Maybe Aliens Will Save Us

That would be cool

Dear Friend,

My unofficial movie club recently used our AMC A-list passes to watch Project Hail Mary, which is in theaters now. The movie tells the story of —

SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU CARE ABOUT SPOILERS, STOP READING NOW.

— an Earth on the brink of ecological disaster. After world’s nations unite to launch a ship (the “Hail Mary”) into space to search for a solution, the sole surviving scientist aboard wakes from an induced coma not quite sure how he’s going to accomplish that goal. But then, another ship stops by, piloted by an alien who is also searching for a solution to his own world’s crisis.

AMC theaters, by the way, have a new tagline they play before the movies start, “Your escape starts now,” reminding us that what movies offer is an escape from the world outside.

It reminds me of an observation I heard someone make (too long ago to remember who or where) that our chosen entertainment often offers an counterpoint to the real world. The example centered around fictional political figures, President Bartlet and Frank Underwood.

Bartlet presided over The West Wing, which debuted in 1999 in the wake of the Clinton scandal and continuing through the Bush years until 2006. During that time, viewers unhappy with our real-world administration could tune in for a weekly therapeutic dose of a thoughtful, morally aware president who surrounded himself with a staff that chose principle over self-interest.

Alternatively, according to this analysis, after Obama’s first term, in 2013, many could enjoy the fantasy of House of Cards and its presidential aspirant, Frank Underwood—an amoral sociopath with an insatiable hunger for power—in the same way, we could delight in The Terminator back when an A.I. takeover seemed like science fiction instead of next Tuesday,

Right now, I don’t think I’m alone in having a decreased appetite for apocalypse in my cinematic worlds, given my anxieties for our own, real world. Which makes it perfect timing for Project Hail Mary.

The prognosis fictional Earth faces in Project Hail Mary — droughts, floods, climate refugees, wars over dwindling food producing lands — is eerily similar to the predictions of climate scientists here on our real Earth.

But the Project Hail Mary earth can offer us some fictional comforts.

1. The existential threat (an :astrophage” that is consuming our sun) is entirely external. So the world’s nations can set aside endless arguments about whose fault it is, and pull together and in service to science, which they do.

2. The lens doesn’t show the situation devolving into a late-stage capitalist free-for-all, with wealthy opportunists extracting profit from everyone else’s idealism before retreating to their fortified bunkers when things go sideways.

3. The arrival of an extremely helpful alien who helps turn the tide.

The last falls into my own personal wish-fulfilment sweet spot. In the way that some Christians are just waiting to get raptured, I’m waiting for some aliens to come help us be better, a la Arrival, or The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Today, the more optimistic elements of Project Hail Mary seem out of reach:

1. People are clearly unable to work together to change our reality, given we can’t even converge on a shared perception of what our reality is.

2. The 1%, like the scorpion riding frog’s back, is fundamentally incapable of self sacrifice for humanity-saving efforts that will benefit all.

From a character standpoint, the most believable scenario for hitting the brakes on the downhill slalom to our demise is

3. The one that involves a benevolent extraterrestrial.

The escape starts when the movie starts. But after it ends, and I’m walking home, I keep wishing we could become our own extraterrestrials—and show up and save each other. It’s hard to imagine how that might work.

Which is why I also keep waiting for aliens.

Klaatu barada nikto,

Barrington