We see a row of books resting on a humble wooden shelf that is accented by a model of the Space Shuttle. Dust particles float in the air, catching glimmers of sunlight. Over it all, the word 'Interstellar' fades in. The essence of Christopher Nolan's latest film exists within the title card itself. Like many science fiction stories, 'Interstellar' asks a lot questions about humanity and our place in the universe. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Attempting to answer these questions requires two approaches that often seem to be in opposition. The books represent the spiritual / timeless pursuit of truth. Books are literally the consciousness of our ancestors speaking to us from the past. They are ghosts. By contrast, the Space Shuttle represents the exploration of our physical universe through science. This is the pursuit of truth through reason and data. Dust clings to both book and shuttle because we have set aside the pursuit of truth altogether. "We used to look up in the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, but now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt." - Cooper
Part 1 - Out of the Dust:
'Interstellar' is a cautionary tale. Nolan uses dust (a symbol of stagnation and death) to warn us of the danger of living in a world where innovation and individualism are no longer valued. The 'near future’ setting of the story has eerie similarities to our own present and our past. Nolan symbolically dilates time by opening the film with what look like Depression Era testimonies about the dust bowl and the great depression. Then someone wipes dust on a laptop so we know this isn't taking place in the 1930s, but the connection to the past and the present has been made. While the issues presented at the beginning of 'Interstellar' are, ostensibly, happening everywhere on earth, Nolan chooses to set the story in what looks like current day rural America. Why? Because all of Earth’s fictional issues in ‘Interstellar’ mirror real, current, American issues.
- Corn is in a vast majority of U.S. food products and we are the #1 producer of corn in the world. In 'Interstellar' Corn is grown almost exclusively as the only stable crop.
- NASA's Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011. In Interstellar, NASA does not officially exist anymore.
- 60% of Americans believe the ‘American Dream’ is dead or dying. In Interstellar, what looks like a struggling city softball team actually turns out to be the 'World Famous New York Yankees'. This is a very strong symbol of the decline of American culture.
- Education is burdened by an over-focus on standardized testing. In the school conference meeting scene, Cooper (McConaughey) berates a teacher over “one number determining the future of my son”.
- Education is distorted by rhetoric. In Interstellar, the Moon Landing is completely denied by educators and one of the most innovative and progressive eras in human history is belittled.
"And if we don't want to repeat the excess and wastefulness of the 20th Century then we need to teach our kids about this planet, not tales of leaving it."
Unless something changes, the America of ‘Interstellar’ is doomed.
Professor Brand (Michael Caine) presents two plans to save the future of the human race. 'Plan A' Is romantic. It requires faith and sacrifice: Save the people of Earth by flying though a wormhole and establishing a colony on an inhabitable planet. This is the spiritual plan; the plan that will take us outside of time and into eternity. By contrast, ‘Plan B’ is pragmatic. This is the plan of cold reason: Let everyone die out, but seed the galaxy and let human life take root elsewhere. This is the purely mathematical and scientific plan, the plan that sets the clock on Earth.
As each plan takes course throughout the story, ‘Interstellar’ asks questions about who we are and how we arrive at the truth. Should we rely on reason to save us? Or should we put our faith in hope? Is human emotion just the result of evolutionary conditioning, or something more? Are we temporal? Are we bound by minutes, hours, and years? Or are we timeless? Are we merely made of dust?
