The Heavens Above weren’t popular because people believed they were real
As humans we’ve always had a complex relationship with our myths
But you didn’t have to believe in Heaven for it to provide hope, that your life as a medieval serf might transform, even in the afterlife, into something better.
Life contains a lot of pain, sadness, suffering and even when the worst isn’t happening, life is for long stretches just very mundane.
Mythos has always helped to ease the pain and bring wonder into the mundane. That was what the Christian mythos did for a millennium or so.
Then in the modern age we switched up to a new mythos that aligned better with the reality revealed by science
SCIENCE
FICTION
So Interstellar is a clear and obvious High Concept movie. It takes the mythos of SciFi and mythos of Christ and wangs them into one big, messy and self-contradictory narrative of blackholes and starships mixed with the Passion of Joseph Cooper AKA Jesus Christ.
All set to the cathedral organ score of Hans Zimmer, our contemporary JS Bach.
Watch the full Interstellar video on the Science Fiction channel.
And it’s a brilliant movie. In many ways. An IMAX cinematic masterpiece.
But as a myth it’s lacking the thing we need most from our mythos. Hope.
The Christian elements are…yeah, sure, Cooper attains immortal life through geometric spacetime. But we’re in the Third Millennium AD. Most people aren’t buying the Resurrection anymore. (And those who still have the very much alive Christian mythos to turn to)
But the big failure is on the scifi side.
Because, I repeat, THIS IS THE THIRD MILLENNIUM, and this late 20th century vision deep space exploration, starships and men (and women) in spacesuits isn’t inspiring anymore.
The space race is a long time ago. And it lead nowhere. But science fiction is still hang-up on this myth of a future that never came to pass.
Enough with the space suits. Move on. And imagine a new science fiction mythos that inspires and gives people hope again.
Damien Walter 