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Call me crazy, but I think 'Gravity' is about prayer. We all missed the most important symbol of the movie. Let me explain.
Recently, the movie rocked the Oscars, taking home seven awards, including Best Directing and Best Cinematography. However, as beautiful and gut-busting as the film is, the strongest part of the film is the unexpected back story of the heroine Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock.
Now, I may be a little late to the game on speculation and interpretation for this film. Google "Religious Symbolism in Gravity" and you'll see what I mean.
But there are a few connections I feel many have failed to make. This movie isn't going anywhere soon, so I'm deeming it appropriate to dive deeper into a few symbols of the movie as the DVD flies off the shelves.
I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE
To start, we must ask a question. Who is Matt Kowalski? The veteran astronaut accompanying Dr. Stone on her mission is quick, witty, and an endless well of wisdom. George Clooney is lovable and childlike, always pointing out the wondrous views around them while Stone is stuck in a torment of panic.
When he detaches from Stone, he accepts his martyrdom and focuses only on helping Stone. While she wants to go save Kowalski, he selflessly accepts his fate, even turning it positive toward the end. In fact, his last human words are, "Wow. Hey Ryan, you should see the sun on the Ganges. It's amazing."
Call me crazy, but I think 'Gravity' is about prayer. We all missed the most important symbol of the movie. Let me explain.
Recently, the movie rocked the Oscars, taking home seven awards, including Best Directing and Best Cinematography. However, as beautiful and gut-busting as the film is, the strongest part of the film is the unexpected back story of the heroine Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock.
Now, I may be a little late to the game on speculation and interpretation for this film. Google "Religious Symbolism in Gravity" and you'll see what I mean.
But there are a few connections I feel many have failed to make. This movie isn't going anywhere soon, so I'm deeming it appropriate to dive deeper into a few symbols of the movie as the DVD flies off the shelves.
I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE I ASSUME YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE
To start, we must ask a question. Who is Matt Kowalski? The veteran astronaut accompanying Dr. Stone on her mission is quick, witty, and an endless well of wisdom. George Clooney is lovable and childlike, always pointing out the wondrous views around them while Stone is stuck in a torment of panic.
When he detaches from Stone, he accepts his martyrdom and focuses only on helping Stone. While she wants to go save Kowalski, he selflessly accepts his fate, even turning it positive toward the end. In fact, his last human words are, "Wow. Hey Ryan, you should see the sun on the Ganges. It's amazing."
Right then, he flips on his country song which was used earlier in the first scene of the movie. But the song. The song.
This is the forgotten symbol. It is more than a testimony to Kowalski's lighthearted nature. It is a key to the entire movie.
The song is entitled "Angels Are Hard to Find" by ole Hank Williams, Jr. Here are the lyrics for your convenience:
Lord I'm singing You this message up to Heaven
Asking you to send me down another angel
I've been looking for a long time for someone to get her off my mind
But you know Lord, angels are hard to find
I want an angel with arms and not with wings
Someone that I can call my darling
If You can think of someone to fit that description
Lord could You help me one more time?
But I know Lord, angels are hard to find
It's my fault I lost the first one You sent to me
I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she meant to me
She loved me but I was blind, I bet I do a whole lot better next time
But I know Lord, angels are hard to find
I want an angel with arms and not with wings
Someone that I can call darling
If You can think of someone to fit my description
Lord, could You help ole Hank one more time?
But I know Lord, yeah angels are hard to find
One like that right there Lord, angels are hard to find
Got it?
The song is a prayer to God from someone that recently lost someone, specifically a girl, and can't seem to get her of their mind.
Hmm.
So the one sending the prayer asks for a new angel, a second angel, a 'darling' angel, in order to 'do a whole lot better next time'.
Look, nothing is ever a mistake in the creative process. I can't even begin to make a list of country songs that have this Margaritaville-esque sound to them. I highly doubt it was a mistake that Alfonso Cuarón, the award-winning director, chose this particular song while shuffling his iPod. This song is a deliberate choice.
So, let's return to the original question. Who is Matt Kowalski? When Stone turns her oxygen down as she gives up, he returns to her despite actually being gone. Some say Kowalski is a mental hallucination. I propose he is an angel, specifically the angel in Hank's tune. More importantly, he is an answered prayer. Stay with me.
The connection is strong. Dr. Stone lost her little girl at age four, but the singer lost a girl as well, seen in the line 'It's my fault I lost the first one (angel) You sent to me'. The original song was no doubt about a grown woman, but the meaning is warped here, and it works. This line alludes to Dr. Stone's daughter.
Also, the song is a prayer. While most bloggers have alluded to the Russian Orthodox icon of St. Christopher and the Buddha statue, the song is the wisest, and most covert, religious symbol in the film.
This is the forgotten symbol. It is more than a testimony to Kowalski's lighthearted nature. It is a key to the entire movie.
The song is entitled "Angels Are Hard to Find" by ole Hank Williams, Jr. Here are the lyrics for your convenience:
Lord I'm singing You this message up to Heaven
Asking you to send me down another angel
I've been looking for a long time for someone to get her off my mind
But you know Lord, angels are hard to find
I want an angel with arms and not with wings
Someone that I can call my darling
If You can think of someone to fit that description
Lord could You help me one more time?
But I know Lord, angels are hard to find
It's my fault I lost the first one You sent to me
I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she meant to me
She loved me but I was blind, I bet I do a whole lot better next time
But I know Lord, angels are hard to find
I want an angel with arms and not with wings
Someone that I can call darling
If You can think of someone to fit my description
Lord, could You help ole Hank one more time?
But I know Lord, yeah angels are hard to find
One like that right there Lord, angels are hard to find
Got it?
The song is a prayer to God from someone that recently lost someone, specifically a girl, and can't seem to get her of their mind.
Hmm.
So the one sending the prayer asks for a new angel, a second angel, a 'darling' angel, in order to 'do a whole lot better next time'.
Look, nothing is ever a mistake in the creative process. I can't even begin to make a list of country songs that have this Margaritaville-esque sound to them. I highly doubt it was a mistake that Alfonso Cuarón, the award-winning director, chose this particular song while shuffling his iPod. This song is a deliberate choice.
So, let's return to the original question. Who is Matt Kowalski? When Stone turns her oxygen down as she gives up, he returns to her despite actually being gone. Some say Kowalski is a mental hallucination. I propose he is an angel, specifically the angel in Hank's tune. More importantly, he is an answered prayer. Stay with me.
The connection is strong. Dr. Stone lost her little girl at age four, but the singer lost a girl as well, seen in the line 'It's my fault I lost the first one (angel) You sent to me'. The original song was no doubt about a grown woman, but the meaning is warped here, and it works. This line alludes to Dr. Stone's daughter.
Also, the song is a prayer. While most bloggers have alluded to the Russian Orthodox icon of St. Christopher and the Buddha statue, the song is the wisest, and most covert, religious symbol in the film.
Cuarón wants us to know this. After Kowalski's last words, we can faintly make out the first line of the song, "Lord I'm singing You this message up to Heaven" before the sound editors blanket the song with radio static and soundtrack.
Now, let's consider "Houston in the blind." Kowalski continues to speak to the Control Center after communication halts. Here, he expressed his faith Houston can still hear him, even though he doesn't receive a human response. Stone doubts this, saying "They can't hear us". Immediately, Kowalski denies this, saying "We don't know that, that's why we keep talking. If somebody is listening, they might just save your life."
Kowalski may be talking specifically about telecommunications between them and earth, but I believe it is also a dialogue about communications between earth and Heaven. Many of us are dragged into believing God can't hear us. Many struggle with thinking when they pray, they are talking to themselves.
This is not a struggle only for the weak in faith. There were times in her life that Mother Theresa felt God's absence while praying. While speaking to Reverend Michael van der Peet in September 1979, she said of prayer:
"Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear" (Trotta).
The connection between speaking to Houston and speaking to God is shown in Stone's first prayer. Before deciding to die, Stone speaks to no one in particular about her soul, and hoping to see her child, Sarah, again soon (presumably in Heaven). She then says "I'd say [a prayer] for my self, but I've never prayed in my life. Nobody ever taught me how." Then, the camera focuses on her tear floating in front of her as she reflectively repeats, "Nobody ever taught me how."
After her divine encounter with Kowalski, she prays to him. He taught her how to pray by leading by example while speaking to Houston 'in the blind'. While they seemingly spoke to no one over the radio, Kowalski kept talking, teaching Stone in the process. Stone completes the allusion for us as she finishes the prayer with "Roger that," the term obviously used throughout the movie for communications with Houston.
This prayer is rich with symbolic information. When asking Kowalski to talk to her daughter, Stone speaks of Sarah when she says, "You are going to see a little girl with brown hair...she doesn't like to brush it. That's okay." This hints at some past frustration Stone held toward her daughter about a minuscule problem such as not brushing her hair. This would fulfill the line from Angels Are Hard To Find, "I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she meant to me...She loved me but I was blind, I bet I do a whole lot better next time." Getting so worked up over a tiny thing is a staple of parent-child relations, and is most likely forgettable once they are gone from this life.
But the most important part of Stone's first prayer is when she asks Kowalski to give Sarah a big hug. Here, she prays, "Tell her that momma misses her, and tell her that she is my angel, and she makes me so proud, so so proud."
Boom. The song is true. The first angel was Sarah. The second, new angel is Kowalski. "Lord I'm singing You this message up to Heaven...
Asking you to send me down another angel...It's my fault I lost the first one (Sarah) You sent to me." Her prayer, while indirect, was answered. Her faith has been born (hence the womb-like scene on the ISS).
Now, let's consider "Houston in the blind." Kowalski continues to speak to the Control Center after communication halts. Here, he expressed his faith Houston can still hear him, even though he doesn't receive a human response. Stone doubts this, saying "They can't hear us". Immediately, Kowalski denies this, saying "We don't know that, that's why we keep talking. If somebody is listening, they might just save your life."
Kowalski may be talking specifically about telecommunications between them and earth, but I believe it is also a dialogue about communications between earth and Heaven. Many of us are dragged into believing God can't hear us. Many struggle with thinking when they pray, they are talking to themselves.
This is not a struggle only for the weak in faith. There were times in her life that Mother Theresa felt God's absence while praying. While speaking to Reverend Michael van der Peet in September 1979, she said of prayer:
"Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear" (Trotta).
The connection between speaking to Houston and speaking to God is shown in Stone's first prayer. Before deciding to die, Stone speaks to no one in particular about her soul, and hoping to see her child, Sarah, again soon (presumably in Heaven). She then says "I'd say [a prayer] for my self, but I've never prayed in my life. Nobody ever taught me how." Then, the camera focuses on her tear floating in front of her as she reflectively repeats, "Nobody ever taught me how."
After her divine encounter with Kowalski, she prays to him. He taught her how to pray by leading by example while speaking to Houston 'in the blind'. While they seemingly spoke to no one over the radio, Kowalski kept talking, teaching Stone in the process. Stone completes the allusion for us as she finishes the prayer with "Roger that," the term obviously used throughout the movie for communications with Houston.
This prayer is rich with symbolic information. When asking Kowalski to talk to her daughter, Stone speaks of Sarah when she says, "You are going to see a little girl with brown hair...she doesn't like to brush it. That's okay." This hints at some past frustration Stone held toward her daughter about a minuscule problem such as not brushing her hair. This would fulfill the line from Angels Are Hard To Find, "I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she meant to me...She loved me but I was blind, I bet I do a whole lot better next time." Getting so worked up over a tiny thing is a staple of parent-child relations, and is most likely forgettable once they are gone from this life.
But the most important part of Stone's first prayer is when she asks Kowalski to give Sarah a big hug. Here, she prays, "Tell her that momma misses her, and tell her that she is my angel, and she makes me so proud, so so proud."
Boom. The song is true. The first angel was Sarah. The second, new angel is Kowalski. "Lord I'm singing You this message up to Heaven...
Asking you to send me down another angel...It's my fault I lost the first one (Sarah) You sent to me." Her prayer, while indirect, was answered. Her faith has been born (hence the womb-like scene on the ISS).
Another thing answered: their calls to Houston. When Stone is in the capsule, right after landing in the lake (and she lived in Lake Zurich...coincidence? Never) we can hear the radio say "Rescue mission is on the way." Their calls to Houston in the blind weren't so blind after all. Either were their calls to God.
Another question: who does Stone thank while laying on the beach? A barely audible "thank you" is whispered while she feels the sand between her fingers. God? Sarah? Kowalski? Her new prayer life is evident in this whisper. Also, she was just symbolically baptized when she emerged from the lake.
For as beautiful as this movie is, the religious symbolism is where it hits home for me. And maybe for you, too. Hollywood, take note: we want more movies like this. Thrillers to watch, but real stories to digest.
Trotta, Daniel. "Letters reveal Mother Teresa's doubt about faith." Reuters. 25 Aug. 2007. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
Another question: who does Stone thank while laying on the beach? A barely audible "thank you" is whispered while she feels the sand between her fingers. God? Sarah? Kowalski? Her new prayer life is evident in this whisper. Also, she was just symbolically baptized when she emerged from the lake.
For as beautiful as this movie is, the religious symbolism is where it hits home for me. And maybe for you, too. Hollywood, take note: we want more movies like this. Thrillers to watch, but real stories to digest.
Trotta, Daniel. "Letters reveal Mother Teresa's doubt about faith." Reuters. 25 Aug. 2007. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.