I saw The Martian this weekend, expecting that it would be entertaining because people have been saying so, and I wasn’t disappointed.
But the reason that Martian blew me to pieces was not the perfect writing, perfect, performances, perfect direction, and stunning production design – though I vouch for all these.
The reason I love the Martian is because it’s the only movie I’ve seen in forever that has no bad guys.
There’s one Nasa dude that kind of makes bad decisions, but then he does the right thing and his motivations are always good. Even the “obstacle guy” ends up helping. Everyone in this movie is on the same page and works towards a common purpose.
The Martian is a mega super inspiring celebration of human intelligence, science, creativity, persistence, and the inherent desire to preserve our life and others’. It’s a celebration of all that is human.
But even more than all those qualities, it’s a celebration of human caring.
For two and a half entertaining hours that fly by, you get to watch a whole group of humans caring about somebody. That’s the entire plot. And this group keeps getting bigger: first a crew, then all of Nasa, then the whole country, then other countries. The whole planet is behind this guy, and not one single character is there to sprinkle in evil-dust for the sake of entertainment.
Wow.
Now that I know this can be done, all of the movies I write here on will be some version of the Martian.
Imagine it Hollywood. Imagine that here on, we only create entertaining movies that share one purpose: to remind human beings of how good and caring and smart and powerful we really are. And that’s it. No need for seduction, for exploiting and degrading women’s bodies, no hook-nosed character (who “happens to look Semitic”) and is a total sell-out, no need to blame and point a finger at someone who’s clearly the source of all that is evil. The movie is entertaining without any of that.
What would our mentality be like; what would our thought patterns and therefore our actions be like; what would our societies look like around the world, if art served that one purpose: to remind us that the goodness of humanity is what’s real.
Now that I’ve seen the Martian, I know it’s possible to make an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, super-moving, exciting, wittingly funny movie where every single character is worthy of the entire planet getting behind them.
What stories would you tell if you were to write a story without a bad guy?
Favorite line in the film:
– This is bigger than one man. – No. It’s not.
I dare you to think that every person is that one single human who is worthy of the love and assistance of the entire planet.
Now I dare you to consider, that this one person – is you.