Al Gore is not Dead: Earth Emerson Screens Global Warming Film
Al Gore is not dead. He is alive and kicking and promoting environmental responsibility to fend off global warming. Thursday night at the Loewe’s Theatre on Tremont Street, Earth Emerson screened Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, before a packed house of 150 people, both faculty and students.The event was free and pizza and were drinks were provided prior to the show. Keeping with the idea of saving the earth, the plates and napkins were made from corn. Earth Emerson also informed the audience that the drink cups which appeared to be plastic would actually disintegrate within sixty days. Unlike most free food, the pizza was delicious, hot, and available in two styles—plain cheese or vegetarian. Drinks were soda, which did ignore the health conscious but offered diet choices for people watching their weight.
The show began at 6:30pm after the president, Lauren Robbins, the treasurer, Heather Vitale, and the secretary Hillary Richard made brief opening announcements. They shamelessly asked for donations to support their cause and gave a nod of gratitude to their advisor, Jonathan “Satch” Satriale.
Preceding the film was a short video clip of the three Earth Emerson officers explaining why they joined Earth Emerson and the impact that Al Gore’s film had on their lives. There was a small technical issue with the film audio at first, but the evening continued smoothly once the glitch was fixed.
An Inconvenient Truth ran like what a film would look like if a PowerPoint presentation, a documentary, and a autobiographical pity-me post-election-loss script came together and fused, producing a mutant creation. The first scene opened with Al Gore on a stage, giving a presentation to a large group of people.
“I'm Al Gore, I used to be the next president of the United States,” he began, and received applause and laughter in return. However, the rest of the film remained serious, somber even, as Gore demonstrated statistics on projection screens, cut to video footage of disasters, and prophesied doom for the future.
The film’s “truth” was overshadowed by the “See, I told you so” attitude and “Repent! Recycle! Reuse!” mentality. Ironically, many of the scenes cut to Al Gore boarding an airplane or riding in a car. Although he is shown riding on a commercial flight, in the car he is by himself. The vehicle does not appear to be a hybrid vehicle nor does it appear that he ever employs the use of energy-saving public transportation.
The end of the film provided tips for combating global warming set to the inspirational words of “I Need to Wake Up” by Melissa Etheridge. By that point, the audience couldn’t agree more—waking up was on the immediate agenda. As the house lights came on, the seats emptied nearly as fast as they had filled. Near the side of the room, Satch held a garbage bag for those leaving to dispose their garbage. Most students were out in the cool Boston air, ready to get out and light up.
posted by Lynette @ 5:58 PM
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