Don’t Look Up – Pleasure or Happiness, the choice is yours
(Contains Mild Spoilers)
Netflix’s latest all-star cast movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ has been quite the hit with most, and there is much to be said about this doomsday depiction. The film is a commentary on the dire state that society finds itself in, with many analogous comparisons to real world events both past and present. That said, I want to particularly focus on what has stuck with me the most so far: the ending.
In the face of certain annihilation, we were shown the opposing coping mechanisms people took to deal with the travesty, and I think these can be put in two firm camps: seeking pleasure and finding happiness. We were shown the hedonistic tendencies of humanity with individuals getting inebriated with colleagues below the sight of rooftop orgies while cities burned from looting and riots, placed in stark contrast to how DiCaprio and Lawrence, the two main scientists, chose to spend their final moments – in the presence of family and friends, reflecting on how good they unknowingly had it, and subtly convincing themselves that they had done all that they could, knowing they had not.
This two-and-a-half-hour extravaganza reminds us of how easily swathes of society can become unsuspectingly enslaved to pleasure and quick hits, with our incessant obsession with social media, and a virtual world just looming around the corner, it is almost a wonder how we all got here. Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor, and author of ‘Mans Search for Meaning’, has written extensively on finding purpose in life. He has remarked that “when a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure”, and I think this is very much true of those that chose to pursue a hit of dopamine in their final moments. It is ironic, that a species that has come so far from sticks and stones, reverts back to its most basic of instincts, in the most Sharon Stone manner possible, in its last moments. However, as much as I want to reject this gloomy portrayal of humanity, I simply cannot. The fortitude it takes to walk the line between vice and virtue is hard to acquire, and when all reason for doing so is swept away, it is hardly surprising that such events ensued.
Nearly each and every person had, in their final moments, the freedom to do almost whatever their heart desired. Most of us are fortunate enough to be afforded the freedom that allows such choices – to decide between cherishing fond moments or going out and getting plastered. Death is, and always has been a certainty (unless some Silicon Valley billionaire says otherwise), and finding a way to cope with that fact is a choice to be made, but should you be unsure as to how to live your life, deciding between a pursuit of meaning or pleasure, ask yourself this: what would you say lying on your deathbed? Are you going to look back on life and say, “gosh I really wish I bought another bottle of wine at that fancy restaurant”, or will it be that you will be yearning to have spent more time with friends and family whom you love? I know which choice I would make.
With the calendar turned over, and a new year begun, many will be taking on resolutions with the intention of bettering their life. Whether you stick to them or not is up down to you, but perhaps bear in mind what your final words might be if you do.
