There's a new 'Climate Reality Check' test — these 3 Oscar-nominated features passed
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"Barbie," "Nyad" and "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" all have something in common - besides the fact that the films are all up for Academy Awards this year. These three movies all passed a new, simple test that measures the presence of climate change on screen. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports that it's based on the famous Bechdel test, which draws attention to the representation of women.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: No one would describe Barbie as a movie about the impacts of climate change.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BARBIE")
SIMU LIU: (As Ken #2) Looking good, Barbie.
MARGOT ROBBIE: (As Barbie) Thanks, Ken.
VELTMAN: But the topic sneaks in, like when the teenage character played by Ariana Greenblatt goes on a rant about the many ways in which Barbie is bad.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BARBIE")
ARIANA GREENBLATT: (As Sasha) And you are killing the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism.
VELTMAN: It's because of this line that the pinkest and perkiest of summer blockbusters passed the new Climate Reality Check. It was created by climate change storytelling consultancy Good Energy in collaboration with Colby College in Maine. Good Energy's CEO and founder Anna Jane Joyner...
ANNA JANE JOYNER: The test is, does climate change exist in the world of your story, and, if so, does a character know it?
VELTMAN: A movie must also meet two additional criteria.
JOYNER: That it's set on this Earth and that it takes place now or in the future.
VELTMAN: These rules actually disqualify more than half of the 31 features up for Academy Awards in 2024, including stories set in the past, like "Killers Of The Flower Moon," with its important message about the dangers of fossil fuels.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON")
ROBERT DE NIRO: (As William Hale) The land had oil on it - black gold.
VELTMAN: But Joyner says the Climate Reality Check is meant to make climate-change stories feel more immediate.
JOYNER: We really felt the need to just directly name climate change as a part of our world and our lived experience.
VELTMAN: So of the 13 movies that made the cut, only two besides "Barbie" passed the Climate Reality Check - the latest "Mission: Impossible" action epic...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE")
HENRY CZERNY: (As Eugene Kittridge) It's going to be a war for the last of our dwindling energy, drinkable water, breathable air.
VELTMAN: ...And the biopic about Diane Nyad's attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida in dangerous conditions caused by rising sea temperatures.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NYAD")
JODIE FOSTER: (As Bonnie Stoll) So the U Miami folks think that the box jellyfish came up off the shallow reef when we left Cuba? Global warming.
VELTMAN: Three movies that mention climate change doesn't seem like many, yet Joyner is pleased with the test's baseline results.
JOYNER: It just gives us another example of how these stories can be very commercially successful.
VELTMAN: She says she hopes to see 50% of contemporary movies and TV shows acknowledging climate change by 2027.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF HI-TEK SONG, "ROUND AND ROUND (FEAT. JONELL)")
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