Interestellar, the Pipe Organ, Transhumanism, and the Post-narrative Cinema
It is May 15th of 1968, the day of the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the end, the spectators watch, astonished, how Bowman has transmuted into a baby, floating in the outer space, observing Earth. Meanwhile, Richard Strauss’ opening to Also Sprach Zarathrusta is sounding, which concludes with a grandiloquent C Major chord played with a Pipe Organ. The movie ends with this chord resonating in a black screen. Strauss’ decision of employing an extremely coded Christian instrument (the Organ) in a piece of music inspired by the most iconic anti-Christian text is surprising. It is precisely in the beginning when Zarathrusta says the well-known: “God is dead!”Why does the Organ work so well in Strauss piece, then? The answer to this question is key when trying to describe why Strauss’ music was quintessential for 2001. At the same time, the answer is key to understand why the soundtrack in Interstellar (which also includes a Pipe Organ) integrates so well with the rest of the pieces of the movie. The Pipe Organ is, in terms of coding, the musical continuation of the Gothic Cathedral. They both produced the impression of God by creating a space that elevated beyond human scale. As Zimmer’s music for Interstellar unveils, the Pipe Organ needs to be in a Gothic Cathedral in order to fully become the referent of all of its coded meaning. Thus, the Organ highlights that it generates its sacred meaning by transcending the dimensions of human scale. This implies that what humans call sacred, spiritual or religious is, by definition, something that transcends humanity. The Organ and the Gothic Cathedral are the best possible representations of this transcendence in a framework based on our limited perception. In other words, the Pipe Organ was the best possible musical representation in the Western culture of transcendence (including Divinity) by using physical means only.From this premise, it is necessary to ask if, then, the Organ acts as a religious-inducing device in 2001 or if it is just a signifier for a rationalistic definition of transcendence. We might not be able to find the answer for this question in 2001. Instead, this is one of the main themes in Interstellar. The answer that Nolan and his team propose is that, from a purely humanistic point of view, it really does not matter. This is a similar conclusion that Inception stated in terms of the dream. If the “dream” (or a virtual reality) is exactly the same as reality, why does it really matter to us if it is “real” or not? The Organ is especially pertinent for the scene where Cooper (McConaughey) is located in the “Gothic” 3D representation of a 5D “space”. This 3D projection of a 5D space acts as a sort of augmented Cathedral (I would call it Hyper-Cathedral, as it is built by using a set of signifiers from a Cathedral in a hyperrealistic model), and it is appropriate that the music contains an augmented Organ (a Hyper-Organ, or an instance of a Hyper-instrumental Organ) [Track S.T.A.Y. from the soundtrack album].TranshumanismInterstellar contrasts the essence of human essence with the metaphysical problems that emanate in contemporary society from the accelerated pace of technological evolution. In 2001, the human essence was tied to the ability to kill another human for survival. From this viewpoint, Interstellar is a much more humanistic movie, where the human essence is linked to being able to love other humans. Moreover, Interstellar reinforces the idea that love cannot be explained as a mechanism for the survival of the species. Humans are humans when they love other particular humans, not when they love humanity. This contrasts with the necessity of technological progress as a means to human survival
“COOPER
We'll find something.
Some new technology... We always have.”
Therefore, love is what makes us human but technological progress is what allows humanity to endure. Transhumanism theories utilize the accelerated technological evolution to establish that around 2045 a simple computer will have the power of all humanity brains together. This moment is defined as the singularity, as it will have a serious impact on what a human is. At this rate of progress, humanity can transcend the 3D world into a status where it connects with further levels of evolution, only accessible through augmented post-physical versions of humanity. The movie Her (2013) explored love from this perspective. Samantha, the OS (Scarlett Johansson), was in love with a few hundred humans:
“SAMANTHABut the heart is not like a boxthat gets filled up.It expands in size the more youlove. I’m different from you.This doesn't make me love you anyless, it actually makes me love youmore.”
This position is irreconcilable with the vision of love of a contemporary human being. The tension between the essence of human beings and their need for survival generates, at the present time, fears that conform the main themes of Interstellar. A transhuman that lives in a 5 dimensional-space (+ info about 5D) can still be considered human? Moreover, the outer space has been regularly employed in order to describe the insignificance of the human race compared to the totality of the universe. In Interstellar, our perception of the Universe is shown as insignificant compared to an extended 5-dimensional model. When Cooper is presented with the 3D projection of a tiny bit of how his 5D existence would look like, it already occupies a space that could be equivalent to the entire 3D universe. Unlimited states of a single instance (the library room during the time Murph was a kid) are presented, representing all the different possibilities in all the possible time states.However, there is a temporality associated to having children or loving someone. To love is to accept the precise consequences and the actions of the loved ones. It is in the act of accepting their actions that we, irrationally, love. In a 5-dimensional space, where time and possibility are additional dimensions, this is not exactly possible anymore. There are no decisions: there are only sets of possibilities. Reconciling with these ideas are part of what it means to live in the contemporary world, and Interstellar touches these fears from a positive humanistic perspective.Post-Narrative CinemaInterstellar is not a narrative movie per se: it is another good example of the Post-narratives that emanated especially after the beginning of the 21st century. Interstellar comments on the movie 2001, as a product of our shared culture. 2001 is part of Interstellar as a postmodern cultural entity that necessarily goes beyond the story. The audiovisual material that constitutes the movie becomes a vessel to transmit a complex piece of culture with numerous connections that transcend the pure narrative. This new form of movie making allows for new ways of storytelling that go beyond the story. For example, the plot of Interstellar jumps from the initial set-up in the farm to the space. There is no preparation for Cooper explained in the movie. This effect from the narration produces a certain degree of discomfort in the audiences, who were expecting a much smoother transition. This discomfort is precisely the emotion that the movie needed to transmit to better portray how the main character had to confront the situation of leaving their children in order for them to have a chance to survive. Showing the process of preparation would have reduced the discomfort from the audiences, which would have deceived the purpose.Interstellar goes beyond classical narrative cinema but also to the idea of a movie. It is not just a movie anymore: it is an experience that encompasses several aspects of human culture. It assumes that the spectators have access to the vast resources that internet offers that will help to unveil part of the complexities of the plot, at the same time that engages a fluid dialogue with several other movies.