Interstellar

Interstellar was among the stranger films we have watched. It many ways it seemed to build on Arrival in that one of the central themes was how the universe can be perceived differently (there being 5th dimensional beings that created the wormhole and the black hole structure), but interstellar’s vision isn’t as clear as Arrival’s. Rather than trying to understand the aliens (possibly future humans?), the audience is simply supposed to accept that they exist. The movie sort of tries to explain the idea of the 5th dimension, but it doesn’t do a great job and doesn’t seem committed to making the audience understand, and tries to cover it up with scientific principles that anyone can understand.

The other driving theme in Interstellar is the power of love, which feels out of place in a movie that otherwise takes science very seriously. It isn’t impossible for a movie to be about both science and love, but in Interstellar the two feel disparate. It doesn’t help that the science in interstellar is not consistent at all. Much like in the cold equations, attempts to justify the plot with real scientific principles simply make the pieces that don’t add up stand out more. On the giant wave planet, if gravity was so strong it slowed down time, why could our protagonists walk around easily? Additionally, their time on the planet seemed to be in real time, but when they returned to the ship they had missed 23 years, implying they had been on the planet for over 3 hours. Overall, the film just doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, and it tries to cover everything. It tries to be about relationships, but the characters are wooden, tries to be about hard science, but can’t stay consistent, and tries to be existential but just confuses viewers.

One thought on “Interstellar

  1. Aumit Leon

    Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is a fascinating film in that it juxtaposes many of the earlier ideals of the genre with modern scientific speculation. The plot of the film is centered on humanity’s need to find another home planet. The scientific challenge associated with relocating humanity is two-fold: humans first need to identify a habitable planet, and then they need to figure out how to get everyone off of Earth and to this next planet. A basis in scientific speculation, and in particular, the focus on a real scientific limitation such as “the gravity problem” speaks to the roots of science fiction as a genre concerned with scientific realism. As the majority of the film takes place in space, we see the characters are actively contending with forces beyond their control. Just as we saw in stories such as “The Cold Equations,” the primary antagonist in this film is nature itself. Dr. Brand describes nature as “formidable” and “frightening,” but not “evil.” The film is careful to not anthropomorphize nature, which speaks to its roots in the genre of science fiction as a whole — nature as a concept is familiar, but thinking of it as an antagonist is a twist on that familiarity that creates a jarring narrative, and ultimately, a box office hit. Interstellar is a special film because it’s most valuable contribution to film culture has little to do with traditional ideas of film. Interstellar isn’t differentiated by it’s dialogue, exceptional plot, or groundbreaking character relationships and representations — instead, what makes Interstellar special is it’s ability to force watchers to appreciate, wrestle with, and ultimately stand in awe of a composition of scientific principles. The mind-bending quality of the last hour of the film speaks to the nature of science as a realm of possibility, and Interstellar represents a rare but successful attempt at effectively telling a story that forces watchers to be curious. This curiosity is what’s shared by scientists, discoverers and explorers, past and present. More so than any modern film, Interstellar depicts Humanity’s next frontier: space, with all its complexities. At its core, this has been at the heart of science fiction as a genre from its inception. The use of scientific principles and speculation as a story telling device is the common denominator across most of the works we’ve studied up to this point. What makes Interstellar special today is what will make it less so to future viewers — space travel, time dilation, and gravity are all scientific principles at the center of Interstellar that will be better understood by future viewers by virtue of continued research and exploration. While the principles explored in Interstellar today are mind bending, they may be mundane to a future audience.

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