King of Kong:
A Fistful of Quarters
Film Synopsis
Named "Video Game Player of the Century" in 1999, Billy Mitchell sets a record score in "Donkey Kong" that many felt would never be broken. In 2003 Steve Wiebe, who has recently lost his job, learns about the record, sets out to beat it and does. So both men embark on a cross-country battle for inclusion in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the supreme king of the electronic game.
CLIMATE LENS
A cautionary tale about how people get swept up in competition and public recognition which can displace the goals and values that drive innovation and achievement. A lesson about endurance and relentlessness in the face of animosity and opposition. Very entertaining and genuinely funny. Arguments and excitement over stats, status quo, ego, reputation, a new alpha.
Climate Discussion & Reflection Prompts
King of Kong reveals a closed community of competitive video gaming. How does the gaming community of the film compare to communities of climate change - the fossil fuel industry, the advocacy community, the tech solutions sector, etc.?
Who in the climate change context is Billy?
Steve?
The referee?
The official high score of Donkey Kong relies upon a self-reporting process for the data that everyone in King of Kong accepts and that drives their entire system. What does that reality in the movie say about the nature of expertise and the nature of trusting or questioning that expertise?
Is the Band-Aid certificate given to Steve in lieu of official certification of his beating Billy’s score similar to anything in a climate change context? Net Zero? Recycling? Political promises?
What was the point at which the “referee” converts and accepts Steve’s high score? What caused that? What’s a recent, similar “acceptance” of previously denied facts in the climate context that represents progress?
King of Kong demonstrates an instance in which the presence and performance of a challenger actually improves the performance of the incumbent and in fact of the entire system. Where is this happening in the climate space? Where must it happen next in the climate space?
Everyone in King of Kong is either chasing or holding onto a number (a score) but the real story of the movie is so much more than the number(s) and is buried under that quantitative data. Sound familiar in a climate context? How?