Hi there! For my first post in this blog, i’ll be talking about a movie which recently ended its run a few months ago, Gravity! For those of you who have seen it, I hope that you can still sort of remember it. If not, there’s always the helpful short synopsis of the film.
Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone – tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Yep! Despite the scary-sounding description, it’s a really well-executed movie where the narrative maintains the horror of space throughout the movie. Sandra bullock does a marvellous job (given that she takes up a majority of the film roll). For a movie to base it’s entire basis in ‘literally nothing’, there’s plenty of drama and tension throughout the movie. But for obvious reasons, I won’t be going into a full-fledged review (through i would love to).
Instead, I would like to look into a constant theme that the movie has repeatedly hammered home – Fear.
Fear is the thing that freaks out our protagonist and causes her to panic constantly throughout the film. Unsurprisingly, the film constantly emphasises on the incredibly surreal feeling of being in an alien place with its own beauty in it (i swear that the film really does a marvellous job in its special effects) but with all that dramatic flair/music to remind you that yes, the human body can be so fragile where a small piece of debris can kill you.
Now, it may seem like a bit of a stretch, but the idea that death is so close and how we normally react to it has some buddhist connection. As buddhism constantly reminds us, death is bound to come for us, so why is there the need to cling on desperately and react in distress when we come into such close proximity with it?
Because of our lack of preparedness. Of course, it’s very easy to say ‘i’ll be aware of it – to be prepared for it’. But why worry about something that appears to be so far away, especially since our sun is rising? (Most of us youngsters experience this feeling, me included). It’s really easy to lose track of that particular goal when you have little to keep you motivated on the path.
That brings me back to the movie which i was talking about. As i previously mentioned, the movie constantly strives to make us invested in the fate of our protagonist, as well as the fear involved. On a larger scale, we watch many different types of media where lives are at stake – Captain Philips and Hunger games come to mind. Why is there a difference in the way we perceive things, in the way where we do not mind when fear affects us?
The Buddha’s teachings are important in realizing that we are flawed in differentiating emotions as they affect us in different ways. As part of the 6 senses which arise and fall, they are all non-lasting in the way that they affect us. Whether it be fear, happiness or being satisfied in anything, these emotions can cloud our emotions and drive us to do things which we never expect ourselves to commit. This brings into mind the Gandhabhaka (Bhadraka) Sutta where the Buddha talks to Gandhabhaka the headman about the origin of stress. In the sutta discussion, it is revealed that most of Gandhabhaka’s stress came from his emotional attachment to many of his worldly concerns.
In wrapping up this week’s short review, I would like to highlight that many of these emotions are not necessarily bad. It is ultimately important to do what the Buddha has always consulted us to do – follow the middle lane instead of extremes. Looking at things from their context would help to make us much happier in a much more sustainable ways. May we all find our way in life and not ‘drift’ through it!
Next week, we’ll be taking a look at some of the more recent stuff going on.
- Wei Xing
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