So I am hereby officially retiring from the Interstellar discussion. See you on the other blogs !
By the way, are you off on a viable planet search yourself ? Write back when communications are up :)

-Jane

Sounds like Nolan has given away more scoop on this movie than they did on any of their previous films.

-Jane

Taylor

-Jane

Hey there Jane,
Great response as always…

Still, I do have a major gripe with this theory – it makes the movie all about Cooper and his daughter. And we have been told, more than once, that this is all about “saving the world”. Do we at least not deserve to know whether the Earthlings survived or not ? After all that drama and hype, how could the movie end with a hallucination of one of the astronauts?

The movie IS all about Coop and his daughter. Nolan doesn’t know how to write any other movie. Notice how in most of Nolan’s movies, the mother dies, or is dead, or is awol throughout? Prestige, Memento, Inception, Interstellar… that is what Nolan writes. It’s what resounds for him. So yeah, you don’t care about the relationship, you want to know more about the saving of the world, but that isn’t what the movie is all about. I’m not saying you are wrong, or Nolan is right. I’m just saying that from his perspective, it is what the entire movie pivots on. I’ll try and comment on each of your points below:

I can actually list out a whole lot of things I didn’t like about Interstellar.
1. We are not told whether the earth saving mission was a success or not. (You, I and many others suspect those last scenes were dreamed by a living man or his ghost or soul or what-do-you-call-it)[/blockquote]

If Coop dies… I actually thing the world dies with him. Just saying. Unless! You believe in ghosts and you think that he was really able to communicate with his daughter. Which doesn’t seem to logically follow, because then the rest of the interactions with his old daughter just get strange.

[blockquote]2. The episode with the traitor Dr. Mann was just silly. He’s trapped on a planet on a faraway galaxy, alone, for God knows how long. Once rescued by Cooper and team, he plans to kill off the only other human beings he’s seen in eons, then fly off in a spacecraft he does not even know how to dock, in order to get back to an Earth that is definitely on the verge of destruction ? Is the guy sadistic and masochistic as well as stupid ?[/blockquote]
This much is true. Definitely silly. Except that man-kind has no end of evil when it comes to selfishness. When it comes to death, most people are not altruistically motivated.

[blockquote]3. The daughter Brand wants to visit a viable planet just because her lover is on it. That’s really dumb – considering these people are on a mission to save the world. Cooper just wants to get back to his daughter and Ms. Brand just wants to see her boyfriend. Is anyone interested in the saving the people back on planet Earth?[/blockquote]
See my previous answer. People, at their root, are selfish. It’s dumb that astronauts hoping to save the planet would let that interfere. True. And you would hope that it wouldn’t collide with the mission. But when two things are equal, WHY NOT GO TO MY PLANET!! hahah. But yeah. I agree. Very selfish. But a more interesting depiction of conflict and matters of the heart.

[blockquote]4. The father Dr. Brand sends his daughter on a space mission which he knows she will probably not survive. He never warns her, never regrets having deceived her that way. Is Cooper the only caring dad ever?[/blockquote]
And Cooper abandoned his daughter, and left her! He selfishly chose his hero complex over his need to care for his daughter. I really think that is the beauty of the movie, no one is perfect here. But yeah, from my perspective, Brand actually sabotages everything. Causes all of the mission to fail. And implodes everything out of selfishness, including killing his daughter.

[blockquote]5. The fifth-dimension beings want to send a message to the humans to help them survive the disaster. So they choose a ten-year old child to receive those messages, in the hope that she will grow up to be a top notch astrophysicist, and come back to decipher the coded formula ? I’d expect these super evolved beings to be way smarter than that.[/blockquote]
No no no … the fifth dimension individuals are supposedly humans. And humans have found a way to step back in time and intervene. They are also the same beings that brought the wormhole to earth too. And it is the 5th dimension humans who choose Cooper. Cooper then chooses his daughter. But maybe from your perspective I see what you are saying. They chose her through choosing him. Maybe these prescient entities were able to see that she got close on her own under Brant’s tutelage but not quite. And it was cooper’s data that was necessary to push her over the edge towards success. So in choosing Cooper they helped her succeed. I don’t buy any of it anyway, because Cooper and Murph never actually ever communicate again. She dies pissed her father failed her and didn’t return. The earth dies. And we receive the punishment we deserve for burning out the planet! hahaha.

[blockquote]6. Dr. Mann tells Cooper-and-Co. that a certain area of his planet has breathable air, while the other places have toxic ammonia content. I am no scientist and even I wouldn’t buy that. The density of air can vary with altitude and other factors but composition of air is more or less constant (all the more so on a planet with no man-made disturbances). How can a bunch of astronauts fall for such a thin story ? Why don’t they suspect Dr. Mann right away?[/blockquote]
I’m a web developer. What do I know!? I’ll trust you on that point. The only reason I can think of is that they all had different specialties? This wasn’t Cooper’s speciality? No idea. Good questions though!

I guess I need to hurry up with my movie review! hahaha. You’ve given me even more to think about and philosophically construct around though! So you are slowing me down with all your great logic and questions! STopit! hahaha.

Until next time.
taylor

Yes I also like that interpretation that says the post-black-hole episode is all a dream/hallucination. Especially because Cooper sees his daughter having lived the perfect life – she has saved the world and become Superwoman, she has lived to a ripe old age, she is surrounded by a loving family at the time of her death… That’s what every parent wants to see, right ? So the dad Cooper would be certainly likely to dream up something like that, oh yes. Not to mention, a Nolan movie feels sort of incomplete without some kind of dream or hallucination. Also, this version is the most sensible explanation for what happened in and after the black hole incident (Who can really survive after entering a black hole – seriously).

Still, I do have a major gripe with this theory – it makes the movie all about Cooper and his daughter. And we have been told, more than once, that this is all about “saving the world”. Do we at least not deserve to know whether the Earthlings survived or not ? After all that drama and hype, how could the movie end with a hallucination of one of the astronauts?

I can actually list out a whole lot of things I didn’t like about Interstellar.
1. We are not told whether the earth saving mission was a success or not. (You, I and many others suspect those last scenes were dreamed by a living man or his ghost or soul or what-do-you-call-it)
2. The episode with the traitor Dr. Mann was just silly. He’s trapped on a planet on a faraway galaxy, alone, for God knows how long. Once rescued by Cooper and team, he plans to kill off the only other human beings he’s seen in eons, then fly off in a spacecraft he does not even know how to dock, in order to get back to an Earth that is definitely on the verge of destruction ? Is the guy sadistic and masochistic as well as stupid ?
3. The daughter Brand wants to visit a viable planet just because her lover is on it. That’s really dumb – considering these people are on a mission to save the world. Cooper just wants to get back to his daughter and Ms. Brand just wants to see her boyfriend. Is anyone interested in the saving the people back on planet Earth ?
4. The father Dr. Brand sends his daughter on a space mission which he knows she will probably not survive. He never warns her, never regrets having deceived her that way. Is Cooper the only caring dad ever ?
5. The fifth-dimension beings want to send a message to the humans to help them survive the disaster. So they choose a ten-year old child to receive those messages, in the hope that she will grow up to be a top notch astrophysicist, and come back to decipher the coded formula ? I’d expect these super evolved beings to be way smarter than that.
6. Dr. Mann tells Cooper-and-Co. that a certain area of his planet has breathable air, while the other places have toxic ammonia content. I am no scientist and even I wouldn’t buy that. The density of air can vary with altitude and other factors but composition of air is more or less constant (all the more so on a planet with no man-made disturbances). How can a bunch of astronauts fall for such a thin story ? Why don’t they suspect Dr. Mann right away ?

There are many more and I will raise them through this discussion. Maybe you can explain or invent some plausible answers.

-Jane

First, a comment on your theory of what Interstellar was going to be like. I LOVED your idea. Its even better than what actually happened. By a long shot. The Jane Theory (as it is now officially dubbed) is strikingly similar to Upstream Color. The infected people are manipulated. That brings it back to the realm of the psychological – which is Nolan’s normal playground. Love it. It then solves many of the problems with the last third of the movie. They don’t have to travel to get back at all! Brilliant. Love it.

Totally agree with you about the 4 different movies and directors here. I personally think there are two pieces to this movie. The first two thirds. And then the final third. I am in mid-flow of writing a fairly long piece talking about Interstellar, and wasn’t going to give away the key kernel of it, but you’ll be one of like 4 people that might read this comment. And I’m sure you will come find my interstellar post regardless of when I get around to posting it. So why not?

Remember when Matthew (can’t remember the character’s name, and can’t be bothered to go look) gets ejected out into space? And that was when all the craziness started happening, right? The book shelves, the fifth dimension, the morse code weirdness? Right. Well, my current theory is that he actually dies then. Poof. Dead. And all the rest are just the ramblings of a dead person trying to let go of an unexplainable life. Sort of like Jacob’s Ladder. But then things start to become clear. The 5th dimension stuff just goes away. And its a ghost that is communicating with his daughter and telling her truths that help close the loop of a betrayal that hurt her so badly. Etc etc.

What smacks of truth here for me is that Nolan has a history of lying outright to his audiences. Of making them work to come to grips with his work. He has done it time and time again. And this, for me is the only way to figure out the multiple directors and different genres problem that you so eloquently pointed out. I don’t know. Your thoughts? Should I firm up my theory some before I go to press with it?!? hahah.

Taylor