Seven times Hollywood talked about climate change on screen

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Hollywood is no stranger to reflecting world issues and big news stories in its films.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that over the last few years climate change has either formed the backdrop, or even been the central theme, of a host of movies, big and small.

Here are seven movies that feature worlds in which the climate has changed drastically.

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Blue moon. Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) defends her home in James Cameron’s Avatar

Avatar (2009)

Director James Cameron had made a name for himself directing mega-budget blockbusters such as Titanic, so of course when he turned his attention to an environmental theme, huge spectacle would be on the menu. It’s set in the future where mankind has exhausted Earth’s natural resources and turned its greedy attention to other planets in search of a valuable mineral called Unobtanium (chortle!).

Sam Worthington plays soldier Jake Sully, sent to paradise moon Pandora where he finds the environment about to be plundered and the indigenous people killed. He becomes determined to do what he can to save it, and them. A much-awaited sequel is due for release in 2022.

A still from the animated film WALL-E. Two robots hold hands while surrounded by rubbish. One is oval in shape, white and futuristic looking. The other is square with tracks for feet and is made of rusting metal. — Image caption,
In the dumps. Two robots fall in love among humanity’s trash in Pixar’s animated classic WALL-E

WALL-E (2008)

Seven hundred years after humanity has abandoned a trash-strewn planet Earth in favour of living on giant spaceships, cute little robot WALL-E is left behind to pick through the rubbish. It’s a lonely life, but things take a turn for the romantic when a state-of-the-art reconnaissance robot called EVE turns up. She’s programmed to find out whether the planet has recovered enough for humans to return. (If they do we can only hope they’ve got a bit better at recycling.)

A photo from the Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke. A princess wearing face paint, a headdress and white fur sits astride a large white wolf in a forest. — Image caption,
Princess Mononoke rides to the rescue in Hayao Miyazaki’s environmental fairy-tale

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Japanese animation superstar Hayao Miyazaki took on the theme of humanity’s troubled relationship with the environment in this 1997 Studio Ghibli classic. Young warrior Ashitaka sets off on a quest to find the cure to a curse inflicted on him by an angry boar-god.

But he finds himself in the middle of a battle between a human mining settlement and the spirits of the forest, who are led by the fearless Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki is careful not to oversimplify the conflict: the forest needs to survive, and so do the humans. Can they thrive together?

A photo from the film Waterworld. A man, woman and young girl stand on a boat looking out to sea, wearing worn clothing. — Image caption,
Land ahoy? Kevin Costner and friends are all at sea in Waterworld

Waterworld (1995)

Back in the mid-1990s, Waterworld became as well-known for its troubled shoot and ever-increasing budget as it was for being one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to feature global warming as a major plot point.

It’s set on an almost totally flooded Earth of the future, after the ice-caps have melted. Kevin Costner stars as a ‘mutated mariner’ who attempts to save a woman and her young companion and escort them to a fabled dry land. It helps more than a little that he has evolved to possess a pair of gills!

A photo from the film Beasts Of The Southern Wild. A young African American sits on the edge of a blue makeshift raft, looking out on a flood. There is a net propped up next to her. — Image caption,
Quvenzhane Wallis looks out at the flooded bayou in Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012)

Nine year-old Quvenzhane Wallis became the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in this drama about a young girl’s life in the Louisiana Bayou, where the ancient swamps are being flooded by rising sea levels.

She plays Hushpuppy, a young girl who must contend both with her father’s failing health as well as the devastation facing the bayou. Things take a turn for the fantastical when long-extinct beasts called ‘aurochs’ are released from melting polar ice and start to make their way towards Hushpuppy’s home.

A photo from the film Arctic Tale. A polar bear is pulling itself out of the sea onto a solitary piece of floating ice. — Image caption,
Just about hanging on. A polar bear surveys the results of global warming in Arctic Tale.

Arctic Tale (2007)

Directors Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson spent 15 years in the Arctic gathering footage for this film which uses a heavy dose of humanised story-telling to explore the lives of its animal subjects.

The film follows two animal ‘families’, one of polar bears and the other of walruses, as they hunt, reproduce and struggle to survive. The humanising of the animals (anthropomorphism) was a bit too cute for some critics, but the plight of Arctic wildlife in the face of global warming is clear to see.

This article was published in April 2022

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