Dr. Stones Feats of Survival in the Film Gravity - Essay Example

Introduction According to Pomerantz, Between the obvious message and the cinematic excitement that the movie Gravity evokes; the theme of survival resonates, not just as a way of coping, but as hope for the future. This movie is a thriller-drama: starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as a surviving Medical Engineer and Astronaut, respectively. They are stranded in outer space after a catastrophe that destroys their space shuttle. This essay will examine the moving theme of survival as seen in the film because it resonates with our daily experiences. Body The plot of the movie unfolds with Biomedical Engineer Dr Ryan Stone on her first space shuttle mission. Accompanying her is the veteran Astronaut Matt Kowalsky, who is commanding his final expedition. However during their space walk, a most unfortunate thing happens: a debris from a satellite crashes into the space shuttle, Explorer, destroying most of it and therefore leaving them stranded in space with limited air. As the debris continues to hit other satellite, a chain reaction of destruction is caused such that the satellites necessary for the two astronauts to communicate with mission control in Houston are also destroyed. Even though the two astronauts do not receive any messages from the Mission Control in Houston, both Kowalsky and Stone continue to transmit-though “in the blind “to Mission Control, in the hopes that somehow Mission Control can hear them. According to Pomerantz, Fearfully, Stone tumbles out of control after separating from the shuttle’s cargo bay arm. Kowalsky who is wearing a thruster pack as part of his space suit, navigates to Stone and retrieves her. The two tethers together and find their way back to the Explorer, where to their utter dismay discover that the shuttle has been damaged beyond repair, and further, the rest of the crew is dead. They then decide to use the thruster pack to make their way to the ISS, which is nearby in orbit. Kowalsky sets the timer on his suit for 90 minutes, in estimation that the debris which destroyed the explorer will orbit the Earth and come back around in that amount of time. Kowalsky, ever calm and efficient in the crisis reassures Stone that they will both make it back to Earth safely. En route to the ISS, they discuss Stone’s life back home and the death of her daughter in a schoolyard accident. As they approach ISS, it is clear that the crew has evacuated due to the debris field causing damage. One soyuz module for delivering ISS crew and returning them back to Earth is missing-used by the ISS crew to evacuate the station. The other soyuz module is damaged, and its landing parachute deployed as a result. It becomes clear that the other soyuz module cannot return them back to Earth safely. Moreover, approaching the ISS they realize, they have almost no air left and only one thruster pack remaining in Kowalsky pack. Bouncing off the many parts of ISS as they attempt to grab on at their accelerated speed, Stone is able to grab on the ISS for a moment, however, Kowalsky’s momentum yanks Stone away from ISS.AS they both bounce off the ISS further, a solar wing they pass severs the tether holding the two together. At the last moment, Stone gets entangled in parachute chords connected to ISS and is able to grab hold to the tether connected to Kowalsky. Sadly his added mass stretches the parachute chords, nearly causing them to break free. He therefore sacrifices himself for her survival and in clips his strap, floating away. She indeed floats easily back to ISS.IN spite of her limited piloting training, Stone following Kowalsky instructions use the soyuz module to travel to a nearby Chinese Space Station, tiangong. Boarding the ISS, she makes her way to the soyuz capsule but sparking wires start fire aboard the ISS. She fights the fire in vain but boards the soyuz. Inside, she undocks the module, proceeding to fire the thruster, but the parachute cords are tangled against the soyuz. Putting on one of the soyuz space suits and spacewalking outside to release the cables, 90 minutes have passed and the debris approaches, impacting with ISS and the soyuz. Stone barely makes it inside the soyuz in time. Having gone through the emergency manual, and using the thruster’s line the soyuz with tiangong; she realizes the fuel tanks are empty. On trying to use the soyuz radio to contact Earth, she only reaches a farmer on short wave frequency who doesn’t speak English. She resigns to fate and turns off the oxygen tank in her cabin to suffocate from carbon dioxide poisoning. She mean while due to lack of oxygen hallucinates about kowalsky. Waking up, she turns back the oxygen and implements information from her hallucination about the landing thrusters. Stone picks up a fire extinguisher and opens the soyuz hatch while still pressurized, blowing her across the distance. She navigates to tiangong using the fire extinguisher as thruster and boards tiangong just as it goes up in flames .Soon, after successfully re-entering commands in the Chinese capsule Shenzhou’s computer, shenzhou begins its descent towards Earth. Shenzhou splashes down in a lake in an inhabited part of Earth, and upon opening the hatch the rushing water nearly drowns her. Swimming out, she nearly sinks with the weight of the space suit. She slips off it and swims to the surface with the last of her breath. The remains of tiangong and other debris burn up in the sky as she pulls ashore. Work Cited Pomerantz, Dorothy. “'Gravity' Is One Of Five Big Movies To Watch For This Fall.” Forbes, (8/28/2013): 9. Read More