Our Virtual Watch Party - by Kristina Rondstadt
- Page ID
- 186593
I had initially planned for a group of my friends and family to sit down and watch Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times. However, scheduling problems ended up arising, so I ultimately decided to have them read a brief introduction that I sent, read through my questions, and then watch the video and respond to my questions. In total, I had six people watch the video and respond. Here is the introduction I sent to everyone to read before watching:
Today we are going to watch a video released by the United Nations in September of 2020 as a statement to promote what they believe are sustainable goals for the future. As we watch the video, I want you to think about what changes you believe are possible, what you may disagree with, and if anything makes you uncomfortable or confused. I’d like to concentrate on the climate change portion with my questions, but I may have some things to discuss about other areas of the video as well. Feel free to take notes on the video as you watch to help you keep track of how you want to respond to the questions.
Questions for after the video:
- What stood out to you the most?
- Did anything in particular in the video make you feel motivated to make changes in your own life?
- What are changes you think can be made in your life, pertaining to climate change, that you think would be sustainable for you?
- Was there anything you disagreed with?
- Was there anything that confused you?
- How did the video make you feel?
- Was there anything that made you uncomfortable?
- Now that 2 years have passed since the release of this video, what kind of progress do you think has (or hasn’t) been made?
- Was there any information in the video that surprised you?
- Do you think the makers of the video were biased?
- Do you trust the information provided in the video?
- Is there anything else you wish to discuss?
I got a large range of responses from the six people who watched the video and answered my questions. For the most part, this video actually had the opposite intended effect. Instead of empowering them, it made them feel sad and disheartened. Two years have passed since this video was released, and yet, if anything, humanity has regressed. Instead of making strides in the right direction, the world has taken steps backward in women’s rights, and next to nothing has been done about climate change. While they all individually felt motivated to make small changes in their own lives, they feel like some of these goals are unachievable as the world continues to bend to the will of large corporations and the wealthy.
So, without further ado, here are the responses I received to my questionnaire. I am replacing names with initials so as to maintain the privacy of the individuals who responded, and I also have not included everyone’s answers to every question in the interest of brevity. For most questions I kept at least three responses, but there are a couple where I felt it was important to keep most of them. I selected answers that I felt best addressed my questions, as well as those that elaborated well on their answers.
1. What stood out to you the most?
AR: The overall tone of optimism for our chances of change.
TV: The hole in the wall was my favorite part. Kids really do love learning and soaking in all the knowledge they can “if we let them.”
AJ: The video contained a sense of urgency that really exemplified the message of immediate action.
TA: The facts about climate change’s effects and displacements over the last few years.
TG: The comment about “the worst thing we could do is go back to normal,” when that’s exactly what we have done in my opinion.
2. Did anything in particular in the video make you feel motivated to make changes in your own life?
TV: All of it motivates me. There are things that I can do personally to help fight against injustice and inequality. Educating the youth in these things is a big step in the right direction.
AJ: Watching Malala's story was moving and honestly enraging. I already care deeply about women's rights, but perhaps I could be doing more.
TA: There was a clip where someone stated the next 10 years will determine our next 100-200 years.
3. What are changes you think can be made in your life, pertaining to climate change, that you think would be sustainable for you?
AR: Trying to reduce plastic waste and contribution to meat-based emissions by purchasing more locally produced goods.
TV: I definitely feel more motivated to move to eco-friendly products and purchasing less plastic waste. Moving towards glass and plant-based items.
RJ: Stop buying goods from systemic industrial processes, or services that are harmful to ecological stability both locally and globally.
AJ: I can recycle more and use public transportation, but in honesty not much I do can make a difference, as individual consumers are only small fraction of carbon emissions and pollution, whereas large corporations without oversight are the primary contributors.
TG: Growing most of my own food and composting potentially. Reducing plastic use.
4. Was there anything you disagreed with?
TV: I’m dismayed with how little the UN is able to achieve its goals. We want to dismantle corruption but they still let money and big industry sway making things better.
RJ: Not necessarily disagreed, but looking back on when things were happening at that point vs. now leaves me with disappointment and disgust that even if this video was made with good intent, now optically appears performative and produced for Public Relations more than inspiring problem solving.
AJ: No, it was all agreeable and on point.
5. Was there anything that confused you?
AR: What the actual plan was to set in motion legally to instigate actual change.
RJ: At first, I thought it meant that the 16% wage gap for women was that globally there were women still being paid 16 cents to a man's dollar, but after looking it up it meant the difference was 83 to 100. Which is still unacceptable but was unclear in the way it was presented
AJ: I think the video could have been more clear on what actions private individuals could do to help make change a reality.
6. How did the video make you feel?
AR: Given the video came out several years ago, and looking at what has happened since, I felt disheartened.
RJ: Melancholic and Skeptical of every public and private entity that endorsed this video.
TA: I felt empowered to take actions and do more for change.
7. Was there anything that made you uncomfortable?
AR: The use of celebrity presence to try and add something beyond the facts and plans to the video.
TV: I was angry in chapter 3 when we see the protests, they show pictures of protesters hugging police. You only see the face of the officer. We know many of those pictures were essentially opportunistic photo ops. For the U.N to talk about dismantling the racial brutality that's happening systematically while using black voices but still showing the propaganda of the officers that uphold that oppression is disgusting and is one of the reasons that make me feel less inclined to trust them.
RJ: The entire video felt like grandstanding and the message felt dissonant to the general issues and solutions were reduced/simplified to their most distilled form, while they may even be factual and realistic, felt twisted, incredulous, and untrustworthy.
TG: All of it. Since I don’t believe we’ve made any progress.
8. Now that two years have passed since the release of this video, what kind of progress do you think has (or hasn't) been made?
AR: I think the largest change has been the back-step of rights for women both here and in some international areas.
TV: We know unfortunately that big steps have been taken backwards for rights for women and not much has changed in injustice or global warming
RJ: It feels like a regression rather than progression. Little to no change has occurred, and timelines have been projected back further decades than what is stated in the video. Which is basically spelling our doom in my eyes, keep kicking the can down the road until the next natural disaster takes it, and you with it.
AJ: A dialogue for equal rights has certainly been opened, but the institutions in power have made a concerted effort to push back, and not much has changed.
TA: Climate change and women’s rights have not made much progress since the video
9. Was there any information in the video that surprised you?
AR: I was honestly surprised that there was a list of hopeful changes at all.
TV: I didn’t know how many people have been pulled out of extreme poverty. I think that's fantastic but I do wonder what’s defined as poverty or extreme.
TA: The amount of displacement due to natural disasters.
10. Do you think the makers of the video were biased?
AR: I believe it is difficult to be biased when presenting facts, but their ideas for social change at least were more geared towards what I would call Progressive views.
TV: Yes, highlighted in pictures chosen for protests with the police.
RJ: Absolutely, but that is near impossible to remove, and acknowledging where the bias is has never been the MO of this kind of "edutainment"
AJ: Absolutely, but that isn't a problem. There is always a bias, regardless of the intent. But bias is the driving force of change.
11. Do you trust the information provided in the video?
TV: I think the numbers are pretty trustworthy. It’s hard to lie about those, but you can skew context, I guess.
RJ: The facts, data, and numbers stated I do trust, but the solutions and "calls to action" alongside appeals to inspiration, activism, and hope leave a bad taste in my mouth.
AJ: Yes, it all seemed legitimate.
12. Is there anything else you wish to discuss or any additional comments you'd like to make regarding the video?
AR: The video has reinforced to some degree, along with the actions and changes since, that while there are small things individuals can do to try and induce positive change, the real struggle will be having anyone with the actual power to make influential change act.
TV: It makes me pray and wish that these solutions could be made. I want to try my hardest to leave the world a better place so I want to make the changes I know that I can do and control.
RJ: Sometimes, produced and artistic content with this kind of agenda leaves people more critical of its propagandizing rather than the urgency of the problems it presents, and can be harmful to the things it is advocating for. I can't help but suspect or wonder if sometimes these are made intentionally so.
It seems as though the general consensus is for viewers to be disheartened by what they saw in the video. That being said, I want to talk about some of the responses that really got me thinking, though there will be some questions I am skipping that I don’t feel need further discussion or elaboration. I’ll begin with question one. The answer here that stood out to me the most was that of TG. He said the part that stood out to him the most was “The comment about ‘the worst thing we could do is go back to normal,’ when that’s exactly what we have done in my opinion.” This response resonated with me, because I completely agree. For the most part, nothing has truly changed since the beginning of the pandemic. Everyone is just acting like nothing life-altering happened. Moving on to question two, the reply I wish discuss is TA’s response, where she says what she found most motivating was the “…clip where someone stated the next 10 years will determine our next 100-200 years.” I feel as though this was the whole reason the quote was included in the video, to motivate people to make changes. It stresses how dire the situation is, as well as how limited the time to fix it is.
The answer I’d like to highlight for question four is TV’s. When asked if there was anything she disagreed with, she replied “I’m dismayed with how little the UN is able to achieve its goals. We want to dismantle corruption but they still let money and big industry sway making things better.” She makes a fair point, with how influential corporations are when it comes to big changes, it seems like the goals the UN is setting are, at their very core, unachievable without radical social changes. My favorite response for question five was when AR said he was most confused by “What the actual plan was to set in motion legally to instigate actual change.” The video does a great job to get you riled up to make changes, but gives very few options as to what the actual plan is to get a lot of the parties responsible for global problems to change. Things are the way that they are because a lot of forces that can produce change don’t actually want to change.
There was one response to question seven that stood out to me above all others, and that was TV’s. She was able to pinpoint something that I had not considered or noticed, but that made me agree with her completely when I went back to watch it again. She said “I was angry in chapter 3 when we see the protests, they show pictures of protesters hugging police. You only see the face of the officer. We know many of those pictures were essentially opportunistic photo ops. For the UN to talk about dismantling the racial brutality that's happening systematically while using black voices but still showing the propaganda of the officers that uphold that oppression is disgusting and is one of the reasons that make me feel less inclined to trust them.” She is completely and totally right here, in my opinion. This section of the video enforces the idea of trusting the police and other institutions that are in place to “protect” people. However, it has been historically clear that oftentimes, change occurs most rapidly and effectively during revolutions, revolts, and forced upholding of justice. The video clearly shows photos of people hugging police, with none of the photos of police brutality people are experiencing. This leads me to her response to question ten, which ties into her response to question seven. The bias of the United Nations in this instance is toward change within the institutions that are currently in place, rather than overthrowing those institutions in favor of greater restructuring.
I think the general opinion of my friends and family was that a lot of portions of this video were very idealistic rather than realistic. There seemed to be a lot of use of celebrities to discuss problems rather than people who can actually make a real and dramatic change in the world. Especially given the steps backwards that the world has taken since the release of this video, I think its important to note that while individuals can make a change, institutions and corporations need to also change if we are going to make a difference in the world. Things like lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court and career politicians who hold office for decades detract from the voices of those who wish to change the world. Radical social change needs to happen to make progress on the United Nations’ goals, both domestically and globally. It is not enough to say that we can do these things, we need to actually make them happen. We need to do whatever it takes to make our voices heard.