I just finished watching project Hail Mary and I also read a review of it thatās not popular I found it while looking for project Hail Mary animatics but in essence the critic didnāt like the movie because they claimed it was too optimistic.
The reason why Iām talking about it and giving it the time of day is that I honestly kinda agree but also Iām likeā¦.. things can be optimistic?? Like sorry itās not a dark cynical horror movie???
The review is basically judging a fish on its ability to climb a tree.
However I donāt just want to dismiss it because I think there is value in acknowledging why project hail Maryās optimism can make the movie less interesting to them.
I donāt just want to label the person a party pooper because there is some interest.
Iām gonna put on my pessimistic lens. The obvious parallel is climate change for PHM. And if you view the story purely through that lens, itās going to end up a bit neoliberal? I dunno if neoliberal is the right term here. But like the idea that the solution to climate change is just do science better and get smarter people. Like Iām very critical of kurgazet or however you spell it. Those bird science videos. Obviously Iām more critical of them as their politics are uh not great as they refuse to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza and overall have a status quo view on a lot of political issues.
Anyways. So those videos have a sense of climate optimism that kinda boils down to, donāt worry about it, smart rich people do care and they hold our best interest. Basically they donāt seem to acknowledge that capitalism/colonialism is a root issue to climate change and how exploitation runs hand in hand to it all. So viewing PHM through only a lens of this story is about climate change, then yeah, PHM may be excessively optimistic in it showing that yeah we can totally just trust the technology and world governments to fix the problem. Obviously Iām being intentionally overly general because the story itself acknowledges that humans will probably fight and kill each other in the ensuing conflicts caused by the depletion of resources. So frankly in my eyes, it does acknowledge how social changes need to be implemented along with technological advances to solve climate change.
But also back to criticizing the criticism, the story is also a story about miracles and hope. Itās like why I read gay romance books with happy endings. I like happy endings! So I like this movie! Cause itās happy! And it makes me happy! And Iām not saying you canāt view it in that way but you should acknowledge that YOU didnāt like it because you found its message overly optimistic. Which is FINE. I honestly slightly boarded on that line while enjoying the movie because yeah, the world is kinda shit rn and seeing something so optimistic where everything works out does make me a bit envious but for me it also inspires hope because good things do happen.
Like though I critique kurgaset now, they were instrumental in me fighting against nihilism and climate pessimism. But itās about balance and once I learned more about climate change and climate justice, me personally, I donāt see those cartoon ducks being the sole solution to climate change. Plenty of what they say in their videos are true but a lot of it is biased. Science can be biased and itās important to remember that. Numbers are not impartial and those cartoon ducks present numbers as impartial a bit too much for my taste.
And so while I now rain of their parade, I can acknowledge that kurgazet is still important. Iād prefer if they could be a bit more radical in their teachings but also in the end we want the same thing and I can work with that.
Anyways, so the person who wrote that critique, is well within their rights to not like PHM. I understand why an optimistic message can feel like a water balloon in a forest fire. Climate change feels insurmountable and it seems like the world governments are allergic to working together to solve it in meaningful ways and instead bow to whoever has the most money.
And I like sad stories too! I read a story called olive juice where the author thought about giving it a hopeful ending and tbh I think it does have a hopeful ending but itās still devastatingly sad. But anyways, the story couldāve been a bit happier hopeful but the author chose to have it be a sad ending because it felt more realistic. But that story was also very grounded. It discussed real everyday personal tragedy.
PHM is science fiction. Itās about a larger than we can imagine problem. The only personal issue is the trolley problem aspect of sacrificing three people to save earth. But other than that, the solution is to figure out why this star isnāt going out and then send the solution back to earth.
And you can even say it reflects a solution to climate change we have here. Itās not technology like geoengineering and reaching carbon neutral thatās the sole solution. Like I used to be a teenager who thought I was some science climate knower and I assumed carbon capture would reverse climate change and we just had to put solar panels on everything and make everything electric. I know now that solar panels arenāt perfect, they can take up water and require wide open areas and mining to produce. Anyways, PHM shows that the biosphere has answers. Working with nature and acknowledging that we are not separate from it.
Resilience is something I learned in my climate justice courses. Climate change disasters are here but we should be making sure communities are resilient. Because unfortunately even if the technology did reverse climate change with no repercussions, the repercussions is that we still live in an exploitative society and the distribution of such technologies would not be equitable. Like indigenous communities have their land robbed and poisoned by resource extraction companies.
Anyways, thereās a lot to be critical about in the world. Critical theory is important. But also, sometimes we can do both. And we can acknowledge how we are measuring something. Because that changes the context. If I measure PHM purely on the message it can give us to the world right now, I can say that its message of hope and optimism can be inspiring but also runs the risk of becoming overly optimistic to where the response is one of cynicism.
Like if la la land ended with Mia breaking up with her husband to get back with Sebastian in a final show of dramatic romance, itād feel cheap because the story was about the quiet tragedy of loving someone but not being able to be with them. Like what many people wouldāve considered a good ending with Mia and Sebastian getting back together would cheapen the message of the movie which is that sometimes love doesnt work out like in the movies. Or like, I have a friend who doesnāt want to finish watching heated rivalry right now because theyāve just been through a break up and donāt want to watch romance right now. Like I get it! I wouldnāt want to watch a movie where someone survives cancer when a loved one died of cancer! I donāt want to rewatch one of my favourite anime: Orange, because I lost a friend and that movie is about saving that friend from dying and like, my friend is dead and thereās nothing I can do to bring them back. But that doesnāt retroactively make Orange and Heated Rivalry and the entire romance genre bad just because me personally have been through something that makes the taste sour.
Like if the review was presented in a āeveryone like this movie but its message didnāt speak to meā thatās fine. But itās the bold statement of this movie is universally praised but someoneās gotta rain on this parade and itās going to be us itās tough work but someoneās gotta. Like actually you donāt gotta. You are allowed to not like the movie for frankly interesting and valid reasons, but you donāt need to act like youāre speaking truth to power or some bullshit. Like congratulations you have an opinion. You can balance having an opinion better because your perspective is valuable and should be kept in mind but it should also be present less as fact and more as an observation. Like yes Iām tone policing but like Iām not sorry.
Like I donāt want to give the cop out of ājust let people have funā because that can easily evolve into anti intellectualism. Like yes sometimes the curtains are blue but sometimes the curtains being blue does reflect something important. BOTH CAN BE TRUEEEEE IT IS ABOUT BALANCE.
And you donāt need to put other down when you have an opinion. Like I know Iām really putting this person down sorry but I want to emphasize Iām writing all this bullshit because I do think their perspective is interesting and important. I just hate how since itās the internet obviously itās presented in a provocative way so consider me rage baited whatever fuck you. You couldāve left on comments but I know you turned off comments because you knew it was a controversial opinion and people were probably being nasty in the comments which I disagree with but also you intentionally were being inflammatory whatever. Who cares.
Anyways, I think itās incredibly interesting viewing PHM as being potentially too optimistic. Because I do agree that while hope is so powerful, it only gets you so far. You can sit and hope all you like but hope is an action or whatever that quote I see thrown around (another good example of how excessive optimism can be grating, that hope quote Iām referencing is wise but Iāve seen it so many times Iām annoyed by it now) Hope is like a fighter bleeding but still getting up or something along those lines.
Anyways, PHM can be perceived as an individualistic, technology based solution towards climate change where we just need some hero to rise up and fix the problem for us. Or it can be seen as encouraging us to work with people who we may not understand and to work with nature and to be brave and sacrifice for the greater good. And thatās only through the lens of the movie vis a vis climate change.
You could also view it through the lens of did I enjoy it? And the answer is an overwhelming yes for me. And I donāt want to go āsorry you hate funā to the person but moreso, itās okay that you donāt like a movie everyone seems to love.
I didnāt like the new avengers or whatever that movie was called. The thunderbolts? But my friends liked it and thatās ok. Did I think its message about mental health was super shallow? Yes. But did it mean something important to my friends? Yes.
So Iāve been there. Iāve been the overly cynical one. And I think Iām right cause Iām me and Iām self obsessed. So I understand where that person is coming from. But I enjoyed it, you didnāt. Whatever.
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