Netflix announced it will be offering a movie next week about a transgender woman who dreams of working in coal mines. The entertainment industry has often portrayed fossil fuels as destructive and a threat to the climate, and movies have been criticized for failing to include messaging supporting the “climate crisis” narrative. 

Despite the industry’s aversion to fossil fuels, the description of “Queen of Coal” doesn’t appear to present coal mining as an environmentally destructive job people should avoid. 

While it’s encouraging that Netflix has chosen to feature a movie that doesn’t demonize fossil fuels, Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women’s Forum, told Just the News that the movie is “insulting” to women. 

“What they're doing here is elevating a trans woman, a man essentially, into a kind of paragon of what the ideal woman in coal mining is. It's counterintuitive. It's insulting to women – trailblazing women who've worked in the coal industry for decades,” Hoffman said. 

Little Carla

One study found that between 10% and 17% of people working in the mining industry are women. Many trade schools are also trying to advertise to women, offering the trades as career options for those who might not want to go to universities or into medical fields. 

“Queen of Coal” stars Lux Pascal, who is the trangendered brother of Pedro Pascal. She plays Carla Antonella “Carlita” Rodriguez. 

The movie tells the story of Carlita, which means “little Carla” in Spanish. Prior to her sex-change operation, Carlita lands his dream job at a coal mine in Argentina’s Patagonia plateau, in the southern part of the country. After he transitions to a woman, he faces a superstition that prohibits women from entering the mine. 

The film is a Spanish-Argentine production that was originally released as “Miss Carbon” in Spain in June. It’s based on the story of Carlos Enrique, a coal miner who transitioned to become a woman and changed her name to Carla Antonella Rodriguez. 

According to El País, a Spanish newspaper, Rodriguez is a miner in Río Turbio, which is near the southern tip of South America. 

Legend in the town is that a woman went in search of her husband after a mine collapsed. She never came out of the mine, and her soul was trapped in the mountain. As a result, the legend says, miners could fall under the spell of her ghost and be trapped as well. 

This superstition led to a de-facto ban on women working in the mine, under the belief that allowing women to enter would cause accidents. It also led to a celebration, El País reported, every December 4, when women are allowed to visit their husbands in the mine. After visiting their husbands, there is a party in which they crown one woman “Miss Carbón,” or the coal queen. 

It’s not clear if the legend applies to a man who identifies as a woman. 

Inaccurate documentaries

Hollywood and the movie industry have celebrated transgendered people, such as Ellen Page who transitioned to a man and now calls herself Elliot Page. When it comes to fossil fuels, it’s not so welcoming. 

Anti-fossil fuel documentaries, such as Al Gore’s documentary 2007 “An Inconvenient Truth,” are showered with awards. Gore’s film won two Oscars, among others. The movie made numerous predictions about catastrophes that Gore claimed would arise as a result of global warming, most of which turned out to be untrue despite exponential increases in fossil fuel consumption since the documentary’s release. 

“Gasland,” a 2010 documentary by Josh Fox, was likewise given awards and nominations. The film spawned an activist movement against hydraulic fracturing, a technology for extracting oil and gas from hard rocks deep beneath the surface. “Gasland” was criticized for being misleading. 

The most infamous scene in “Gasland” is where a Colorado man lights his tap water on fire, which Fox blames on fracking operations in the area. In 2010, responding to the emblematic scene, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) tested the man’s water. The commission found no evidence of chemicals used in the fracking process, and concluded the methane that burned in the scene was the result of natural causes. 

And as with “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gasland made a number of predictions that turned out to be wrong. 

Satire and sabotage 

Netflix distributed the 2021 satirical movie “Don’t Look Up,” about a pair of astronomers warning mankind of an approaching comment that will destroy civilization. 

The film’s director, Adam Kay, intended it to be an allegory to climate change, though there’s no scientific evidence that climate change could produce catastrophes comparable to a comet striking the Earth. 

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who has been an outspoken promoter of alarm about climate change despite a love of flying on private jets. Fox News reported in 2022 that DiCaprio funneled money through a dark money group that funded litigation against oil companies. In “Don’t Look Up,” he plays one of the astronomers, a character that was based on the climate celebrity Dr. Michael Mann. 

Netflix also previously streamed in some regions “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” an independent movie about a group of climate activists who decide to advance their anti-fossil fuel crusade by destroying oil infrastructure. 

Hollywood has sometimes gotten flak for not advancing the “climate crisis” narrative. Last year’s summer blockbuster “Twisters” avoided any mention of climate change. The movie follows competing groups of storm chasers trying to investigate tornado outbreaks. While the movie did well at the box office, climate activists criticized it for not advancing a climate message. 

However, the number of strong to violent tornadoes has actually declined in the past 70 years, as has normalized damage costs. 

Missed opportunity 

One climate activist founded a story consultancy company to help film creators insert climate-crisis messages into their scripts. Good Energy Stories, which is funded by anti-fossil fuel groups, doesn’t disclose what scripts it’s worked on, but it contains a number of high-profile endorsements including actor Mark Ruffalo and Kay, who directed “Don’t Look Up.” 

Not all entertainment has aligned with the ideology of climate activists, however. 

Last year, Paramount+ launched “Landman,” a series starring Billy Bob Thorton. One scene in the first season has Thorton’s character explaining to a big city lawyer that wind energy requires fossil fuels to construct the windmills and keep them running. The segment was widely circulated online, and the show received favorable reviews. 

Hoffman, with the Independent Women’s Forum, said Netflix is missing an opportunity with “Queen of Coal.” 

“If Netflix wanted to make a statement about women in mining, they would have taken a cue from Landman, where it positively portrays people, including women, who work in the energy space,” Hoffman said. 

Kevin Killough is the energy reporter for Just The News. You can follow him on X for more coverage.