Gravity: Spoiler Alert

Gravity. Wow. This Alfonso Cuaron film was truly one I’ll never forget.  Experiencing this film in 3D in the movie theatre was an unanticipated thrill. Although I had heard good things about the film ahead of time, I never expected that I would actually experience a sense of fear, after all, it’s just a space movie right? What can go wrong when there’s nobody there to harm you? Well, apparently everything.

As Dr. Stone (Sandra Bullock) and her crew encounter high speed debris from old satellites flying right at them, all hell breaks loose. One by one we see her crew members leave her side, making her the only human in space. Sitting in the movie theater, surrounded by several people, I still felt the eerie sense of isolation. It’s difficult to imagine what you would do stranded in space because it’s such a foreign concept to over 99 percent of the population, but the film truly depicted the fear one must encounter in that situation.

As Dr. Stone fights with everything in her power to survive and return to her daughter, I was reminded of the plot of Sunshine. The films are very similar as they revolve around characters stranded in space with limited amounts of oxygen, among other obstacles. Both films even depict a crew member who freezes to death causing their limbs to literally chip off like ice cubes. Both films really allow the audience to appreciate the role of astronauts in society as they risk their lives to provide us with research on the unknown.

The most interesting aspect of Gravity is the fact that nearly the whole movie is a one woman show. Dr. Stone is isolated with nobody to engage in dialogue with which must have been a difficult task for the director to tackle. She is left with her actions and her own thoughts to tell the story. The fact that she is all alone really contributes to the theme of fear and isolation in the movie. I think the film would have been perceived quite differently by the audience if she was left with a companion to share her struggle with. Allowing there to only be one character for the majority of the film highlights the inner struggle she has with herself. We see the various emotions take over Dr. Stone as she fluctuates between refusing to give up and eventual feelings of defeat. This struggle is one that could only be fully understood if a character is portrayed without the company of another person.

This film truly made me appreciate gravity and all that it does for us because I would absolutely never want to embark on an adventure to space after seeing this movie. As Sandra Bullock finally makes it back on to earth and lands in the middle of nowhere, we see that she doesn’t even care that she’s lost and nowhere to be found because at lease she made it back to the familiarity earth. As she grasps the sand between her fingers and literally has a moment of pure love with the soil, we further understand the struggle she encountered. She doesn’t care that she left the isolation of space only to find isolation of earth.  She’s home. 

WE are the aliens.

    The film Alien was…interesting, to say the least (still trying to get rid of the mental image of the baby robot coming out of Kane’s stomach). The film presents a multitude of components that are more often than not found in sci-fi movies such as robots, outer space, space ships, and aliens. This Ridley Scott film represents the curiosity about extra- terrestrial life forms that existed in the late 1970s. Taking into consideration that we went to the moon merely one decade before this film was made, it makes perfect sense that Alien explores the potential dangers that lay beyond Earth.

    This film successfully projects the popular idea that alien life forms seek to harm human beings in some type of way. Many science fiction films portray a plot in which aliens seek to steal our resources, settle on our planet, or just downright destroy us. In Alien, at face value we see nothing more than a giant alien creature, single-handedly murdering the crew one by one. However, with a further interpretation we can come to understand that the alien isn’t so bad after all. How do I come to this conclusion, you ask? Well, in reality the alien was just minding its own business until a bunch of greedy humans came along and took one of its eggs. Just like a mother bear here on Earth, the alien was only seeking to protect her offspring from an unknown danger. As an audience, there’s really no way for us to fully know if the alien is truly evil or not. For example, here on Earth if one was to mess with a wild Tiger then they would surely get ripped to pieces because it’s in the Tiger’s nature to respond that way; we know better than to provoke Tigers. Likewise, in the film, we should not blame the alien for clearly doing what is in its nature when provoked.

    Additionally, in many films where extra-terrestrials pose as a threat to humans, the setting is almost always on Earth. The interesting thing that this film does is to switch the situation to make us the threatening creature on a foreign planet. If the alien came to Earth and acted destructively, that would be a whole different story, but the fact of the matter is that in Alien, humans are the invasive creatures. The movie seems to depict the humans as the victims when in reality they got what they asked for by disturbing a foreign species. Since the humans were on the alien’s territory, and assuming my definition of “alien” is correct, ultimately it would seem as though WE are the aliens in this film after all. 

Where the Sun Don't Shine....

Sunshine…all I can say is wow. This movie threw so many curve balls at me and quite honestly I was thrilled about that. It’s not often that I can watch an entire film and not find at least a few of its components to be more than predictable, but that certainly wasn't the case in Sunshine. This science fiction film which takes place in 2057 presents a very uncertain fate for the Earth as it slowly freezes as the Sun burns out. A crew of skilled Astronauts set out on a mission to reignite the Sun by dropping a “payload” into it with a spaceship that has the ability to penetrate the Sun’s core.

I found the fact that the film takes place in 2057 to be a bit worrisome considering that we’re used to being told that the Sun is in its midlife and it will last another 5 billion years. According to Sunshine, we were WAY off.  Perhaps the film would have made more sense if it took place a few billion years from now. However, that obviously would come with several challenges of its own because the film would have to portray how society might be in billions of years from now, on top of figuring out how to save the Sun. That is, I’m assuming we’re even on this planet in billions of years. With that being said, Sunshine presents an interesting paradigm which our previous class films haven’t. Many of the films we've viewed in the past have presented the problem of the Earth being nearly destroyed by human irresponsibility where the characters are forced to figure out how to save the earth or continue to live without it. In contrast, Sunshine presents the dilemma of the Sun dying instead of the Earth. The reason for the Earth being in danger is because the Sun is dying out and not due to human cruelty toward the Earth. For me, this was a refreshing twist in the film’s plot.

This film also presents a very crucial concept of how our humanity can shift a great deal when facing life or death situations. During their journey, various characters have their lives compromised by several unique situations. As four of the crew members aboard the old ship from 7 years ago, they realize that one of them must stay behind to work the computer while the rest of them return to their real ship. This situation gives a human 2 options: be a hero or be selfish. Luckily one brave astronaut sacrificed himself and saved the other three men (until one of them froze and broke into pieces in space). On the main ship another dilemma arises when they realize they don’t have enough oxygen for all of the crew to make it to the payload. This results in a vote to end Trey’s life which seems rather barbaric. However, when your own life is in danger, how willing would you be to end someone else’s life too? Everyone except Cassie seems to understand that voting for Trey to die will ultimately save the fate of the Earth. She makes decisions with her emotions which is why she sees one life to be so important while the rest of the crew understands that one life is nothing compared to the billions of lives on Earth. The irony in the situation is that deep down they all know there isn't enough oxygen for them to return to earth after the payload is released. Yet, they all still try to hang on as long as possible, as if every last hour in terror is worth living.

I couldn't imagine being in a situation where every human instinct in your body tells you to save yourself at all costs, but you ultimately have to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. 

Tuck Everlasting?

The film Star Trek: Insurrection was the first ever film that I viewed within the Star Trek franchise. I had heard various opinions on the films throughout my life which gave me an idea of what to generally expect from this semi-dystopian film. One major feature of the movie that caught me off guard was the fact that a great majority of the setting didn’t take place in the stars at all; instead a great deal of the film took place on the Planet of Youth. I initially expected to see an endless, drawn out battle between space shuttles and characters that never leave the confines of their own ships; however, I was pleasantly surprised by the ability of film to allow the plot to go beyond outer space.

One distinct feature that this film offered that differs from almost every other movie I’ve critiqued is the fact that on the Planet of Youth, the citizens choose not to take advantage of the opportunities technology can offer them in their daily lives.  The majority of the futuristic/science-fiction movies I’ve critiqued in this blog have presented societies which have been corrupted by technology and are battling the consequences of what their “advancements” did to them. It is admirable that the Planet of Youth chooses to ignore the use of advanced technology in their lives, despite the fact that they are more than capable of taking advantage of such technologies. They believe that using technology to make Man’s life easier ultimately “takes away from the man”. Perhaps their views on the abuses of technology are what have allowed them to survive peacefully on their planet for so long (and the fact that they are immortal helps).

Speaking of immortality, it is the concept that ultimately drives the entire plot of the movie. The bad (dystopian) guys hope to take over the Planet of Youth, while the good (utopian) guys just want to stay on their own planet and live peacefully as they have for hundreds of years. Hey, why can’t we all just live forever and be happy? This concept of immortality is interesting because it is usually dealt with in Halloween-like movies with witches, werewolves, or vampires (the multi-million dollar Twilight saga) who have lived for thousands of years. The concept can also date back as far as the Bible where God closed the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve which held the Tree of Life. Some speculate that we would all have the ability to live forever if Adam and Eve hadn’t deceived God and caused the everlasting tree to become forbidden. Within the film, the question of, “who deserves to live forever?” is one the audience should ask themselves. Does anyone truly deserve to live forever? Does the fact that the citizens of the Planet of Youth were there first mean that they are the only ones who should be allowed to be immortal? Is it morally right for them to keep outsiders from experiencing the luxury of immortality that they have the ability to experience? I personally don’t think I would live forever if I was given the chance. Life would seem meaningless and become a bore. If the characters in the movie thought more like me, perhaps they would have avoided such troubles.

These ducts are made for spying: Brazil

After several views of Brazil, I still had only one question in mind; how many movies did I just watch? The film has so many different things going on that it’s hard to tell what it all means as a whole. Additionally, I’m not going to lie and say that I enjoyed the movie because I honestly didn’t care for it and I still am very fuzzy on the actual purpose of the whole film.

For starters, why on earth is the movie even titled “Brazil”? There isn’t one ounce of information that indicated a connection between the content of the film and the country of Brazil. Perhaps the title, like the film, is just random and a further piece of information (or lack there of) to confuse the audience. I know that when I sat down to watch the movie entitled “Brazil,” I expected to see a South American country, or at least a reference to it. But instead, I found myself on edge the for the entirety of my first viewing in hopes of the them ending up in Brazil some how, and unfortunately that hope never became reality for me.

Speaking of reality, lets talk for a minute about how big of a cliché is it that half of the movie turned out to be a dream. I mean, here I am rooting for this guy and the woman he’s repeatedly fantasized over, thinking that they’re going to escape…and then BAM! It’s all just a dream and he’s still in that creepy room pending possible torture? Come on Terry Gilliam, I’m sure you can do better than that.

Surprisingly, one of the things that I actually did end up enjoying in the film (there weren’t many) was the portrayal of the communist/totalitarian government which controlled all aspects of the citizens lives. In one of my previous International Politics Classes, we focused a lot on the governing style of North Korea and the daily lives of their citizens which is eerily similar to many aspects of the movie Brazil. Just like in the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), the characters in Brazil are constantly exposed to disgusting governmental propaganda which is supposed to make them feel like they actually are lucky to live in the conditions that they do. The propaganda brain washes the people to think that they have it better than everyone and that following the governmental rules and the Ministry of Information is the only way to be happy and successful. I found it sort of humorous how there were actually commercials for ducts that come in several hundred different colors which is supposed to make the citizens feel like they have some kind of control over their lives. To me it sounded kind of like “Hey, we’re probably going to spy on you through these ducts and violate any personal privacy, but you can choose to color of the duct we do it with!” So in that respect, the political portion of the movie was very skillfully done, but the rest of the move is just up in the air with me. 

You Made Your Bed, Now Sleep In It: WALL-E

    Each of the several occasions that I “experienced” Wall-e, my head was spinning because there were so many pressing issues at hand. First of all, the critical side of me was curious to know how a cruise ship in outer space was able to maintain itself for seven hundred years. I found myself constantly questioning how they received water and food without any resources from the earth.  But with that inconsistency aside, I noticed that the film presented issues very relevant to life in society today.  Being a Pixar movie, it seems that the goal is to always teach about a greater moral or social issue with a child-friendly approach that can also appeal to adult audiences. Wall-e masterfully touched on some of the most relevant issues pressing our world while simultaneously achieving the status of a science fiction film. We are enlightened about neglect of our environment, dependency on technology, and general human laziness.

     One of the most alarming issues I found in the film was the fact that humans knew that they were doomed before-hand and still continued down their destructive path. The president in the film had an entire protocol arranged for various situations that may occur while in space. He knew they would have an issue with finding life on earth and he knew that the humans on the ship would become lazy and have a possible lack of bone density. Just as now in our current society; we know that our careless actions towards the environment will soon catch up with us, but we never take any great measures to protect the earth. If the president in the film knew of the world’s fate, why didn't he make a greater effort to fix things before they reached the level of extremity that they did? If he knew that the humans on the ship were going to get lazy to the point of losing their bone density, why didn't he make sure to not provide them with electric chairs that would deter them from something as basic as walking?  

    Another point of interest in the film was that the technology of the various robots had become so advanced that they were practically outsmarting the humans. The captain of the ship’s robot assistant, Auto, was determined to not let the captain perform the protocol necessary to return to earth. This sends a message to the audience that we cannot become too dependent upon the luxuries and comforts of technology because it can prove to take over our lives if we’re not careful. This draws me to a connection with the movie Artificial Intelligence where many humans had a severe dislike for the “mecha” because they felt threatened of what they could do to the “orga” humans. Additionally, much of the world had been flooded due to the irresponsibility of humans in regards to the environment. In the end of Artificial Intelligence humans eventually died off and robots were the only thing left in memory of their existence. In Wall-e, we are similarly shown that the earth cannot sustain abuse forever, and that continuation of our actions can lead to us to total dependency on technology. Fortunately, in Wall-e the human race survived (barely) and was able to restore the earth with the assistance of the robots, as shown in the credits.  

The Dark Side of the Moon: Understanding the Unknown

After my first session of watching Moon I was left with a lot of unanswered questions and confusion in regards to various aspects of the film. Why exactly can the clones only survive for three years? Why are they implanted with memories instead of just being programmed to do their job? Why can’t they know that they’re clones? Why is the moon supposed to be the mecca of clean energy when it seems as if it would actually be more harmful than the current energy sources on earth? These questions, among other potential inconsistencies left me pondering explanations for such little background information in the plot.

After my second and third rounds of screening Moon, I realized that I was not going to be provided with an answer to my numerous questions. Then I suddenly had an epiphany (not literally) that it’s alright that we aren't provided with every little detail. Why is the moon suddenly the source of clean energy? Because the movie is called Moon and the setting obviously needs to take place on the moon. It is also noteworthy that the setting takes place on the light side of the moon rather than the dark. The dark side of the moon or “the far side of the moon” which it is commonly referred to as is typically a symbol for the unknown. Just like the common debate of “light versus dark” and “good versus evil”, the movie Moon grants us an amount of information on the light side of the moon, while the dark side of the moon can be representative of the unknown details of the film.  

In addition to the dark and light sides of the moon, the lighting on the inside of the moon station is equally important. The lighting inside the moon station is blindingly white which is almost unbearable to look at (at least for me). However, it provides a great sense of the setting for the audience because we further understand that artificial lighting is the only light source available on the moon. This blinding light is also a great indication of the sense of isolation Sam must feel. In several Sci-Fi and time travel movies that I've seen in the past, I've noticed that characters often find themselves all alone in a different dimension in what looks to be an endless white room. The white lighting provides us with the sense of isolation felt inside the station, but it also indicates the isolation of being on the moon as well.

In contrast to the bright white lighting, the dark lighting in the basement contributes a completely different perception. While in the basement, the two Sams feel the exact opposite of isolation when they encounter a seemingly endless amount of clones. They realize that there are many inactive clones like them that are just waiting to be activated as soon as the current clones die. One of the Sams is so overwhelmed that he immediately returns to the light into his familiar isolation.

So as we can see, the elements of setting and lighting in the film are interrelated and feed off of each other. The lighting helps to advance the sense of the setting for the audience, while the setting assists us in understanding the variations of lighting.