I admit, I lied. When explaining to family and friends the reason I loved Interstellar and why they should go see it too, I stated that it was the science in the movie that I loved most. I sang praises of the reimagined black holes, wormholes, and exoplanets based on theoretical equations of Dr. Kip Thorne in conjunction with the awesome graphics design team for the movie. Those amazing visuals inspired deep sentiment in me, and it’s really the sentiment through the whole movie that made me love it so much and see it twice.
Human exploration of space is very important to me. Ever since high school and reading the book Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, I have felt a longing for human space travel and colonization of other planets. When I was even younger than that, it wasn’t dinosaur books that I was reading, it was astronomy books with pictures of galaxies, quasars, nebulas, strange planets, and billions of bright stars scattered across a black sky. I would lay in the grass in our front yard and look up into the night sky, searching for streaking meteors and imagining alien races far away, looking back. For a long time science itself didn’t interest me, although space did. It wasn’t until reading of above mentioned book that I realized, human space colonization may be possible and science can get us there. Hence my love of space science was born and I have been pursuing it since by way of astrobiology.
Sure, there were many scientifically inaccurate parts to Interstellar and many reasons why the entire plot was dubious. But other blogs and articles have addressed those critiques of the movie so I’ll leave those complaints to those less starry eyed obviously lacking in vision. There has been a dearth of space movies over the past decades, many with aliens, addressing the challenges of traveling through space, and each with ever-astounding special effects. The Aliens series and Independence Day, among others, show battles against hostile aliens come to take our planet and resources. Mission to Mars and other movies exploring the Red Planet, always show the planet in a menacing light, as it seeks to kill any humans who dare walk upon it. Moon, Sunshine, and Gravity, all address the perils of space phenomena and space travel taking its toll on humans. Basically none of these movies show human space travel in a positive light whatsoever, encouraging us to be cautious, think small, and stay on Earth. Space is a scary place, these movies say, everything in it will always work against you and try to kill you.
Well I say, so what? Here on Earth, we are killing ourselves, so what’s the difference?
Yes, space travel for humans represents challenges. Interstellar addresses those: planets that have water but gravity causes massive waves, humans losing their psychological control due to stresses of space, black holes and wormholes trying to rip the space-ship apart, etc. But the message of Interstellar, in my opinion, was clearly one of prevalence of the human species and spirit. Sure, we evolved on Earth, and we are muddling our way through the ages here, generating toxic greenhouse gases and using up limited freshwater and fossil fuels at mind-boggling rates. We could probably survive on this planet hundreds more years, though we are clearly ruining our chances of surviving many millennia. I’m an environmentalist, and we will do our best to save the planet. But just in case, I say we should probably start looking elsewhere.
Interstellar, unlike other space exploration movies, sends a different kind of message. Sure, space exploration represents challenges, but space is not actively evil, only powerful and majestic (Anne Hathaway’s character even says this). Challenges are not new to our species and can be overcome if we put our minds to it. Many humans have lost vision due to problems here on Earth, we have lost our connection to each other. But maybe if we found inspiration in a common goal, by all looking up and pointing into the sky together, we could be like the people in the movie: Looking for new options elsewhere (which Anne Hathaway’s character finds) while also trying to save Earth’s people and humanity (Jessica Chastain’s character). All-in-all it’s a decently made space movie that represents the majesty of space and perils of life on Earth if we continue this way.
I myself will keep dreaming of the scenes inspired in me by Interstellar. Like when their tiny space ship flies by majestic Saturn, and of Gargantua contorting light and time. I’ll dream of exploring the icy exoplanet with solid ice clouds and maybe starting a human colony on a balmy new planet, galaxies away. I can’t help myself, some of us find inspiration by looking up.
Human exploration of space is very important to me. Ever since high school and reading the book Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, I have felt a longing for human space travel and colonization of other planets. When I was even younger than that, it wasn’t dinosaur books that I was reading, it was astronomy books with pictures of galaxies, quasars, nebulas, strange planets, and billions of bright stars scattered across a black sky. I would lay in the grass in our front yard and look up into the night sky, searching for streaking meteors and imagining alien races far away, looking back. For a long time science itself didn’t interest me, although space did. It wasn’t until reading of above mentioned book that I realized, human space colonization may be possible and science can get us there. Hence my love of space science was born and I have been pursuing it since by way of astrobiology.
Sure, there were many scientifically inaccurate parts to Interstellar and many reasons why the entire plot was dubious. But other blogs and articles have addressed those critiques of the movie so I’ll leave those complaints to those less starry eyed obviously lacking in vision. There has been a dearth of space movies over the past decades, many with aliens, addressing the challenges of traveling through space, and each with ever-astounding special effects. The Aliens series and Independence Day, among others, show battles against hostile aliens come to take our planet and resources. Mission to Mars and other movies exploring the Red Planet, always show the planet in a menacing light, as it seeks to kill any humans who dare walk upon it. Moon, Sunshine, and Gravity, all address the perils of space phenomena and space travel taking its toll on humans. Basically none of these movies show human space travel in a positive light whatsoever, encouraging us to be cautious, think small, and stay on Earth. Space is a scary place, these movies say, everything in it will always work against you and try to kill you.
Well I say, so what? Here on Earth, we are killing ourselves, so what’s the difference?
Yes, space travel for humans represents challenges. Interstellar addresses those: planets that have water but gravity causes massive waves, humans losing their psychological control due to stresses of space, black holes and wormholes trying to rip the space-ship apart, etc. But the message of Interstellar, in my opinion, was clearly one of prevalence of the human species and spirit. Sure, we evolved on Earth, and we are muddling our way through the ages here, generating toxic greenhouse gases and using up limited freshwater and fossil fuels at mind-boggling rates. We could probably survive on this planet hundreds more years, though we are clearly ruining our chances of surviving many millennia. I’m an environmentalist, and we will do our best to save the planet. But just in case, I say we should probably start looking elsewhere.
Interstellar, unlike other space exploration movies, sends a different kind of message. Sure, space exploration represents challenges, but space is not actively evil, only powerful and majestic (Anne Hathaway’s character even says this). Challenges are not new to our species and can be overcome if we put our minds to it. Many humans have lost vision due to problems here on Earth, we have lost our connection to each other. But maybe if we found inspiration in a common goal, by all looking up and pointing into the sky together, we could be like the people in the movie: Looking for new options elsewhere (which Anne Hathaway’s character finds) while also trying to save Earth’s people and humanity (Jessica Chastain’s character). All-in-all it’s a decently made space movie that represents the majesty of space and perils of life on Earth if we continue this way.
I myself will keep dreaming of the scenes inspired in me by Interstellar. Like when their tiny space ship flies by majestic Saturn, and of Gargantua contorting light and time. I’ll dream of exploring the icy exoplanet with solid ice clouds and maybe starting a human colony on a balmy new planet, galaxies away. I can’t help myself, some of us find inspiration by looking up.