Dream on

Dream on
: In a case of chronic wishful thinking, The Guardian thinks that this summer’s disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow — from the creator of Independence Day and Rupert Murdoch’s studio — will unseat George Bush because it’s about global warming and, of course, that is Bush’s fault. Yeah, sure.

The flick’s official site includes this bit of tree-hugging:

At some point during the filming we looked around at all the lights, generators and trucks and we realised the very process of making this picture is contributing to the problem of global warming.

Yeah, those lights do get hot.

[No, I know that’s not what they mean, but you can’t begrudge a guy such an easy punchline, can you?]

To which The Guardian hopefully responds:

Whether this is the typical hype that surrounds a Hollywood blockbuster or the heartfelt statement of a tortured artist does not really matter. What seems certain is that the film will help to propel global warming and the environment high up the political agenda.

Hmmm. If the UN and the EU and scores of nations and millions of scolding liberals couldn’t propel global warming high up the political agenda, I have my doubts that an flick shown to a testosterone-rich crowd of action fans and daters will do that.

But The Guardian can dream, can’t it?

It sounds unlikely, but this summer might just see an alliance of commerce, populist entertainment and feel-good concern combine to weaken President George Bush and hand votes to his expected Democrat rival John Kerry.