Rambling About A Film: The Theory of Everything
This evening I finally watched The Theory of Everything, the film starring the adorably freckled (and now Oscar-winning) Eddie Redmayne in the role of Professor Stephen Hawking. I'd been putting it off for a while for two reasons: firstly, because I wanted to have the time to be able to appreciate it properly, and secondly, because I knew I would cry a lot throughout the film, partly due to Eddie Redmayne of course, but mostly due to the utterly tragic nature of motor neurone disease, and it therefore had to be watched on an unemotional day.
Stephen Hawking's astonishing intellect, global fame, and incredible defeat of predictions made about his life expectancy all combine to make him a truly intriguing person. In terms of his disease, the concept of the body physically degenerating while the mind remains intact is simultaneously horribly fascinating and the most terrifying thing imaginable. This of course makes him an even more compelling person, as people are who have faced struggles unthinkable to most of us.
So anyway, I watched The Theory of Everything and cried a lot, even while knowing my emotions were being manipulated and it was in several aspects not true to real life. I've read several articles on this subject; this one details how dramatic and simplified the actual science portrayed in the film is, while this one is about the general inaccuracies of the Hawkings' real lives. While this was frustrating, particularly the cheesy revelations Hawking had in the film, such as his epiphany about the nature of the universe brought on by staring into a glowing fireplace, the film's biggest effect on me was irrelevant to this. For me, the compelling nature of the film was Stephen Hawking himself and how unimaginably intelligent he is. After it finished I looked him up on Wikipedia to find out a bit more, or rather, to reread what I read the last at least two or three times previously when I Googled him.
The information on that page details not only the numerous awards he's been given but also, in hilariously simplified form, some aspects of his work. Even on Wikipedia, even when it's been dumbed down a hundred times, or perhaps a thousand times, even then I can't begin to understand what it's about. This is a truly odd sensation.
As someone who's never particularly doubted my own intelligence, it's weird and surprising to come across something so spectacularly out of the league of anything I will ever be able to comprehend. First I wanted to compare this to watching someone lift a a hugely heavy weight, or run a mile in a very short time, but this isn't quite right because these are things that can be physically worked upon. While some people will just not be able to lift as much or run as fast as others, most of us have some opportunity of working on these skills if we want to.
In the case of Stephen Hawking's science, and indeed not only him but the entire field in which he works, it's a bit like watching someone being able to independently reach something fifteen feet in the air while I look on, continuing to be 5 foot 7 and presumably remaining at this height or perhaps becoming a bit shorter my entire life. There is no way I will ever be able to do it. It it simply beyond the range of my capabilities.
When it has been drummed into you your whole life that you can do anything and achieve anything if you put your mind to it, this is quite jarring. The fact that I've never shown any real leaning towards maths or physics does not make this realisation that I literally could not do well in it much easier to come to terms with.
I am aware that my ability to make everything about myself is astonishing. But what did you expect from someone who literally keeps her diary online so that other people can read it too? I am a huge narcissist. But all that aside, I nonetheless find this concept interesting. In a way it's strangely liberating to just not even try to understand because you know you won't manage it. A pleasant reminder of your own insignificance, maybe. In a more real way though, it's very frustrating, and difficult to accept if you also want to continue your strong conviction that you can manage literally anything if you don't stop believing and reach for the stars (pun intended).
Ultimately, I liked The Theory of Everything; although it was in parts over-dramatic and the storyline was manipulated in order to play on your emotions as much and as shamelessly as possible, it worked. It did have an effect on me; it did make me cry. However, the biggest impression it left on me was just how clever some people are. Not just Stephen Hawking, either. Hawking is held up as a figurehead not only because of his groundbreaking work, but as well because of the unbelievably adverse conditions he has had to overcome in order to continue. Yet also shown in the film are his peers; other students, professors and academics who crucially all understand what he's talking about, and are working on similar projects themselves.
I am aware that this was not the main point of the film, but it was its effect on me nonetheless. Basically I just want to take my hat off to all you people who do science-y things because it's so out of my league and therefore amazing and incomprehensible to me. I am incredibly jealous and you are all brilliant.
Maybe in the future I'll do a science A-level just to convince myself that I can.
Stephen Hawking's astonishing intellect, global fame, and incredible defeat of predictions made about his life expectancy all combine to make him a truly intriguing person. In terms of his disease, the concept of the body physically degenerating while the mind remains intact is simultaneously horribly fascinating and the most terrifying thing imaginable. This of course makes him an even more compelling person, as people are who have faced struggles unthinkable to most of us.
So anyway, I watched The Theory of Everything and cried a lot, even while knowing my emotions were being manipulated and it was in several aspects not true to real life. I've read several articles on this subject; this one details how dramatic and simplified the actual science portrayed in the film is, while this one is about the general inaccuracies of the Hawkings' real lives. While this was frustrating, particularly the cheesy revelations Hawking had in the film, such as his epiphany about the nature of the universe brought on by staring into a glowing fireplace, the film's biggest effect on me was irrelevant to this. For me, the compelling nature of the film was Stephen Hawking himself and how unimaginably intelligent he is. After it finished I looked him up on Wikipedia to find out a bit more, or rather, to reread what I read the last at least two or three times previously when I Googled him.
The information on that page details not only the numerous awards he's been given but also, in hilariously simplified form, some aspects of his work. Even on Wikipedia, even when it's been dumbed down a hundred times, or perhaps a thousand times, even then I can't begin to understand what it's about. This is a truly odd sensation.
As someone who's never particularly doubted my own intelligence, it's weird and surprising to come across something so spectacularly out of the league of anything I will ever be able to comprehend. First I wanted to compare this to watching someone lift a a hugely heavy weight, or run a mile in a very short time, but this isn't quite right because these are things that can be physically worked upon. While some people will just not be able to lift as much or run as fast as others, most of us have some opportunity of working on these skills if we want to.
In the case of Stephen Hawking's science, and indeed not only him but the entire field in which he works, it's a bit like watching someone being able to independently reach something fifteen feet in the air while I look on, continuing to be 5 foot 7 and presumably remaining at this height or perhaps becoming a bit shorter my entire life. There is no way I will ever be able to do it. It it simply beyond the range of my capabilities.
When it has been drummed into you your whole life that you can do anything and achieve anything if you put your mind to it, this is quite jarring. The fact that I've never shown any real leaning towards maths or physics does not make this realisation that I literally could not do well in it much easier to come to terms with.
I am aware that my ability to make everything about myself is astonishing. But what did you expect from someone who literally keeps her diary online so that other people can read it too? I am a huge narcissist. But all that aside, I nonetheless find this concept interesting. In a way it's strangely liberating to just not even try to understand because you know you won't manage it. A pleasant reminder of your own insignificance, maybe. In a more real way though, it's very frustrating, and difficult to accept if you also want to continue your strong conviction that you can manage literally anything if you don't stop believing and reach for the stars (pun intended).
Ultimately, I liked The Theory of Everything; although it was in parts over-dramatic and the storyline was manipulated in order to play on your emotions as much and as shamelessly as possible, it worked. It did have an effect on me; it did make me cry. However, the biggest impression it left on me was just how clever some people are. Not just Stephen Hawking, either. Hawking is held up as a figurehead not only because of his groundbreaking work, but as well because of the unbelievably adverse conditions he has had to overcome in order to continue. Yet also shown in the film are his peers; other students, professors and academics who crucially all understand what he's talking about, and are working on similar projects themselves.
I am aware that this was not the main point of the film, but it was its effect on me nonetheless. Basically I just want to take my hat off to all you people who do science-y things because it's so out of my league and therefore amazing and incomprehensible to me. I am incredibly jealous and you are all brilliant.
Maybe in the future I'll do a science A-level just to convince myself that I can.
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