VIDEO EXPLAINER: ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and other climate movies: why ‘cli-fi’ matters
When Charlie Johnson decided to create a five-minute ”explainer” video about the popular movie “The Day After Tomorrow,” he delved into the trailer archives of several Hollywood films and relied on a five-part ”Yale Climate Connections” series of articles about Hollywood and cli-fi, written by George Washington University creative writing professor Michael Svoboda.
The video he made has been titled “The Day After Tomorrow: Why Cli-Fi Matters” and it can be seen here on YouTube. The video narration offers viewers a brief analysis of the 2004 climate-themed movie ”The Day After Tomorrow” and why Hollywood disaster movies and ”Cli-Fi” in general matter for what Charlie refers to as ”climate action.”
A very good magazine cover story from 2004 and titled “Surveying the Impact: The Day After Tomorrow,” via a pdf link about the movie is listed here.
Charlie’s video is short and to the point, and he speaks directly to how cli-fi movies in the past and in the future can influence and impact the raging debate worldwide over what do to about runaway global warming and climate change. Countless newspaper and magazine articles are now debating the issues from all points of view and this YouTube video concept is a good way to explain things with film clips in living color. Somehow seeing these clips while listening to Charlie’s observant narration makes for a very good ”visual.”
Not everything has to be in text these days. Sometimes, a well-produced video explainer can go a long way to reaching a wide audience worldwide. I certainly hope so in this case.