The Age of Stupid #2: Outiline (not the essay, either)

GENERALLY,
BEAUTIFUL, BUT BLATANTLY BASE

It's awesome. It has strong impact. But it's shouting - shouting too much to the point where it gets slightly unconvincing. But there is definitely a truth in there: the world is knitted into one web. However, it doesn't suggest a sufficient amount of specific solutions. So in the end, the audience is left in a sort of awkward state. I want to do something but I end up staying in my seat because I don't really know what to do at this moment.

POINT ONE
IT'S OVERLY MOVING

• the whole thing is utterly shocking and very motivating 

• it is so by using the modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, logos 

• ethos: a seemingly real character from the future (as if he's telling experience), interviews from renowned people

• pathos: uses many appealing effects, strong scenes, kids talking about things they shouldn't be, a definite tone, confusing organization

• logos: a lot of data and evidence, many people's logic, show connections

• it's so moving it gets slightly uncomfortable (it's too strong)   

• it feels as if the creators are injecting their thought into you with the video

• then it starts sounding really childish, as if it's knocking only on sympathy and horror

• once the thought that the content might just seem true right now when it actually isn't (it was manipulated to be presented to evoke emotion and immediate reaction) gets imprinted in your brain, nothing can get to you - you just end up painfully watching every scene with doubt

• after some time, ironically, it starts stimulating the idea that maybe global warming is nothing but a hoax after all

• the sad thing is that global warming is real enough, alright 

• evidence 

• the creators of The Age of Stupid knew that all too well 

• the way I see it, they knew it so bad they had to tell people the absurd seriousness of the issue: they got the most shocking footage, they took advantage of all the methods they thought would help reach out to the public, they worked really hard and produced a very powerful, a very vivid video 

• but so it went a little overboard; to the point where slightly sensitive spectators like me recoil a bit because it's too blatant 

• if the issue was delivered with a just a degree slighter of anguish and a degree more of objectivity, it could've been accepted much more easily by people like me

POINT TWO
THE WORLD IS CONNECTED

• the film's too harsh in delivering its message about climate change

• but one thing's true for sure   

• the world is one and we individuals are all connected 

• the ripples are large not only in terms of distance, but also in the intensity 

• basically, the film shows how actions on this side of the world can kill millions on the other  

• Piers and Lisa Guy who are cutting down their family's carbon footprints and energy consumption levels recognizes air travel as the single most energy consuming activity an individual can do, while a guy in India is talking about promoting air travel in an affordable price so everyone can ride airplanes 

• the consumerism of Americans is using up more and more oil; Shell excavates some of that very oil from Layefa Malemi's hometown in Nigeria, driving her into a state of poverty and danger; but she wants nothing more than to live like an American

• a resident of New Orleans, Al Duvernay, has worked a large proportion of his lifetime in the oil industry - but oil affects the world in catastrophes: Hurricane Katrina (destroying his own home), the Iraq war (on the opposite side of Earth, destroying the lives of a pair of Iraqi siblings that never had anything directly to do with oil)

• the aged guide of Mont Blanc has witnessed the demise of great glaciers all due to the rise in temperature: not a result of local problems but the accumulative consequence of the pollution and fever the entire Earth is generating 

• water from the bottle tastes much better than the tap

• in this perspective, every single person is exceedingly important in halting climate change as well as in reversing the direction we're going in 

• we must all act: if we don't, something happens to the life of another individual somewhere on Planet Earth: that person could be me

POINT THREE
WHAT ARE WE TO DO

• the sad thing about the movie is that it doesn't offer detailed solutions (not everybody can be Piers Guy)

• well, it is structured so it would be awkward if a specific list of things to do suddenly popped out out of nowhere 

• but it's also structured so the audience is left awkwardly gaping thinking something along the lines of: 'Woah. OMG. So... um...?' 

• it is a great way to get people's attention and get them engaged in the idea 

• however, it's only the start 

• people have to find out more for themselves on how to deal with the crisis at hand 

• that's the intriguing part: it's like there is a segment of the film left blank so the audience can fill it in - we have to research what solutions there are and complete the story with a narrative of our own 

• but people don't really do that 

• the video could have gone further, and it should have: it was pushing people very effectively throughout the hour and a half and the energy could've gone to some real changes had they been suggested in the film

• find solutions