Astro-Humanism¶
The final symbol of our species’ concern for itself is the rescue of a
stranded astronaut. (First
Gravity, now
The Martian, both classics of the Space-Cinema-Sino-US-Detente Complex.)
There are narrative problems you could fly a starship through (with
missing robots at the top of the list). It doesn’t matter.
Cinema is made for space (the outside of the terrestrial gravity well,
not geometry), and the soul-crushing silence of the void annihilates
all plot quibbles — if you get sucked out into it.
UF finds it impossible to watch these things without
thinking:
The only true wretchedness is to not be an astronaut. It’s
probably the same strange religion we started with, but from the other
side.
ADDED: A Randian movie?