Interstellar ~ What was it about?

Interstellar

*Readers note - this is quite lengthy so take the time to read it, perhaps over two days...

Me ~ The critics say that this science fiction movie is an wrapping of basic spiritual/emotional human desires (for home, for family, for continuity of bloodline and culture), as well as a horror film of sorts—one that treats the star voyagers’ and their earthbound loved ones’ separation as spectacular metaphors for what happens when the people we value are taken from us by death, illness, or by unbridgeable distances.

I thought that this film "Interstellar" was somehow attempting to understand what the universe really means for man as in his role in it being part of a greater cosmic experience; especially in that the main characters seek to discover an alternative place to live given the planet's 'earth' supposed destruction is inevitable. The storyline gives us a futuristic dystopian society, not drastic but evidently very different. We thus get a sense that there is a desire to get answers that would solve a serious problem and lead to a better life. While, we can appreciate that, we are not sure that the people are entirely committed to the idea of finding a better place or life outside of life on earth. I would even go as far as to say that the actors and director did not seem to be committed to the original storyline. For instance, in the beginning of the film, we are led to think that there's a ghost in this film, writing out messages to the living trapped in reoccurring dust storms. Other characters (scientists) strain to interpret distant radio messages as if they were ancient texts written in a dead language, and stare through red-rimmed eyes at video messages sent years ago, by people on the other side of the cosmos. 

What do you think the film was trying to achieve, was it a search for the creator?

John ~ I think the film was trying to touch on the same ground as the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. It was more than an allegory and leaning on science. Except for the dawn of man, all other elements were there, a Stargate, artificial intelligence, you have a new home for mankind and you have the individual going there and coming back who has acquired a greater sense of reality than when he left and imparts this experience on all mankind for his benefit.

Me ~ Why are we interested in making and watching such films?

John ~ It is all basically trying to identity our location and place in creation. Are we more than just animated dust? Do we have a deeper connection to the cosmos? Do we have a destiny in the larger universe? What is the nature of time and space? Are they 'things' that can be manipulated by intelligence. Because, in this film, they were. All these questions, are asked by all religions, faiths, and each one has its own answer. Nowhere in the film was there a higher intelligence than man. What they thought were aliens were us, which puts man in the god seat. This means that the movie comes from a secular humanistic point of view.

Me ~ Why does man want to be God?

John ~ Because of Christian man's ego. Some cultures do not question nature, they simply accept it. The Chinese made a lot of discoveries but never applied them because what they discovered did not seem necessary, just a curiosity. For example, a primitive society would see a light bulb, but they would not know what to do with it or want to do something with it because it would not fit with their symbiotic life with 'nature'; thus, it would just be a curiosity. Now, the Chinese would today know what to do with it, but given that they discovered gun powder many years ago they did not do anything with it... it was a curiosity.

Whereas Europeans went the distance with it. Why? Because, the idea of questioning and investigating nature is a purely Christian/European phenomenon. Which has now spread all over the world, because the Europeans spread out. Science was/is their method by which they question and investigate and imagine what is beyond what they see. This kind of thinking and investigating has now become accepted and applied by the world but again, in many cultures this kind of thinking, imagining was not original to them. 

Me ~ Does this make Christianity exceptional, and in what way?

John ~ Yes, it means that 'Christian' man takes a dominate position over nature rather than a submissive role as we find in Pagan beliefs. Right from the beginning, (Genesis) man was given dominion over all of nature, while he lives with it, he is master of it. God gave him the ability to name the animals. This was the means and authority of assigning them their nature. Pagan, animistic and pantheistic beliefs place man equal to or subservient to the natural world.  If one is subservient to nature, one does not question it nor bother to understand it.... it simply is. Which means that modern science is a direct consequence of the Judeo-Christian world view. If it were not for that world view, appearing in Europe, we would not be living in the world of technology that we live in today.

Naming was important, as in naming as an action, giving commands. In computer programming naming is important. God created man, and man was commanded. Man did the same, he established the nature of things by naming, which shows authority and not submission... we are co programmers of the world ~ what we were meant to be.