An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary presented by former U.S. vice president Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim.
It deals with the threat of global climate change. The title stems from a quote stating that people will not believe something, even if it is true, if their livelihoods depend on them not believing it — used here in reference to the energy industry and other polluters. A companion book was created titled An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It.
An Inconvenient Truth is the eleventh-highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States. It would later see a sequel in 2017 entitled An Inconvenient Sequel.
Trope Examples
- Adam Westing: Al Gore introduces himself as "the man who used to be the next President of the United States."
- AstroTurf: A spoof on this film was sponsored by the DCI Group, which at the time sponsored ExxonMobil and General Motors.
- Global Warming: Obviously.
- Green Aesop: The whole point.
- Off the Chart: Al Gore needed a lift to show where the CO2 graph was going.
- Selective Obliviousness: A major theme is that people don't want to accept climate change because of what they would have to do if they did.
- Shout-Out: Gore uses a clip from the Futurama episode "Crimes of the Hot" (the one he guest starred in) to explain how global warming works.