Warning! Spoilers ahead
I've always felt drawn to the philosophy of outer space. This fascination with the heavenly bodies led me to watch the film Interstellar for the first time a few weeks ago. If you haven't heard of it, Interstellar is a philosophical sci-fi movie released in 2014, which takes place in a dystopian Dust-Bowl-reminiscent world. We follow pilot Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) as he travels the Universe with a team of researchers, headed by Dr. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), in search of a better planet to sustain future generations of humans.
I was so moved by this film. I made the mistake of watching it right before I went to bed and I stayed up all night, tossing and turning to the beautiful Zimmer score in my head. My mind was racing through the probing, philosophical questions the film inspired:
Is there life outside of Earth? Where could humans go when we inevitably muck up our planet? How does Murphy's Law work? What could dimensions beyond the third even be like? What does it mean to be human? Are we too humanist? Or are humans truly special? What is love? Is love an evolutionary or spiritual construct? Can we quantify love? What is intuition? Where in the decision-making process should science end and intuition begin? What is time, especially outside of a human perspective? Is Nature moral? Does Nature have an agenda? Why are we here? What really matters? Is everything quantifiable in some dimention? Is there a higher power? Could humans ever be capable of conceptualizing a higher power? What is reality?
Light matter.
Today, I'd like to unpack at least a small part of my Interstellar-inflicted existential crisis.
What does it mean to be human?
To Infinity and Beyond
"Our survival instinct is our single greatest source of inspiration."
"We've always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements."
Interstellar posits that it is in our nature to seek the unknown. Exploration for the soul is like exercise for the body---crucial for health and survival. Without pushing our boundaries and nurturing our adventurous spirits, our souls atrophy.
Toward the beginning of the film, we see what it looks like when humanity has given up. Cooper's son and father spend their days waiting for humanity's impending doom, once the dust storm takes all of Earth's crop. Even leading NASA scientist Dr. Brand has secretly given up on trying to save the human race, abandoning his life's work. Humans have become over-reliant on data, science, and machines to give them the solutions they need.
Cooper embodies the unfailing human spirit throughout the film. In the popular "Docking Scene," TARS, the quipping assistant robot warns Cooper that docking his spacecraft is impossible. Cooper rebuts "No, it's necessary." This epitomizes what makes people special: our ability to keep trying in the face of the impossible. Machines are not calibrated for "last-ditch efforts" because such efforts are illogical and irrational. But rarely is human excellence built upon rationality.
Humans are willing to go to extreme lengths to survive, whether ethical or not. The jury is still out for me on whether or not humans are innately important in any way, if we deserve to take up as much space as we have. I'm still not entirely convinced that we are entitled to interplanetary habitation and settlement. After all, it doesn't seem fair that we could just obliterate our own planet and then go find another one to muck up.
The film follows a different ethos than mine. In Interstellar, there is a mysterious fifth dimensional being(s), referred to as "They," who is sympathetic to the human cause and opens up wormholes to protect humanity. The film treats human beings as innately special, as even the cosmos itself conspires to rehabilitate the human race. Desert aside, it's hard not to root for and be in awe of the human spirit.
Loving through Light-Years
"Yearning to be with other people is powerful. That emotion is the foundation of what makes us human.”
"Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space."
Perhaps our love and emotional prowess is another factor in our ability to survive. I don't know if love in general makes us distinctly human, since I'm fairly certain that other living creatures can feel such emotions too. But maybe there is a particular form of love and connection that binds us through all of time and space.
Again, the film seems to antagonize relying too heavily on science and data to make decisions. Love and intuition seem to be connected in a profoundly powerful way that allows humans to make seemingly irrational decisions that ultimately lead to success and fulfillment. For example, when Cooper and Amelia debate which of two planets to invest their limited resources in, Amelia advocates to visit Dr. Edmunds's planet despite Dr. Mann's planet being the more rational choice. When Cooper presses Amelia and asks her to explain her decision, she only has her love for Dr. Edmunds to fall back on. Her love for him is so strong and pure that she feels in her gut that it is the right choice. At the end of the movie, we see that Dr. Edmunds's planet was ultimately the only viable choice for the new human settlement. Amelia's love paved the way.
Throughout the film, Cooper is able to accomplish extraordinary feats fueled solely by his love for his children. The impetus for his decision to join Amelia's crew was to ensure that his children could survive. Likewise, Murphy's love and strong emotional connection allows her to communicate with him in a way that defies time and space dimensions.
Though this depiction of love may seem fantastical, we see evidence of it in our own reality everyday. Think about all of the stories you've heard of parents being able to accomplish superhuman feats to protect their children. Love matters. Love is a source of strength and power that ties us all together.
A Story of Magic Told through Science
I'm sure I have plenty more incoherent, incomplete thoughts about Interstellar floating around the endless abyss that is my mind. But aside from my philosophical quagmires, I want to take some time to appreciate the cinematic experience of the film.
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack, as expected, is phenomenal, perhaps one of his best. Whenever I relisten to "Cornfield Chase," I am immediately transported back to the world of Interstellar, laying down in a barren okra field, gazing up at the stars with a heart full of dread and hope. His score perfectly encapsulates the fear, love, awe, and drive present throughout the film.
Christopher Nolan's direction was immaculate. The cinematography felt immense and awe-inspiring, but also real and grounded. The CGI artists and editors did a fantastic job at creating this near-reality world.
I also appreciate how the film is rooted in real physics and I love how the science is portrayed in such a beautiful, magical way. As a creative, I can write off science a little too easily, but there's beauty and art to be found in science as well. Both art and science are ultimately about the exploration of the unknown, the exploration of what makes us human.
Overall, I (clearly) thoroughly enjoyed Interstellar and I would highly recommend the film to anyone who feels like they've got their life figured out a bit too well.
Til next time,
K
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