Impact and Influence of Interstellar
Analyzing Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar
As scientific development continues to skyrocket, fields such as physics and astrophysics are making exponential strides in discovering more about our galaxy and those around it, increasing humanity's possibilities. We can better display modern scientific discoveries, like black holes, through present-day cinema. A good example of science portrayed in the film is the 2014 movie Interstellar, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. As a movie, Interstellar transcends all its contenders with its vivid details, structured plot, and accurate scientific portraits. Nolan is responsible for bringing science to life in Hollywood as well as in modern society.
Accurate Science
The science portrayed throughout Interstellar is mostly spot-on compared to fundamental discoveries in the modern universe, as the film needed some creative liberties to maintain a plot. This film has been, to date, one of the most accurate in the science fiction industry. Interstellar was a collaborative piece between its creator, Christopher Nolan, and an expert physicist who helped guide the filmmaking process to make it as genuine as possible.
In “Interstellar and the Beauty of Science,” Elizabeth Jerse emphasizes how physicist Kip Thorne, following Nolan, stated that the movie should only be created based on “pre-existing scientific theories” and nothing more. Interstellar, as a plot, was firmly based on scientific principles and follows all natural laws of the physical universe as we know it. In a way, this film was made as a scientific model of the universe, and unlike your run-of-the-mill production, this film had an intended purpose.
Sushant Sharma, in Current Science, reviews the novel The Science of Interstellar written by the lead scientific producer of Interstellar, and he describes how this novel praises the film for its ability to “un-weave the complex fabric of science and universe.” Sharma’s ability to provide critical insight into the film’s scientifically accurate structure supports how the film is precise in its scientific representations while maintaining an understandable storyline. As a cinematic production, this film can’t be strictly by the book for its quantum representations, as a plot must be maintained.
Daniel Clery, publisher for Science Insider, provides various praises and critiques of the film in an interview with physicist Thorne, who aided in the production of Interstellar. However, Thorne describes the film’s scientific shortcomings as “not serious,” meaning it succeeded in combining science and a screen-worthy plot.
Understanding how significant the film’s scientific accuracy is can provide insight into how much it has influenced the scientific community. Interstellar has notably appealed to all types of audiences, no matter their scientific knowledge, effectively making it one of a kind in cinema. Jeffery Kluger, in TIME, describes Interstellar as “ha[ving] ambitions that go hard at physics and those cosmic questions.” Interstellar is not only scientifically accurate but also further develops science itself, making it a scientific work.
Black Holes, Gargantua, and Scientific Advancements
As a film, Interstellar has played a fundamental role in representing scientific anomalies on the big screen and influencing various scientific fields. The Black Hole Gargantua, as portrayed in the movie, took visualizing quantum physics to a new degree and provided the scientific community with higher-quality visualizations of space. J. Oliver and colleagues, a group of renowned physicists, describe their engagement in academic research behind black holes and how the film made Gargantua “understandable to a mass audience.” The extensive research they engage in involving black holes is a direct example of the cinematic influence of the movie Interstellar and how it can extend the efforts of scientists in trying to discover parts of our universe. Interstellar has highlighted various gray areas of visual science, such as black holes, wormholes, and time in space through visualizations such as Gargantua.
Produce the Impossible
Interstellar can be seen as an artistic masterpiece that has redesigned the modern understanding of the visual universe. Interstellar has influenced a future in space exploration, similar to the stride to put a man on the moon.
Deja Collins, a member of the computer graphics organization ACM SIGGRAPH, describes how the film teams could “produce things that aren’t even in our dimension” and create concepts of quantum physics that screenwriters hadn’t previously developed.
Cathleen Lewis, a publisher for the Smithsonian Magazine, describes the Interstellar plot as “[p]rovoking a new generation to consider that a similar confluence may be at hand.” This film has accelerated the development of scientific discovery and understanding with its visually accurate and stunning display. This production continues to inspire and stimulate more scientific curiosity and motivate new generations of scientists to begin exploring the cosmos around us.
Christopher Nolan is well known for integrating various and complex issues into movies that deliver more than your introductory film seen in theaters. Interstellar remains one of his best works, from cinematic beauty to scientific depth and profundity. Ben Jones, from the Oberlin College & Conservatory, interviewed physicist Rob Owens, who was in a team of scientists working alongside Nolan during the film production. Owens describes the goal being to “produce a movie where issues with general relativity… were central to compelling a story.” Using this example, we can understand how Nolan blended cinematic and scientific elements in the production of this movie to create something unique and authentic. The production of this film is just as significant as the film itself because ho how science and cinema are blended to create an exciting and enjoyable experience for the average viewer, making it unlike other films in science fiction. Lewis emphasizes that things as complex as “rocketry” and “space travel” are difficult to interpret in film, but films like Interstellar make it possible.
Interstellar has traveled farther beyond the previous capabilities of cinema. Nai nu Yang, a publisher with Tamkang University, describes how Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar shows how certain times and technology become “tools for humans to explore the universe.” Yang’s research into the time and mathematics that goes into the film aids us, as viewers, to further understand the complexity of creating the film’s structure. Christopher Nolan’s ability to translate complex ideas and scientific representations became essential to Interstellar's overall depth, importance, and essence.
Effects on Pop Culture
Additionally, Interstellar has directly affected industries of pop culture and how different aspects of pop culture depict aspects of science. Pop culture in the years following Interstellar has been heavily influenced and dedicated to producing movies in science fiction, showing Interstellar’s impact on the film industry itself. Interstellar is part of a very central cause-and-effect relationship with the cinematic appearance of space and intergalactic travel. Since Christopher Nolan released Interstellar, we have witnessed its viral effects in cinematic industries.
Interstellar’s backstory is in relation to a substantial portion of pop culture, as it represents the effects of the global population on the earth, especially how it is causing the atmosphere to change and even glaciers to melt. Lewis emphasizes how “global warming” is a key and definite theme that Nolan himself may be pulling from modern-day occurrences.
Interstellar has highlighted many modern aspects of pop culture and the world we live in, and forces us to think about the future regarding what life can be like. This cognitive coercing is a direct cause-and-effect relationship in the film, and the viewers participate in it.
David Edelstein, in New York Magazine, also highlights this cause-and-effect trade-off and mentions how the movie represented the future earth as “parched, dust-smothered and dying.” Interstellar, when examined, reveals deeper complexities, and these details affect pop culture by developing the idea of looking into the future of humanity.
These ideas have become increasingly popular throughout the cinema, with specific dystopian genres and apocalyptic plots that force us to think about the future. Jerse points out how there is “[t]his preference for the political reimagining of reality reigns while science is viewed as mere folklore.” Understanding how Interstellar depicts politics and its role in pop culture is crucial to understanding how Interstellar has affected pop culture and how people view the future of humanity.
Comparing Oppenheimer and Interstellar
Interstellar has opened up the way science is depicted in films, which has already influenced specific modern-day film successes such as Nolan’s newly created work Oppenheimer, which strives to illuminate the scientific events behind the creation of the atomic bomb during WWII. Oppenheimer is notably comparable to Interstellar, especially in the sense of its focus on science and how science plays a key role in the structure of the movie.
Josh Weiss, in Sci-Fi, emphasizes how Interstellar’s Kip Thorne mentions how Oppenheimer has been able to present scientific openness and relevance. Thorne has also referenced Interstellar in this way, showing the parallels between both films.
Oppenheimer and Interstellar both strive to highlight advancements in science and how these advancements can and have influenced our depictions of science in pop culture and in general.
Peering into the Future
As we interpret the impact of Interstellar, we can start to understand what sciences in the future may look like and what can become possible in the realm of humanity’s outreach. Understanding the revolutionary strides that Interstellar as a sci-fi movie has made and could make in pop culture can help us appreciate its impact on science and related fields.
As we continue our journey in discovering the ever-expanding universe, we may use the film Interstellar as a medium for comparison and a point in history where we peer back to the future. This movie has become a scientific achievement and will forever be a landmark in discovering the universe’s future as we know it.
Additional Sources Used in this Article
David Edelstein. “Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is Big, Long, Ridiculous — and Lots of Fun; He aims for the stars, and the upshot is an infinite hoot.” New York Magazine. 2014. Found on Gale Academic OneFile.
Elizabeth Jerse. “Interstellar and the Beauty in Science.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 2022. Found on EBSCO Host.
Jeffrey Kluger. “The Art of Science.” TIME Magazine. 2014. Found on EBSCO Host.
Nai-nu Yang. “The Technology of Time, Mathematization, and Hyperobjects in Interstellar.” TamKang Review. 2020. Found on Gale Academic OneFile.
Sushant Sharma. “Reviewed Work: The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.” Current Science. 2016. Found on JSTOR.
