Watching this movie originated from the recommendation of the teacher in the class when I was a teaching assistant in the Life in the Universe class. Several students in the class expressed their appreciation for the first half, but did not really like the ending. I was spoiled a bit by the students' discussions, but that didn't stop me from loving every minute of the movie. I am amazed by the preciseness of the Europa Report's portrayal of researchers and cutting-edge planetary science.
Speaking of Europa Report, I naturally think of the recent hit "The Wandering Earth". Jupiter is in the limelight in both films: worthy of the name Jupiter, Jupiter floats in the background, silently showing its cruelty to mankind. Even in the plot and even some details, the two films have some similarities, but the narrative core of Europa Report and "The Wandering Earth" are fundamentally different. The main characters of "The Wandering Earth" are like a team of soldiers, brave, fearless, and heroic; the six protagonists of Europa Report are engineers and scientists, who have distinct characteristics and accurately extract the life and heart of researchers.
Although I had a great experience with The Wandering Earth, the scientific fallacies in Flow still eluded me. In contrast, the Europa Report captures cutting-edge science with a precision that is unmatched in any film I've seen. Various details in the film make me believe that there must be peers in the circle of the main creative team. Below I will list some plots that impressed me, firstly to recall the plot (spoiler alert!), and secondly to prove what I said is true.
1. Europa (Europa) is the biggest hot spot in the search for extraterrestrial life (almost none), and is the destination of NASA's next major project, Europa Clipper. Europa is in the spotlight because it, as depicted in the movie, has an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface ice. Liquid water is the most critical condition for the origin and evolution of life. This year, Europa has been spotted with signs of jets of water over its Antarctic region. This corresponds to the destination of the Europa-One spaceship in the movie.
2. The Europa-One operation in the movie was funded by private individuals, not led by NASA, which reflects the recent trend of privatization of NASA’s research and development (the rocket that fills the space-X’s mind slowly descends). In fact, Operation Europa-One is a suicide squad even if it's not explicitly stated in the movie. NASA, as the vanguard of the US propaganda department in reality, would not approve such an adventure.
3. The Europa-One spacecraft team consists of engineers (engineers) and a scientist (Katya). This is a reference to the team composition of past space shuttles.
4. High-energy radiation is one of the greatest threats to the human body during interplanetary travel. Jupiter's huge magnetic field causes several of its nearby moons to be scorched by high-energy particle radiation. The threat of radiation to people is reflected everywhere in the film. In order to resist radiation, the current solution is to coat the spacecraft with a protective layer mainly composed of water. The ship in the movie has this device installed. Wu Yanzu sacrificed in order to save his teammates while removing the protective layer during the forced landing.
5. The scientific community speculates that if life exists in the ocean beneath Europa, it is most likely simple single-celled organisms. This is precisely restored in the movie.
6. Europa is tidally locked by Jupiter, and its rotation and orbital periods are both 3.4 Earth days. The changing times of dawn and dusk shown in the movie are real.
Think of these for the time being, and add them at any time.
Let's talk about the six people on the Europa One team, in order of sacrifice of time.
Jamie: The first person to give his life in action, but not a typical hero. He is usually lively and funny, active in the atmosphere of a long-distance travel team, and often homesick. The task suddenly took a turn for the worse, and when the crisis was extremely high, he was righteous and awe-inspiring? Dead as hell? No, not at all. He panicked, he and his teammates panicked. His voice trembled, not knowing what to do. In an instant, he pushed his teammates into the spaceship, and he flew into the vast universe. Perhaps rationally he never thought of being a hero, but instinct made him a hero once.
Katya: The only scientist on the team. This image is too realistic. On the one hand, she is curious, enthusiastic, and selfless; on the other hand, she is stubborn, over-interpreted, and full of confirmation bias. She is very much like my colleagues. The scientific research community is also a harmonious community wonderfully built by such linear characters. The movie allowed her to discover life on Europa for the first time with her enthusiasm and stubbornness, which in my opinion is the most beautiful tribute to scientific researchers.
William: Wu Yanzu is the team captain, and the five-star red flag on the neckline is more vivid. Making him captain might reflect Harvard's assessment of Asian-American bad character (referring to lack of leadership). However, the captain did not make a decisive decision in the team's several disputes, obviously lacking some leadership qualities. In the end, he sacrificed for his teammates and made up for it.
Daniel: He's a little underwhelming, but there's a subtle, slightly dark scene at the end. Usually he is the technical backbone of the team, meticulous and silent dedication. At the end of the movie, disaster strikes, and when it is doomed, he collapses. He lost his soul and said his last line "there is no point". In the next scene, in a flash, he fell into the water and died insignificantly. This somewhat ironic scene condenses graduate student anxiety into a symbol. In scientific research, it seems that when there is no way out, you will inevitably fall into the bitter sea of nihilism and cry out "there is no point". Yet nihilism, cynicism, is often a poison, the beginning of a death spiral. Take this as a precept, Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping; Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
Rosa: She leads the climax of the movie. When I saw the climax of the movie, I couldn't help but wonder what I would do if I were in a situation where the movie was doomed. My idea is to upload the data to the orbiter as much as possible. Just like the joke about programmers, when the house is on fire, make sure to git commit/git push. However, Rosa sister is still a high-level trick. At the last moment of her life, she left the world with the greatest opportunity for new discoveries.
Finally back to the comparison between The Wandering Earth and Europa Report. In my opinion, "The Wandering Earth" is the first time to express Chinese pop culture symbols (such as Xiaobawang, Spring Festival Gala) in the context of space, and Europa Report is better than the accurate portrayal of science and scientists. As a sci-fi movie limited by cost, Europa Report is a true and profound excavation of cutting-edge scientific achievements. In my opinion, it is worthy of reference for the successors of "The Wandering Earth".
March 15th night
Tucson
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