Snow Movies -- #2

It’s Valentine’s day. I acknowledge it. But it’s cold and my friends on the East coast and in New England are buried in SNOW. So, given the cold and COVID, nobody is going out for a romantic Valentine’s day dinner—even if they’re a couple. And should you NOT be living with someone, well, you’re not even having a romantic night in… So V-Day is pretty much taking second place to the weather—especially on the East coast.

So why not embrace the cold, stay in, and hunker down with a movie as far from a love story as you can get.

I promised you last week, after talking about the epic love story Dr. Zhivago, to give you an action/sci-fi snow pic—so here it is: The Day After Tomorrow [2004] by Roland Emmerich & Jeffrey Nachmanoff. This frosty film tells the story of a world gone cold—from typhoons in L.A. to floods everywhere and at one point New York City is SO cold that the AIR freezes.

Some said when the film was released in 2004 that its message was a hysterical overstatement of what could happen, scientifically speaking, because of climate change. And you can debate whether or not that’s true—though a caution if you’re writing about a cause: Make sure the cause doesn’t strain the bonds of incredulity of the story. The story always comes before any message you want to send. Always.

OK, take a look at a bit of : The Day After Tomorrow

Brrrrr.

The film’s special effects make it worth a watch. And the story is decent… maybe not great, but decent. A scientist in Antarctica discovers this climate disaster is going to happen and warns the U.S. President to evacuate the country—especially the northern parts—send everybody to Mexico. But the President thinks he’s overstating things. Another scientist in Washington believes the evidence strongly indicates it will happen and wants to get his family out. But his son is in Manhattan with a bunch of friends.

And then chaos descends as people try to evacuate—and lose their lives doing so.

So there’s also this story of the father in D.C. telling his son to find a place inside—a fortress if you will—and he’ll come rescue him. So the son takes his group of friends into the N.Y. Public Library… but… should they stay? Shouldn’t they try to leave, too? The friends are conflicted, especially as they see what’s happening everywhere around them. And can dad make it in time to rescue them?

As I say, there is a story. But the real fun is the special effects. I mean, a few feet of snow outside your house seems kind of tame compared to the icy winter in this film.

But it’s interesting to think about setting a relationship story against the backdrop of cold weather chaos. What ideas could you come up with for a story set in the cold… take a look out your window and see what ideas come to mind.

Next week, a beloved family film that’s been made multiple times… set in winter in New England.

Copyright © Diane Lake

14Feb21

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