During President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, Elon Musk was overwhelmingly active. He appeared at several of Trump’s rallies, publicly defended Trump and the Republican Party’s proposed policies and has since been made the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He has been given access to confidential White House information such as insurance information, health records and a timeline of financial records — all the things that most Americans consider private.
Musk’s government involvement has been met with backlash from several levels of government, ranging from the New York Attorney General to multiple senators. The White House has released a statement citing that the billionaire Tesla CEO and SpaceX initiative founder is a “special government employee.”
The “Trump-Musk” government era is proving to be deleterious as many Americans are losing their jobs across various sectors. Together, the White House has slashed around 5,000 federal jobs out of their goal of 2.3 million, rescinded $900 million in federal funds for the Department of Education (DOE) and cut funds for valuable scientific research initiatives that are used for administering and monitoring biomedical research projects. Since then, countless university internships and research companies have canceled internships for college students, ultimately delaying their success in the science and research industries.
It doesn’t look like the current administration plans to slow down anytime soon.
Not even two months into his term, Trump revoked federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and has made English the official language of America, setting a historic precedent. He has also furthered the Palestine-Israel conflict by supplying Israel with $3 million in additional funds, encouraging them to break the ceasefire despite his barrage of Tweets saying that if he was elected, he would end the war immediately.
On March 20, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the DOE. His order appears to be his first step in fully eliminating the department, a long-time conservative agenda item that is part of the Project 2025 initiative Trump claimed to have no business with, which would supposedly give individual states jurisdiction over their school curricula.
Many science fiction and dystopian films pull on the threads of corruptible politicians, and one of those movies is “Don’t Look Up” (2021), directed by Adam McKay. In making the film, he took inspiration from the lack of awareness surrounding climate change and wanted to create a story accessible to all. From the Los Angeles wildfires to the increasing changes in the climate to politicians who say they have Americans’ best interests at heart, “Don’t Look Up” has become increasingly relevant.
The film follows Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Randall Mindy’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) discovery of an Earth-bound extinction-level comet. Kate is a doctoral student in Michigan State University’s Astronomy Department and Dr. Mindy is her professor and colleague.
The pair, alongside leading expert Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), take the news to the White House only to be dismissed by President Orlean (Meryl Streep). Once the three share the news, the White House faculty dismisses their concerns, citing that they intend to keep the news a secret to not cause a mass panic. Kate is adamant that the administration should acknowledge the gravity of the situation and that the people deserve to know that in six months, the world will end. She is insulted on several occasions by various White House staff members while the more complicit and clueless Dr. Mindy is well-liked.
Kate, Dr. Mindy and Dr. Oglethorpe decide to go rogue, and through the help of Kate’s boyfriend, they find a news outlet willing to share the news. However, things don’t go as planned, as the interview runs placid and dismissive, the same as what they experienced at the White House. When Kate lashes out in frustration, she is ridiculed and turned into a meme while Dr. Mindy is once again praised despite his inaction.
The White House seeks to refute them and arrests them weeks later to work out a plan to save the planet. NASA and the White House worked together to execute a plan to alter the comet’s trajectory with a nuclear weapon. However, just as it ascends into the outer atmosphere, it returns to Earth. As dismay and frustration overwhelm the characters, it is revealed that tech conglomerate (arguably a Musk equivalent) Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) had a team of scientists analyze the comet and found it rich in the materials used to create his products. He discreetly rigs the attempt to destroy the comet, bringing it back to Earth before it can breach the upper atmosphere, and tells no one why except President Orleans after the damage was done.
In the glorified name of capitalism, the White House wants Kate and Dr. Mindy to support their agenda, with Peter insisting that they can break up the comet into pieces to preserve and use it. Kate rebels from this idea and does her best to serve the public, which costs her reputation, friends, family and colleagues. She is turned into a mockery while Dr. Mindy agrees with the White House and sticks with their science until he realizes that Kate was right all along. However, by then, it’s all too late for humanity.
While humankind succumbs to extinction, President Orlean and Peter escape in a special ship to be cryogenically preserved. It’s an idea that’s not so far-fetched in reality.
This film hits the nail on the head regarding the dangers of capitalism and letting rich CEOs overrule the free democracy this nation stands for. Had Peter not intervened, there was over a 90% chance that the comet would have steered off its path to Earth, and humankind would be perfectly fine. However, his attempt to break the comet into smaller pieces fails, and it is only then that horror sweeps the Earth. Regardless of supporting the White House or the scientists, Americans trusted the White House to protect them. Instead, they were lied to.
Peter’s intervention and the mass spread of news encouraged many Americans to invest in his company. Dr. Mindy was recruited as a mascot for the initiative and the impending comet was turned into a profitable business. All his years of expertise, designed to help him understand the world and analyze protection methods, were useless in the grand scheme of things.
All those Americans who invested in Peter’s tech company got screwed in the end, something that Peter callously gambled on.
The public still doesn’t know what exact purpose Musk serves in Trump’s America. What we do know, however, is that he claims to have a “war with empathy in the Western world.” He expressed desire to halt immigration from Mexico and South American countries, stating that it is an attempt by the Democrats to buy voters, dominate the government and destroy American democracy by rendering the nation socialist. There is significant discourse on the integrity of Musk’s empathy, something that eerily resonates with the out-of-touch antagonist whose very first scene in “Don’t Look Up” is a poor attempt to manipulate one’s emotions and make people feel less lonely through the display of his technology.
As for Trump and his administration, their strategies are not so different.
Through his status as a billionaire, Peter is allowed to skew science and manipulate both public opinion as well as the people voters allow to be in power. “Don’t Look Up” highlights the dangers of letting the public and public figures waltz into the private sectors of national security and government. The lines between the public and private are often blurred for fiscal and technological contributors (all under the umbrella of capitalism); however, the reaped benefits cost the general public one way or another.
Another thing that “Don’t Look Up” nails is capitalism and the government encouraging toxic complicity. The film has a good balance of female and male characters; the movie features sexism to comment on it rather than reinforce it. Kate is far more expressive than Dr. Mindy, and regardless of that being due to her personality or fear over the situation, she is ridiculed. She is accused of being hysterical, uninformed and constantly snided by while Dr. Mindy, who has no real impact except for aiding in the doom of humanity, is praised. In the White House, one of the staff members charges Kate for water and snacks, which later proves to be unnecessary. Despite her discovery of the comet, it is Dr. Mindy who is taken out of the room they are locked in to be the first consult. In the interviews, Dr. Mindy is given the credit for the comet’s discovery while Kate is insulted for the fact that the comet was named after her.
While it can be argued that Dr. Mindy is a victim of corporate greed, I find that hard to digest. He knew the science from day one. Had he been just as concerned as Kate, she wouldn’t have been painted as a radical and perhaps Peter wouldn’t have been able to usher in the disintegration of humanity. Furthermore, despite his betrayals and infidelity, he is never villainized. Meanwhile, when Kate’s outbursts land her villainized, her ex-boyfriend writes an expose about how crazy she is, further discrediting her and ruining her reputation.
What is more interesting is the weaponization of capitalism in “Don’t Look Up,” reflecting the modern-day political setting. Capitalism was justified to gamble on humanity. Capitalists attempted to amend their mistakes; in the film, both the White House and the scientists recruit celebrities and host events to attract the masses’ attention. The political divide becomes a dichotomy: “look up” and realize that the comet is going to hit the Earth and there is nothing anyone can do about it or “don’t look up” and trust the American government featuring Peter Ishwell.
Given today’s increasingly tedious political climate (the Palestine-Israel conflict, the war in Ukraine, dismantling of the DOE and blurring the lines between public and private sectors), America finds itself nearing the same situation. Arguably, we are already there and there’s more to come.
I’m glad “Don’t Look Up” ends in total disaster. Not only does this make for a more realistic ending and proves the whole point of the film, but this choice depicts an untraditional movie ending. There is no recompense of forgiveness for any of the characters; rather, they show acceptance toward each other. There isn’t any trust or self-proclaimed righteousness; instead, there is a genuine expression of humanity embracing the end of it all.
While the “Trump-Musk” label may be overdramatic and everything may be over proportionately and unnecessarily blown up, you’d have to not be looking “up” to see the parallels between classic dystopian films to the present sociopolitical climate. At the end of the day, the general public does not have any idea what the “Trump-Musk” administration has in store for Americans. If we’re not too careful in spotting these capitalist patterns, we risk losing the core values of this nation at best and disrupting into social chaos at worst.
