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Amadeo Gonzalez
20 Feb 2015
Interstellar vs Reality
Space has caught the interest and curiosity of the human species because of its vast
uncertainty and its great unknown variables. Ancient civilizations have studied the stars and the
night sky. These civilizations observations were limited by the biological instruments they were
born with. They only had their eyes to look up into the night therefore they only had a brief view
of our solar system yet alone the universe, but now in the twenty first century humans have been
to space and our understanding of the universe has increased, our visual and sensorial technology
has improved. Telescopes allow us to see millions of miles into space and our sensor allows
scientist to detect and measure different materials in the universe. We even have an idea of what
other planet close and far from earth are made of. There is also currently a man-made object in
the planet Mars that is being remotely controlled from planet Earth, but yet we are still limited by
our understanding of the universe and our technological capabilities. Hollywood has also found
interest in space and its mystery, like the movie Interstellar. This movie explores the wonders
and uncertainty of space, and with the help of special effect they made it look all too realistic.
This movie has beautiful visuals and complex science, but how accurate is the representation of
space and space exploration in Interstellar. Will we someday have to find a new world to inhabit
that is millions of miles out of our solar system because the world we live in may someday
become uninhabitable? Are conditions in space accurately portrayed in Interstellar, and will
space travel ever be available to the general public. Will movies like Interstellar bring to light
what might happen to this world if we do not start taking more responsibility over the world we

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share with every living organism? The media does little to inform the general population of the
possibilities of a global shortage of food, water, and environmental resources.
Interstellar has won 17 awards and was nominated for 75 according to IMDB. Among
these 17 awards are AFI Awards, USA 2015 movie of the year and Heartland Film 2014 Truly
Moving Picture Award. This shows that Interstellar is not just grabbed the attention of the
general population but also from respected critics and Hollywood film professionals. These
awards do not just give credit to the movies quality but also to its impact ability. Interstellar stars
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper a former NASA pilot, John Lithgow as Donald; Coopers
father in law, Michael Caine as Professor Brand a NASA scientist tasted with finding a way to
transport mankind out of planet earth, and into another world, Mackenzie Foy as ten year old
Murphy and Ellen Burstyn as elderly Murphy which is Coopers daughter, and Anne Hathaway
as Amelia Brand a NASA pilot, biologist, and Professor Brands daughter.
Interstellar take place in future earth were the worlds agriculture is hanging by a thread because
most of the world crops have been infected with a terminal virus making them unprocurable.
With crops being scares; the worlds suffers a severe economic decline because the workforce has
shifted from corporate and industrial job to an agricultural workforce that is trying to grow crops
to feed the world. Although in todays world some people from every country go to sleep hunger
due to a lack of resources that would allow them to acquire food, but our world and its thieving
countries do not suffer from a lack of food. There is enough food on this world to feed every
mouth on it, but too much food goes to waste instead of going to a family or an individual in
need of it. Cooper is one of these farmers; he owns a farm with his father in law Donald, his son,
and his daughter Murphy. They struggle year round with lack of rain fall and their dying harvest.
In a cover story The Art Of Science by Time Magazines, Jeffrey Kluger give an explanation of

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why the characters describing the unfertile lands in Interstellar sound so convincing and genuine
as he states if it sounds eerily like those actors know exactly what they're talking about, it's
because they doand most of them aren't actors. They're survivors of the real 1930s Dust Bowl
who were originally interviewed by Ken Burns for his 2012 documentary on those plague years.
The shortage of crop in Interstellar has happened on our earth, but the movie does not actuality
portray all the panic and suffering that actually took place. This movie does not portray people
starving like what happened in the 1930s. Although a Dust Bowl is not currently happening in
California there is a drought currently taking place that goes unnoticed because water still comes
out of our faucets. However this drought will affect our crops and the monetary price we pay for
them. Murphy begins to notice a supernatural phenomenon that is taking place inside her home
which she believes is the work of a ghost. Murphy tries to convince her family of this ghost, but
no one take her serious until a dust storm hits the town. Murphy had forgotten to close her
window which led to a huge mess, but also a binary message written with gravitational waves
that convinces Cooper that there is something supernatural going on. This binary massage was in
the form of thin and thick lines of sand that was formed by an increased level of gravity where
the lines formed therefore causing sand to consolidate more on those areas. The binary message
was a set of coordinates which Cooper decided to follow alone, but Murphy snuck into the truck
and convinces her father to let her tag along. The set of coordinates lead to the top secret location
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters. Upon arrival
Cooper and Murphy get detained and separated which causes Cooper to demand his daughter
back. Not knowing where he ended up Cooper believes his life and the life of his daughter are in
danger. Professor Brand, Amelia, and a group of other scientist calmly explain to Cooper that he
is in the last NASA facility on earth, and that the supernatural phenomenon Murphy has been

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experiencing was not a ghost but rather an unidentified intelligence sending mankind help. As
food became scares the government cut various funds one of them being funding for NASA.
Although there are still NASA mission and NASA funding taking place in our current world
there are however talks of cutting NASA funding in order to reallocate that funding to more
pressing matters like schools and education. The reasoning behind this cut is to use the funds
provided by tax payers that are going NASA and use them on planet Earth and not on studying
other planets or solar system. The benefits of studying other planets are that they help us better
understand our planet. Understanding why other planets are not habitable can help us better
identify key factors that will lead planet Earth on a path of becoming uninhabitable. Some of
these factors are greenhouse gasses that get released by just about every piece of machinery we
use as well as some beauty and cleaning products. Deforestation is another factor that is not
helping our planets sustainability. Professor Brand believes this intelligence has sent Cooper, so
he could be part of NASAs mission to find another habitable world for mankind to live in.
Professor Brand and the group of scientist reveal to Cooper that there is a wormhole created by
unknown intelligent being (Aliens) that leads to other possibly inhabitable worlds. With planet
earths crops on a decline Cooper and the NASA scientist are in fear that earth only has a few
decades of life sustainability left. The keystone figure that kept most of Interstellar scientifically
accurate was Kip Thorne, the celebrated theoretical physicist from Caltech who literally wrote
the booknumerous books, actuallyon much of the cosmology referenced in the movie
(Kluger).