The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich 2004)
Posted on June 28 at 10.12, 2004 by Eric Mahleb
As expected, this is typical Hollywood fare, a special effect ridden roller coaster ride, high on cliches and very low on plot, character development and narrative.
Over the past few weeks, the debate has raged on regarding the plausibility of the events depicted in the film, the opinions of scientists across the globe only adding to the publicity of an already heavily marketed product. The consensus seems to be that, naturally, almost everything in the film is over the top, exaggerated, blown up out of proportions, and laden with stereotypes to cater to a target audience that, otherwise, probably wouldn’t be interested in the movie.
But a positive note also emerged from some scientific quarters: that at least the message is being circulated that we have a problem, that out planet is in danger and that we must act before it is too late. Even if 90% of the film has little veracity in it, at least the underlying message is there, at least the audience will get something out of it, hopefully.
I do not consider myself an ardent ecologist but i would like to think that i do concern myself with nature and the environment more than most, at least in London where such preoccupations seem to hold a very low priority. This idea of a scientific and preservationist message getting through in the film is what prompted me to go see it, in spite of my initial reluctance and in spite of its obvious flaws, since it was clear immediately that this would be another creation by the big Hollywood production line, a product par excellence of a marketing and profit driven system. Just a quick look at Emmerich’s CV is enough to know that we would most likely not be dealing with profound and deep stuff. Yet, I hang on to that idea of a message and if, indeed, there was such a possibility, and it was treated seriously, then i would be able to appreciate what the movie mostly was, that is an action flick.
Well, the message didn’t get through. The disconnect between reality and what is shown in the film is too great. The message becomes distilled, convoluted, filtered, disappears completely during the action sequences only to reappear weakly, too weakly on occasion. I could tell that the audience was there for the action and wanted more of it, and was more interested in the special effects than they were in understanding the full implications of some of the ideas that are mentioned in the film. But even if one wanted to try to understand, the movie would not have let them, because it is not built around a message. In fact, it may not even have a point. What it does is uses the idea of a message, such as climate change and global warming, as a pale and weak excuse, a backdrop against which to set another special effect monstrosity, another one in a long chain of profit driven blockbusters, each one trying to outdo the previous one. Had the film been more honest in its intentions, I may have admitted that indeed the special effects sequences were of interest (I know, I just did), but to claim that this film has a message is just another example of how Hollywood’s marketing people are constantly seeking new ways and ideas to improve sales, and another reason why we shouldn’t trust such products.
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One Response to “The Day After Tomorrow”
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The Day the Earth Stood Still - Cinema, Sci-Fi, Futurism, Technogaianism and other banalities by Eric Mahleb Says:
January 12, 2009 at 19.00[...] In comparison to the relevance of this film to contemporary environmental issues (its superficial message that we are killing our earth and its ending that seems to lightly suggest – and this was not made very clear - that stopping all technology is the answer to these issues, are an affront to the problems we truly face), Emmerich’s The Day after Tomorrow (2004) seems like a scientific treatise, which of course does not say a whole lot about Hollywood’s ability to take these issues seriously. [...]