Grace being aroace, and Project Hail Mary's focus on platonic relationships, is so important to me, for so many reasons.
It's like. Project Hail Mary is a big, popular movie. It has fucking Ryan Gosling in it. And there's not a hint of a romance plotline anywhere! It's all entirely focused on platonic relationships. The friendship between Grace and Rocky is the focus of the movie, and it's so important to the story. They both found someone to be brave for, someone they were willing to die for. Without their friendship and collaboration, neither of them would have been able to save their home planets. Their bond is so close and special and above all their best friends, and it's beautiful.
There's also Grace's relationship with Stratt. Stratt is the main female supporting character. In any other story -- any other story -- I can almost guarantee she would've been the love interest. But she isn't and it's fucking wonderful. Just. Just think about it for a moment. Project Hail Mary is this big blockbuster movie -- and it looked at Eva Stratt and said, we're not going to make her the love interest, because she wasn't in the book and she doesn't need to be. Their dynamic is just as fucked up and wonderful and traumatic when they're friends. That's such an amazing thing to see in such a mainstream movie.
And, of course, it means so much to me that Grace is aroace and that the film (and the book) continuously point this out. He leaves the party when he sees people getting together. He's only had one girlfriend. Half the time he's wearing the colors of the aroace flag. (In the book, he's incredibly confused when people think he and Stratt are sleeping together).
Stratt uses his lack of romantic relationships as a justification for sending him to die, which is heartbreaking, and it felt so real. Because society is constantly telling aroace people that we're worth less because we won't date or get married or have sex, because we don't fit into societal norms. What Stratt said to Grace -- that's something the world is constantly telling us.
And then the movie flips that on its head. It says that it doesn't matter that Grace never had any of that, because he loved living and he loved his students and he was so full of love for everything around him. And he met his best friend in space and their friendship was what made them able to save their homes and each other.
It's just. In a world where there's hardly any aroace representation, having this much of it means so much to me.
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