In the film The Martian, we see a man faced with impossible odds and who displays an indomitable will to survive. Mark Watney is an astronaut on a scientific mission to Mars. He gets left behind when his crew rapidly evacuates in a dust storm, and wakes up to find himself alone on the red planet. After only a short time in despair, he falls back on his scientific knowledge and begins working out what it will take for him to survive until a rescue mission can retrieve him. Through a combination of ingenuity and sheer determination, he begins growing his own food, exploring the surface of Mars, and eventually rigging up communication with NASA that ultimately results in him returning home.

While the GRF mentioned that we should think about the theme of isolation during the movie, I found that the story was overwhelmingly optimistic and did not delve into Mark’s seclusion as much as I thought it would. Instead, there were constant references to his relationship with his crew, their relationships with their families, and the interactions between people back on Earth. Though Mark was alone on Mars, he had the vast majority of the human race rooting for him back on Earth. This was a powerfully optimistic story about humanity uniting for a common cause. For once, everybody lives. And when Mark returns to Earth, instead of retreating into a comfortable retirement, he works to educate and inspire the next generation of astronauts. As someone who nearly died millions of miles from home, it would be reasonable for him to dissuade people from traveling into space. But he sees the intrinsic value in exploring the stars and building the space program, so he doesn’t give up. And neither does humanity.