The Netflix Film "Don't Look Up" Should Be Banned in Taiwan

Last night I recommended that family and friends absolutely must watch Netflix’s newly released film “Don’t Look Up,” which ranks second in the Taiwan region. Everyone gave it very high praise — worth subscribing to Netflix just to watch it once.

By all means do not be scared off by the serious mathematical and scientific arguments at the opening; I insist very much that this is an entertaining film that will make you laugh from beginning to end.

Even if the screenwriter did not write funny lines throughout the whole film, the performance — extremely satirical yet leaving you unsure whether to be angry or to laugh — makes it a masterpiece of dark humor rarely seen in a decade.

“Don’t Look Up” is such a magical film: completely realistic without trying to be funny, yet able to make you laugh from beginning to end. If you find it hard to laugh, then you must be an innocent little kid in elementary school or younger, or else you are one of those people in the film who listen to the politicians and stubbornly refuse to look up ⬇️.

Especially after the four major referendums, watching this film feels even more resonant. One friend said that for a full two hours, the corner of his mouth carried a mysterious smile. Another friend later messaged me that she laughed and laughed and then cried.

Good child, keep sleeping, by all means do not look up — in the end you will be happy, in the end.

Although “Don’t Look Up” is only a fictional film, in my heart it is actually a serious documentary. The author cannot help but suspect that the film’s screenwriter and director must have come to Taiwan to gather material, copying (paying homage to) the words, deeds and social issues of our domestic politicians.

Just as Neil deGrasse Tyson (a famous American astrophysicist) said after watching “Don’t Look Up”: “From what I know, tell me — this is a documentary.”

I sincerely suggest that the DPP government must go and demand copyright fees from Netflix, or else threaten to have it banned in Taiwan.

”Don’t Look Up” Film Information

Plot summary: Two astronomers embark on a media tour to warn all humanity that a comet is about to strike and destroy the Earth, leaving humanity only 6 months before extinction — but the world is busy caring about other things, and no one pays them any attention.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and a whole bunch of other superstars.

Director: Adam McKay.

Running time: 2 hours 18 minutes

Film Review and Thoughts

The quote at the very opening of the film, through a poem, expresses the essence of the whole film, describing the true face of (at least Taiwan’s) realistic society:

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather,
not screaming in terror like his passengers.

— American writer Jack Handey

The female president who knows the severity yet, to please voters with ballots, cares only about whether she can be re-elected, and feigns madness and foolishness to protect her own interests.

The president’s son and chief of staff, skilled at using flowery rhetoric for domestic propaganda to incite supporting voters, yet utterly without moral shame and doing no real work.

The general who gives free White House snacks to the discoverers of an extinction-level comet, yet obsessively swindles a mere 10 dollars.

The super-rich white-haired old man who cannot even do basic arithmetic, yet gambles with the lives of everyone on Earth, hoping to keep reaping huge profits.

And a crowd of onlookers who would rather hotly discuss the private-life gossip of entertainment and pop stars (Wang Leehom?) and be distracted by pop culture than discuss real matters.

These people can decide the fate of all humanity, ignoring the cries for help of conscientious professional scientists, and jointly bring about the end of the world — exactly the shape of today’s Taiwanese politicians and onlooker voters.

What does “Don’t Look Up” make us reflect on?

If we look at this film through the four major referendums, four Agrees equal looking up ⬆️, and four Disagrees equal politicians telling everyone not to look up ⬇️ (especially the people of Tainan and Kaohsiung, who are particularly obedient).

Looking at our country’s political ecology, from the president, legislators, administrative officials and political appointees at the top, down to local councilors and village chiefs at the bottom, as soon as an election comes they fight to the death, as if eager to abandon their useful brains. For example, during a certain party’s primary, a group of people accused each other of wrongdoing — vote-buying, corruption, gang ties — all kinds of smears or real dirt together; after the election, the same group shakes hands and shouts cooperation, as if those accusations of murder and arson during the primary never happened (and after the election they start dividing the spoils).

The public lives every day in the world of lies that these drama-king politicians expend energy to dress up, spending cheap passion on a group of politicians who eat meat, drink alcohol, drink and drive, and deal drugs.

When those in power take the snacks bought with the taxes you paid, give them to you to eat, and still make you obediently pay the bill, have you noticed your own foolishness?

When scientists are explaining the crisis facing the world, do you, because you are too lazy to listen, choose to blindly follow the lying politicians you trust?

When many experts work together to create a feasible solution, but politicians, for their own selfish interests, cancel it with a single sentence, ignoring the waste of a large national budget and the efforts of predecessors, do you feel indifferent?

When you could see the truth just by looking up, but those in power join hands with their financiers and party media to brainwash you into never looking up, did you comply?

Good child, keep sleeping, by all means do not look up. In the end, the destruction of the Earth is also a matter of an instant, and it will not hurt.

P.S. At the end of the film, besides two post-credits scenes, there will also be a group of naked men and women presenting a unique, sensual, end-of-the-century style — friends over 18, by all means do not miss it.