One Page on Interstellar One Week Later
Following my own advice, I’ve been making sure to write things down as often as possible for the past few weeks. At first, I wanted to host all of my writing on a service like Thought Plan, but paused for a bit after realizing self-containing and unrestricting raw creative expression is a must, and pen-and-paper seemed ethereally convincing. So, I started carrying around a small Sorta, and now write stuff down every time I have a compulsion, or perhaps would normally pull out my phone. One week later, here’s my mostly unedited thoughts written out on the bus back (with kyle) from the theatre last week.
An interesting movie. Running at quite an exhaustive length, I found myself visually oversaturated and emotionally taxed, but these seem like intentional measures from Nolan. Taking gorgeous directional inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey, with both uncanny, decades-improved plot constructions, graphics, and scientific thrill. Interstellar undoubtedly feels like a rendition of 2001's middle portion, as if everything was (1) centered around this conception of love, (2) resolved without question in a remarkably feel-good way, and (3) reducible to the archetypal struggle of good vs. evil. From Mann’s hysterical narcissism to the several “convergences of the singularity” resulting in beautiful visual effects that leave most dead and ensure only the main character’s safety— one can only hope to feel inspired by either the naïvety of love and hopeless purpose, or the power of a pawn (Cooper) to somehow infinitely construct an infallible representation of that love again, and again, and again (i.e. surviving suffocation, perfect near-death flying, impossible technical prowess over docking/communication). In reality, I think the movie is most interesting if, instead of biting the several ridiculously heartwarming plot finales, one simply views this complex reality as the last thing flashing before Cooper’s eyes before he passes, instead of just the “image of your children” Mann cooes previously, it is this extravagant, intricate reality—maybe the only (im)possible rationale/world where everything can work out for this death-ridden, no doubt semi-delusional scientific (or at least technical) genius. If it is this dream-reality, it does seem to have all the ultimate dream world attributes: perseverance and underdog triumph of love (three times over), good and truth wins over all evil (which always deceives), everything only needs one simple, apparent point of view.
