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Hollywood, Please Wake Up Because Life Depends on it

Writer's picture: Leonardo Del ToroLeonardo Del Toro

An open letter to Hollywood: A tragedy always brings an opportunity,

Hollywood sign in fire

Nothing is more powerful than words. Hitler killed millions of people and changed the course of humanity with his words, filthy words. Trump was able to convince millions of his lies and get re-elected with his words. But imagine if we could change the world for the better with our words. Imagine cooling our climate and protecting the earth by influencing people with words. It is not only possible but the only way out of this mess.


Once upon a time in the West, when Hollywood was young, the film industry was a dream factory inventing the world. Millions lived the dream invented by writers and actors in the movies. They could not crank stories fast enough to fulfill the insatiable thirst of moviegoers and dreamers.


Children were named after famous actors, and how many people strived to live the American dream? How many have moved to the United States looking for that mirage? How much did these stories change the world? It is all about the ideas, folks. Everything you see around you was once just an idea.


The world was good, and there were no limits to our aspirations. The sky was not even the limit—space and beyond was always a within-reach possibility. Scriptwriters were creating reality by typing their ideas. It seems like the best years of our lives.


The baby boomers came after the Second World War, and the rapid expansion of the economy would never end and offer America the prestige it wanted. Then came petrochemicals and plastics, which changed the world to a false utopia. Hollywood movies reflected this brave new world of unlimited energy and supplies. But the world we think of as the norm is an anomaly.


Hollywood disaster movies began to turn into reality in a very unpleasant and hitting-home kind of way. The new disaster was called global warming, which was caused by fossil fuels, the main component and source of energy for this brave new world most people believe to be permanent. Everyone born during the petrochemical era owes their very existence to petroleum, which endangers the planet's life. This is the catch-22 of our modern times.


Politics and greed compound the problem, exacerbated by an existential crisis without an easy solution. This problem can only be tackled by assembling the force of our collective consciousness effort and collaboration. The biggest challenge is having everyone on the same page. Can Hollywood movies create a collective consciousness of an emerging green economy? Of course, it can.


We are all witnessing global catastrophe. We see biblical-style fires, floods, droughts, storms, and heat waves that break records yearly, and our entire planet might soon be gone with the wind. The problem is undoubtedly increasing and not going away. Most people fear that we are in an apocalypse now. It is like we are rapidly sleepwalking towards the cliff that will inevitably kill us all.  


The big problem is that we are creatures of comfort and will only mobilize and act when the problem happens to us and in our backyard. Incidents such as fires and floods happen elsewhere in the world and always with others. But for Californians, the disaster is now on our doorsteps in Los Angeles. But I see a silver lining and I bet others see it too.


Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, and many others are at the forefront of environmental activism and have used their power of influence quite well. But the times call for more widespread and broad action. We need nothing short of a new movement that can inspire and guide millions worldwide.


And yes, Hollywood has produced some fantastic motion pictures like The Inconvenient Truth, The Human Element (2019), Before the Flood (2016), Eyes of the Orangutan (2021), 2040 (2019), Racing Extinction (2015), and many others with a focus on the environment. Still, we need more writers and directors to get on board. We need special attention to awareness of carbon capture from our atmosphere, and there are natural ways we can do it. On a massive scale, STAT!


We need an ideological crusade with the same intensity and passion that has ignited many hearts with beautiful stories in the past. Hollywood has demonstrated that it possesses this power to influence the hearts and minds of millions. This could be an opportunity to rescue the American film industry from irrelevancy and to add a much-needed voice to the most critical issues of our times, not only the existence of a city like Los Angeles but the entire world community.


What could be a more relevant mission than saving the world from fires like the Los Angeles fire burning L.A. now? Hollywood, if you are listening, please wake up! By inspiring and teaching, can we unite the world community and save our planet? You can't say it has no money, but I disagree. Because if we don't do it, money will have no meaning.


Hollywood only has two choices: 1) become a forgotten and irrelevant show of slapping people on the face during the Oscars, or 2) become a force for change and empowerment in the world, saving not only its dignity but the city it occupies. But I'm afraid that won't happen because vanity and greed could win as it usually does. Greed could win just like a convicted criminal won the presidential election.


Hollywood, if you're listening, please let's save the world. Let's create movies and messages that inspire and educate people with the same power and intensity you create superhero fantasies. Your life and our lives depend on it. Thank you!


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