“Interstellar” is Nolan’s 2014 realistic hard science fiction film, the film caused a worldwide discussion, including those vague physics terminology, science fiction under the clothing of human connection, and the expression of love.
In the film, Nolan takes the form of a common “doomsday crisis” in science fiction films, that is, when the earth is in crisis, people launch a self-saving act.
But unlike other science fiction movies, Interstellar has no flying spaceships, no strange aliens, no confrontation between Earth and other planets, and only the essential connection between each individual.
This also led to the “Interstellar” itself has a great controversy, as a science fiction film, but did not give the traditional science fiction film. At the same time, focusing on the nature of human beings makes the theme of the film a little false and unreal.
The film is also filled with many obscure professional terms and philosophical lines, giving the film a certain depth and philosophical flavor, which seems to have nothing to do with traditional science fiction films.
But if you want to understand “Interstellar” and grasp the essence of “Interstellar”, in fact, you only need to understand these words:
Don’t go meekly into the good night
“Do not go meekly into the good night/Old age should burn at the end of the day roar/Roar roar, rage against the retreat of the light.”
It’s not a word, exactly, but the name of a poem written in the mid-20th century by the English poet Dylan Thomas, “Do not go gentle into that good night.”
The background of this poem is the poet Thomas’s father, who was dying at that time and had given up hope of living. However, Thomas, who has deep feelings with his father, does not want his father to lose his fighting spirit. Therefore, I wrote this poem with strong feelings and high emotions, hoping to encourage my father and arouse his hope to live.
The poem is quoted four times in the Interstellar movie:
As Cooper left Earth and entered orbit for Mars, old Professor Brand spoke to the expedition team; After Cooper and his party failed to return from Miller’s planet, Brand was listening to Professor Brand senior’s message, Professor Brand Senior said to his daughter Brand; Old Professor Brand, before leaving, to Cooper’s daughter Murphy said, this is also old Professor Brand’s last words before dying; After Cooper was set up by Professor Mann, Professor Mann repeated to Cooper the poem that old Professor Brand used to say.
So why does Nolan repeat this poem over and over again in the movie?
Let’s break it down one by one:
01 The First Time
The planet was already in crisis, and the blight had wiped out most of the crops, leaving only corn. Society at that time was divided into two groups of unequal power.
One is that people should be devoting their limited resources to agriculture, and should be thinking first about how to survive, rather than about pointless exploration into outer space. This group was so large that the national government abolished NASA in name only.
The other is the exploration school represented by NASA, they believe that only by exploring, there is the possibility and hope of survival, and staying on Earth can only be boiling frogs in warm water. But this is so weak that space research has been driven underground.
When Professor Brand discovered a wormhole near Saturn, he was even more determined to explore outside. So an expedition led by Professor Mann was sent out to search for life in the galaxy on the other side of the wormhole.
But with all exploration comes the possibility of sacrifice, especially this kind of exploration across galaxies. So NASA created both planA and planB.
And all the people on the expedition were childless and unattached. Why? Because only in this way can we strengthen our will to explore, be ready to sacrifice at any time in the process of exploration, and will not be swallowed by the vast stars and huge loneliness.
Because only in this way, will not be concerned, will not encounter the choice between the ego and the ego. This, too, is a huge sacrifice to highlight exploration.
That’s why old Professor Brand recited “Don’t Go Meekly Into the Good Night” when the last of Cooper’s line of explorers left Earth for the real thing. One is to hope that the Coopers will understand that only the expedition has hope; The second is to hope that Cooper and they will not give up the hope of exploration no matter how great the difficulties; The third is to be the inspiration for Cooper and his men to go out, even if the stars are no matter how dark, do not yield.
This time, the meaning is more symbolic and spiritual.
02 The Second time
At this time, the background is Cooper and his team, on Miller’s planet, the mission failed, Doyle was killed, and Cooper and Brand returned in disarray. But a few short hours on Miller’s planet are already 23 years on Earth.
At this time, the expedition, Doyle sacrifice let Brand deeply hit, time flies to make Cooper anxious sad, while Romilly has become old, the whole team can be said to be demoralized.
Brand sat thoughtfully in the communications room, listening to 23 years of messages from his father, Professor Brand Sr. But the camera only shows the elder Brand reciting the poem again: “Do not go meekly into the good night.”
The three Coopers then discuss the choice of the next planet: Professor Mann or Edmonds. Because the ship is low on fuel, we have to go to one.
But at this time Brand made a change: as a scientist, she should have believed more in theory and more in data, and should have chosen Professor Mann with better data. But she chose to follow her heart, choosing to believe in more illusory love and emotions. So she wants to go to Edmonds’ planet.
So this time the old professor Brand reciting “Don’t go meekly into that good night” again, more to show that don’t follow the cold principles of the universe too much, don’t meekly submit to cold theoretical data, because Miller is a ready-made example.
All three are the best in their fields, too confident to be a little conceited, too reliant on data to make confident judgments and choices.
So Nolan quotes “Don’t Go Meekly Into That Good Night” again, as Brand says:
“We have been used to relying on theory to solve problems for too long. We need to understand that love is not a human invention, it has always existed and is powerful, allowing us to perceive its existence across the dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should believe it, even though we don’t really understand it yet.”
“Don’t go meekly into that good night” is more like a reminder to everyone:
Science and theory may be more reliable, but it also means that it eliminates all “possibilities”; The existence of life requires the existence of “possibility”, and choosing to follow one’s heart, following the most instinctive human emotions, means more “possibility” and more “hope”.
03 The Third time
This was the last time old Professor Brand read the poem, lying in his hospital bed, at the moment when his life had come to an end. He confessed to Murphy that he had lied to her, that planA would never work, and that Cooper and his fellow expeditioners would never be able to return to Earth.
The old professor now pronounced, word by word, “Do not go meekly into that good night,” more as if he had said, “Do not go meekly into that good night.”
Those who explore may lose their lives at any moment and never return to the warm Earth; Those who remain on earth have lost all hope of life. Into that good night, must make trade-offs and sacrifices, people can never meekly into that good night.
At the same time, this is also the epitaph written by the old professor Brand for himself, is the summary of his life: in the face of good night, he did not give up the struggle, did not give up hope, did not yield, did not meekly into the good night.
04 The Fourth time
It’s the only time in the film that old Professor Brand doesn’t say it.
In the name of “Exploring the base”, Professor Mann designs Cooper to follow him out, and breaks Cooper’s mask in order to keep Cooper there forever. As Cooper struggled, he recited a poem that old Professor Brand used to say:
“Do not go meekly into the good night/Old age should burn at the end of the day roar/Roar roar, rage against the retreat of the light.”
At the moment, one is Professor Mann’s comfort to himself. Because he knew there had to be a sacrifice on the expedition, but he didn’t want that sacrifice to be his own, and if there had to be a sacrifice, let’s choose Cooper.
As he told Cooper, he thought he was ready for sacrifice, but when he actually faced death, he realized that he was never ready for it, so he felt the fear of death.
The second is comfort for Cooper. Cooper was not the only one who walked into the night, but all the members of the Lazarus expedition.
Good night, not only the stars, but also refers to death. He believes that when people die, the survival instinct can create miracles, so it is also a choice to let people explore rather than let robots explore the reason, people can create more possibilities.
Murphy’s Law. What can happen, will happen
Murphy’s Law: If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of the choices will lead to disaster, someone will make that choice. The bottom line is that if there is a chance that something will go wrong, no matter how small, it will.
The “Murphy’s Law” in the movie has done a certain extension, or the meaning of Murphy’s law has been broadened and changed. When Murphy’s Law first appeared in the film, Cooper redefined it.
Murphy once asked why she was named after something bad, like Murphy’s Law.
Cooper replied, “Murphy’s Law doesn’t say that something bad will happen. It says that if it’s possible, it will happen.”
It’s a possibility that Cooper and his crew seek throughout the film. As Brand said in space, although Professor Mann’s data is more reliable, at the same time Professor Mann’s planet is closer to the black hole, and the black hole devours everything, also devours the possibility. Without possibility, there would be no life.
This is the second time Murphy’s Law has been introduced in the movie – what can happen will happen.
So “Murphy” represents hope, and Murphy is the one who’s really chosen.
When Cooper was in that multidimensional space, he realized that it was not he who had been chosen, but Murphy. Cooper was chosen to tell Murphy the truth, to guide Murphy in the right direction, because only he and Murphy have a love that can communicate through gravity and across dimensions.
Based on this, some netizens speculated that this multidimensional space was the human that survived when Brand implemented planB later, but at that time, humans lost the ability to love, lost the sense of touch to perceive love, and even like the walking dead. So at that time, mankind hoped to change time and space through Cooper and Murphy, so that the group of people on Earth who still know how to love can survive.
Just like the code name of their expedition, Operation Lazarus.
Who is Lazarus? Lazarus is a character recorded in the Gospel of John in the Bible. He died before Jesus could help him, but Jesus assured him that he would rise again. Four days later, Lazarus came out of the cave, testifying to Jesus’ miracle.
It can be said that Lazarus represents the hope of resurrection from the dead, representing the possibility of new life. For this possibility, they resolutely expedition, also firmly believe that it may happen.
Newton’s third law, if you want to do something, you have to leave something behind, right
A common statement is that the force and reaction between two interacting bodies are always equal and opposite, acting on the same straight line.
In Interstellar, the action and reaction correspond to gain and loss. You know, to get what you want, you have to leave something behind.
In the movie, the word is used directly when several people are running out of ammunition: in order to escape the black hole’s gravity and gain acceleration, the robots Tas and Cooper choose to fall into the black hole.
In Interstellar, there’s a lot more to the choice between gain and loss. For example, at the beginning of the film, most of the people represented by Teacher Murphy believe that in this environment, we should have a deeper understanding of the planet, and think about how to save ourselves and save the earth, rather than escape.
But staying, although it has a vast sense of practicality for the time being, it means completely losing hope, because the blight is irreversible, and researchers have been helpless.
What about putting our limited resources into space? It means a huge risk. This risk not only means the life of the expedition, but also means the risk of failure with a high probability.
In the crisis of the apocalypse, is it to preserve the ego and ignore the ego, or to give up the ego for the greater good? That’s what Interstellar is thinking about all the time.
The explorers are basically people who have no worries, they give up the rest of their lives on Earth, for the future of the entire human race, into the boundless starry sky.
This choice in Interstellar is not sudden and firm, because human nature is always full of attachment to the sense of security, only continuous hesitation, continuous struggle, only more and more appear such a choice, is tragic.
As Professor Mann said, he had never considered the uninhabitability of the planet he was exploring, and he had never been prepared to die. Also like Cooper, he chooses the expedition, not for the grand future of mankind, but does not want his daughter Murphy to live in a hopeless society.
What about old Professor Brand? He thought he had destroyed his humanity, broken through the limits of human evolution, and made a huge sacrifice for the future of all mankind. He achieved the goal of “don’t go meekly into the good night” and gave up his moral position.
But in Cooper’s view, it is a manifestation of great conceit, because of one’s own judgment, the death of all the people currently living on Earth, and still without warning.
So there is never such a thing as a natural hero, and all choices mean loss or even sacrifice. There is never a secure happiness, and all that is gained means leaving something more precious.
The essence of “Interstellar” has never been its science fiction cloak, and those uncommon nouns are not to pretend to be profound, Nolan wants to think more about the connection and essence between people, especially when this connection and essence under the apocalyptic crisis, what form will exist.
Nolan did his best to make what he imagined was a sci-fi, imaginary space spectacle, hardcore and human, tender and potentially dangerous.
