Transcendence
MILD SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES AND MOVIES I HAVE MENTIONED BELOW. SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
“Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space” ~ Amelia Brand(Interstellar)
Does love really overcome the obstacles of Time and Space? I had this thought dangling over me when I completed “Dark” (2017-2020). It is a series that travels through times,worlds exploring concepts like Quantum entanglement, Einstein Rosen Bridge and many more theoretical physics’ stuff. It revolves around the story of how two people manipulate time, space and other people’s lives so that they can keep their loved one (yes singular, all for a single person) alive. This livid tale span around almost 30 episodes to give us two thoughts , one of it being “ Loss of a loved one will make people do over the top things especially if you are a scientist who specialises in theoretical physics” and the other one being “Love does transcend time and space”. But this is not the first TV show or movie to use love as a central theme or aiding theme in a science fiction genre.
Lets take the movie of the quote I mentioned at the start “Interstellar” (2014). A movie set in dystopian future where Earth ran out of resources and looking for other planets to inhabit. The protagonist, Cooper tasked with that mission. As story unravels, Cooper encounters several twists and turns. Finally in a Hail Mary move, he jettison himself from the spacecraft saving his fellow passenger, Amelia Brand,his love interest.The spacecraft safely landed on a nowhere planet, As everything turned out well, Cooper returns to a space habitat inhabited by humans who followed a set of data sent by Cooper during his mission. He meets her daughter who have aged well enough to have a family of her own while he was of the same age when he left for the mission. The part which interests me is when the father and the daughter met, the daughter urged Cooper to go after Amelia. Do we really need this? A movie revolving around fifth dimension, blackhole, wormhole, time dilation, etc to end on a note where the lead goes after his love interest.
Once again let us travel back in time,a decade early to Interstellar -2004 “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind”. This piece of work had a machine and process that could clinically delete/erase a person’s memories. Yes, you read that right, erasable people memories. But they used this gold of an idea to erase a couple’s memories of them being in relationship. The story is spun around how they get back to each other even when their memories of each other been erased. This movie could have been about a massive conspiracy that a government uses this method to make their people believe that there was never a world war. Hell ! It could have been made into a spy thriller. No ! They had to use that to erase two people’s memories in a dysfunctional relationship. I mean, is love really that much important to keep a person sane and happy? And so quintessential it has to be a part of almost every movie even science fiction? Isn’t love just an elaborate way of convincing the other one for procreation. I know, I sound a lot like Schopenhauer but there is a reason behind my cynicism.
Entering the 90′s, the year 1997, “Good Will Hunting”. Will Hunting, a self taught genius who could solve Mathematics problems of postgraduate level while working as a janitor in one of the most reputed institutes in the world. Will is a trouble maker and on the other hand he could also defend himself in a courtroom for the chaos he caused. A math professor takes Will under his wing, grooms him, sets up interviews for him with several companies and corporations. He could have been the next best thing since Einstein and he also got a job offer from NSA. Instead Will turns down everything and goes after a girl in California. REAALLLLYY??!!
Now to next one, should I talk about a certain another Mathematical Genius who had A Beautiful Mind and how he overcame his mental crisis? Or should I talk about a Linguistic Expert who went through a whole sort of trouble, so that she could lead a normal family life (Arrival)? Or should I even start about Back to the Future? You got my point, I could go on to quote many other works.
Why is there a recurring theme of love surrounding the works which are majorly based on science? Does the writers/creators think people are so dimwit that we need these love themes so that we would pay attention to other complex issues? Or is it a clever strategy of the writers to draw a much wider audience if it had a central theme of love in contrast to a sci-fi audience? No ! the writers add this theme to sci-fi movies as a reminder that we should have to keep touch with our human self which is surrounded by all this advancements of human race. Why love? because it is the humane thing we do and to quote Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother,
“ Love is the best thing we do” .
This is why the writers tend to add love as an end to the works involving humans with superhuman abilities, who surpass thresholds, who harness time and space. Love and Will are the two things that makes us unique of other creatures. Our knowledge and advancements in technology and society are driven by the will to live at our leisure, This will may overshadow Love one day and in turn we may become less humane. So these works not just blow our minds with science but also state that we have to be human. Sorry, I had to end this on abrupt note because I have to go see about a girl. Yes! you caught me I just wanted to quote Will from Good Will Hunting, but seriously I have to go see about a girl.