, stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as storm chasers battling extreme weather. The film has been a box office hit, with many attributing its success to an approach that avoids political messages.
However, Renkl, who saw the film on “the hottest day ever recorded on Earth,” argued that Twisters missed a golden opportunity to tackle the climate crisis.
A New York Times columnist has criticized the producers of the blockbuster ‘Twisters’ for not including a climate change plot in the film, after the film’s anti-woke plot was credited for huge box office revenue
Margaret Renkl criticized director Lee Isaac Chung in a scathing op-ed published Monday. She criticized his decision to leave no reference to global warming in the film’s plot, saying he doesn’t believe films should be “message-driven.”
“I suspect that the decision to exclude even a passing reference to climate change in a film about weather disasters has very little to do with cinematic artistry, or even climate science, and everything to do with avoiding political polarity,” she explained in the New York Times articleand monday.
“With moviegoers still far below pre-pandemic levels, who can blame the makers of ‘Twisters’ for wanting to protect their film from right-wing vigilantes targeting wokeness?”
“I do. I can’t help it, I blame them,” she said.
In her review, the columnist reflects on the dissonance between the dramatic depiction of increasingly violent tornadoes and the complete silence on the broader consequences of climate change.
She argued: ‘Artifacts of popular culture have always had an enormous capacity to articulate changing attitudes, to evoke empathy and to open resolute minds.
“With MAGA politicians at every level denying that climate change even exists, real climate legislation is nearly impossible to pass,” she continued. “And with the Supreme Court determined to thwart any executive branch effort to address the changing climate, we seem to be depending on artists to save us.”
“If only they would. In a missed opportunity the size of an F5 tornado’s debris field, we got no help from the makers of ‘Twisters.’
Earlier this month, Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung opened up about why the blockbuster doesn’t address climate change or global warming
Earlier this month, Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung explained why the blockbuster doesn’t address climate change or global warming.
Chung told CNN: “I just wanted to make sure that the film didn’t feel like it was trying to convey a certain message.
“I just don’t think films should convey a message. What we do is show the reality of what’s happening on the ground. We’re not afraid to say that things are changing.
“I wanted to make sure that we never felt like we were preaching a message, because that’s definitely not what cinema should be about. I think it should be a reflection of the world.”
In 2021, the top US emergency management official claimed that more powerful, devastating and deadly storms will be the “new normal” due to climate change, following devastating tornadoes in Kentucky.
“This is going to be the new normal,” Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN at the time.
“The impacts of climate change are the crisis of our generation,” the FEMA director added.