Dust in the Universe

Originally published in December 2016. Movie seen at Oswego 7 Cinemas in Oswego, NY.

A REFLECTION ON THE MOVIE PASSENGERS

Michael DeNobile discusses themes presented in the 2016 sci-fi/romance Passengers, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.

A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”

~Stephen Crane

We are but specks of dust raging through space on a blue and green ball of chaos. We demand so much of the universe as we waste time through our day to day living. We expect to be thanked for the little we do for others. We expect others to present us with titles and awards attesting to this self-avowed greatness. We expect acknowledgement from the cosmos and dare God Himself to bow down before us as we struggle to be sinking ships adrift on a sea of stardust.

And then some of us wake up too soon. We are forced to rise above the mundane and realize our insignificance, to stand on the edge and dare to leap into the void, not knowing of the consequence or the horror of knowing.

We can choose to continue to sink alone, lock ourselves in our heads, and wait day by day, stepping stone by stepping stone toward the shallow graves of our mortality. Or we may choose to drag others to arise from that deathly sleep and start living life for what it truly is. Or, Michael DeNobile states, maybe we are the sleeping ones, and another is desperately trying to awaken us. In any case, we must murder our expectations of ourselves, others, and the universe, for no one is allowed to survive in the old order of things.

Michael DeNobile recognizes that we are nothing more than passengers set adrift on a rock in the void of space. Life is but a choice away if we want to experience it for all that it is worth. But are we strong enough to make the choices that will burn us like fire yet refine us like gold?