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English Digital ExhibitMain MenuIntroductionTimelineA timeline of the ecohorror genreInterstellarOryx and Crake: Climate Change Eco-Horror in Dystopian FictionA drawing of the Crakers, the man-made super race created by Crake, dancing in the face of humanity's destruction at the hands of a violent plague.Dark Souls: An OverviewA glance over the themes, ideas and potential complexities of Dark Souls as we analyze it through an climate change lens.The Last of UsAn overview of the ecohorror themes of The Last of Us video games series (2013-now) and The Last of Us show (2023-now)The Day After TomorrowWorks CitedAman Patel30884edd78485645a46f9eb7f9c58f4bfe40c24aMadeeha Anjum3941ce045f3abf24e95b4a97a9b5bcb04ec0027eDavid Calderon06cbd73250ddf44a8721d11344ce2628ad5e4116Vincent Michael Griffo4f13320fd67b16f793d62e643199f6961d7e7ebd
Interstellar (2014) is focused on Cooper, a former NASA engineer who has been forced into living on a farm with his family. This takes place in the near future, and Earth is dying and low on natural resources, placing humanity on the brink of extinction. Cooper ends up selected to fly a mission through a wormhole to survey three planets that have been identified as potential habitats for humanity to escape to. The first planetary visit they make ends in a disaster, as giant tsunami waves created by the nearby black hole cost the crew twenty-three years due to time dilation and kill one crew member.
On the second planet, Dr. Mann, who had scouted the planet and indicated that it was inhabitable, had lied to survive. He tries to escape but gets himself killed in the process. Cooper ends up ejecting himself and robot TARS into the black hole they had been orbiting to save the last remaining scientist, Dr. Brand. Upon entering the black hole, Cooper finds himself in a tesseract that allows TARS to send the quantum data needed to propel humanity to safety in the NASA space station. In the end, Cooper awakens in the space station, and humanity is saved.
Inspiration
For director Christopher Nolan, the inspiration for Interstellar comes from several different sources. According to Carys Hertz, Nolan said, “The single biggest influence was 2001 [2001: A Space Odyssey] (Hertz).” Watching sci-fi films like this as a kid propped up Nolan’s dream to one day create something similar, perhaps of higher caliber. Watch 0:33-1:03 from Nolan's interview with CBS Mornings: This shows the multi-faceted purpose of the film, as Nolan is trying to reveal something about human nature while entrancing the audience on a journey through the depths of space. Even though climate change is not explicitly mentioned in his quote, it makes a subtle presence in the phrase “mankind possibly having to leave the Earth one day.” This section explores how the themes relating to human nature and climate change in Interstellar all connect to form a powerful ecohorror film.
1media/CooperInTheBlackHole_thumb.jpg2023-03-15T08:15:17-07:00Cooper in the Black Hole1Cooper is in the black hole, with the tesseract in the background. Source: https://basicallyseanmonty.wordpress.com/2019/08/27/interstellar-what-happened-to-cooper/media/CooperInTheBlackHole.jpgplain2023-03-15T08:15:17-07:00
