Interstellar: Migration across Cosmic Frontiers

By: Jouvanka Eva Kurniawan

Interstellar (2014) by Christopher Nolan, tells the thrilling journey of mankind seeking for a dwelling in a completely different world, in the midst of calamity and Earth’s deterioration. The Earth, which for many centuries has been the center of civilization, suddenly finds itself suffering on the brink of extinction. Through NASA’s Lazarus Program, Cooper, a former NASA pilot, with other astronauts and researchers took a leap of faith and was sent across the galaxy to find potential habitable planets.

These journeys emphasize human’s desperation in looking for a better life. At the cost of Cooper’s and other NASA crew’s sacrifices in the Gargantua or black hole, mankind finally managed to migrate and stop their destruction. Thus, this act can be considered as migration. According to Everett Lee (1966), Migration can be broadly explained as a permanent (and non–permanent) change of residency. At its core, Migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another in pursuit of a better livelihood. In the study of Migration, it is necessary to identify the push and pull factors underlying it; and furthermore to acknowledge intervening obstacles discouraging it.

Push Factor

In the movie, it is shown that the Earth, as an area of origin, is dying from global agricultural plague and is no longer a safe place for human beings. The environmental damage is not only complex and uncertain, it is also irreversible. Since the environment is a part of public goods, it is undeniable that environmental issues are not exclusive to certain people. Hence, as the environment is exploited in certain areas, its impacts may likewise be experienced elsewhere. This is the so-called tragedy of the commons which explains how the environment is definitely a transboundary problem, where everyone can experience harmful impacts, globally and equally.

Interstellar (2014) shows several environmental damages caused by the blights, an invasive disease to plantations, that eradicates almost every domesticated plant species. Not only that, corn, which after the blight incidents has always been the only accessible food source, was expected to fall into scarcity in the near future. To make it even worse, the blight sustained itself by consuming nitrogen in the air, which in turns led to oxygen depletion and eventually forecasted to suffocate the whole creatures. Since there was no vegetation left to anchor the soil, heavy dust storms developed, causing major respiratory problems for humans.

This is what Everett Lee referred to as push factors in Migration. Push factors are usually associated with the “negative component” in the area of origin. Due to this massive ecological damage, people in the movie then collectively agree that this particular global environmental degradation requires an immediate global revolutionary solution. Relocating the human race across the galaxy, interstellar, can be seen as an effort to do so. Therefore in the Interstellar (2014) universe, Migration stands as mankind’s last best resort.

Pull Factor

If the Earth’s destruction is considered as the push factor in the area of origin, outer space, then, becomes the pull factor in the area of destination. Outer space has 3 promising habitable planet possibilities, which are Miller’s Planet, Mann’s Planet, and Edmund’s Planet. These planets not only transmit habitable signals, but also promise a future for humanity, which is currently sinking as the Earth degrades.

Arriving at Miller’s Planet, Cooper and Brand found that the data transmission was misleading. It leads them to another journey in Mann’s Planet. Unlike the previous planet, Mann’s Planet seems very much habitable and promising. This planet has not only breathable air, but also drinkable water. Yet strangely, this planet has endless layers of frozen cloud surfaces. As it turns out, Dr. Mann purposely counterfeited the data transmitted to Cooper and Brand for his personal advantages. This situation forced Cooper and Brand to proceed their search to the next planet, Edmund’s, as their last hope to find a new home for all of humanity.

In order to get to Edmund’s Planet, Cooper has to sacrifice himself into the Gargantua or black hole and get trapped inside of Tesseract; a five dimensional space. Cooper’s sacrifice makes Brand finally able to reach Edmund’s Planet, and eventually gives humanity a new solid promise of a home. Unlike other planets, this specific planet has a breathable atmosphere, the soil could potentially be fertile, and most importantly might be able to develop into a whole new diverse environment. It can be seen in the movie that the hope and possibility of a better life plays a significant role for people to migrate.

Back to Lee’s concept of Migration, this is what he defined as pull factors. Pull factors tend to be associated with the “positive component” in the area of destination. It can be seen that the viability of these planets has not yet been confirmed. However, some positive data transmitted from it provides hope that led Cooper into a planet hopping journey that would allow humanity to migrate and extend its livelihood. Even if hope is indeed considered as an abstract variable, it cannot be denied that in the movie, hope is the main force of Migration.

Intervening Obstacle

Both push and pull factors are indeed the key aspect of Migration, but the existence of intervening obstacles that could alter the idea of Migration should never be dismissed. Intervening obstacles usually stand as a constraining variable that discourages the desire to migrate. Typically these obstacles manifest in material forms such as distance, time, expense that restrict the movement. Interestingly, obstacles can affect people differently. One individual could perceive certain obstacles as a major barrier that cannot be overcome, but the same obstacle might be insignificant to some.

Interstellar presents the wormhole, a gravitational anomaly as an intervening obstacle that could either help them or crush them. This wormhole existence was merely a hypothetical assumption, Cooper and other crews had their own theories regarding the wormhole. It is presumed to be a spacetime distortion placed by an ‘unknown being’ that would allow them to transit instantly anywhere in the universe. Acting solely on this theoretical speculation and using the wormhole as their ‘vehicle’ is such a dangerous decision. It should never be forgotten that the wormhole also carries a high probability of crushing them due to its extreme tidal forces and intense radiation emitted from the nearby black hole’s accretion disk. This could put the fate of humanity at stake.

However, since the role of intervening obstacles is subjective to one another, Cooper and other crew members perceive the wormhole as a risk they must take. Based on their theories, the wormhole can possibly be their shortcut to accelerate human relocation. Let’s not forget that they are also racing against time, that leaves them with no choice but to seize any opportunity that might shorten the journey.

In the end of the movie, it is shown that human beings eventually relocated into a huge space station orbiting Saturn, and some of them are also developing a new colony in Edmund’s Planet. From this movie, it can be seen that push and pull factors play such an important role in the relocation of human beings. From the area of origin, severe ecological damage acts as a “negative component” that becomes a push factor of migration. In contrast, hope and the possibilities of a better life in the new planet, or even in the space station, acts as a “positive component” in the area of destination and becomes a pull factor of migration.

Lastly, it is also important to note that the main assumption in the study of migration regarding why people migrate is because humans are rational decision makers, who calculate their means of cost and benefits in order to improve and maximize overall utility. By this assumption, migration can be seen as the most effective decision for people to achieve greater change. When projected into the real world, usually people migrate to find better opportunities that cannot be found in their home. Essentially, people want to uplift their status quo. It can be their socioeconomic status, better environment, and many other things. For the same reason, in Interstellar (2014) people are trying to maximize their utility which in this case is assumed to represent their sustainability.