Editorial: ‘Tomorrow’ is now

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 8:45 a.m.

Today the much-hyped movie "The Day After Tomorrow" opens in theaters nationwide. The movie's premise is simple enough: Unchecked global warming results in disaster for mankind. The polar ice caps melt, which causes worldwide flooding. Then there are giant winter hurricanes, which are quickly followed by an ice age. This total devastation of earth occurs within just a few days. Scientists have said that while the threat to the environment posed by greenhouse gases is very real and too often is ignored, the sudden calamity that's portrayed in the film isn't realistic at all.

Nonetheless, because the movie's fictional U.S. president and vice president scoff at the dangers presented by global warming -- sound like any administration you know? -- there has been controversy over its release. Some conservatives have said the movie is a thinly veiled attack against the Bush administration, noting that the vice presidential character physically resembles Vice President Dick Cheney. Of course, the White House itself didn't help matters when, as USA Today reported, the administration initially told NASA officials they couldn't discuss the film with reporters. Once the media disclosed the gag order, a chagrined White House decided to let NASA officials talk after all.

The truth of the matter is that most of the people who see the $125 million movie probably will be overwhelmed by the special effects. Still, the moviegoers also may come away believing that global warming is something that they should be worried about, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. (It reminds us in some ways of "Dr. Strangelove," the black comedy from the early 1960s about nuclear war, a movie that resonated for Americans throughout the Cold War no matter how fantastic its plot.) Then again, it's kind of a sad commentary to think that it might take a popcorn movie, as opposed to news coverage, to make Americans think about such a serious issue as global warming.