Interstellar, spoke to me about Zen Buddhism in some ways, Speaking about attachment to material things in the world giving us pain and exerting control only causes things to work against us(Mountain sized waved, environments, even ourselves - Dr "Mann" aptly named is symbolic for human nature. I also saw that its about coming to terms with the fact that we do not have control over things before we are put on a path to success(transcendence), epitomized to me in the scene where they had to match the rotation of the space station spiraling out of control ; symbolic for coming to terms with giving up control as a means to progress.(breaking the cycle that will utlimately lead one to oblivion)

Along the lines of breaking the cycle, if you look at interstellar's rendition of the blackhole, it looks like a spherical object rotating with a disc bisecting it, looking it from a perspective one can say the bisection is symbolic for breaking a cycle. (the blackhole itself in a lot of ways is an embodiment of the unknown and the lack of control- no one knows where it leads and what will happen. This is in line with the idea of relinquishing control to break the cycle. Supplementing this is also the emphasis on a lot of things being cyclical, the space ship itself can be juxtaposed to the Dharma wheel of twelve spokes, I googled it and found http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddh ... elinks.htm. The living quarters in in the middle looks like a man caught in the middle of it , spinning with the spokes like the cycle of samsara. Additionally I saw a juxtaposition between science and faith/spirituality/love - things we cannot prove , the latter being transcendent and the former being ephermal. This is evident in how cooper's character at the end (who's an explorer) stayed young whilst his daughter, murph (who embraced science to solve the gravity equation) aged and waned. Its interesting how the atypical representation of giving up control is a means for us to progress is aptly depicted in this film.

Thank you for posting this. Finally some juxtaposition of the fervent claims this is a Christian movie.

sickofsickness wrote:Thank you for posting this. Finally some juxtaposition of the fervent claims this is a Christian movie.

I don't think anyone claims that. Most of cinema uses references to byblical tropes to construct a specific kind of thematic context, not to simply be christian.

Great analysis. I got quite excited watching the film because like Buddhism it was both scientific and spiritual. I was also thinking about Buddhism when I saw the film but instead the contrast with Buddhism. The contrasts I thought were that Interstellar is about holding on and Buddhism is about letting go, in Interstellar man is above all forms of life but in Buddhism, everything is equal (in a harmonious sense). Interstellar shows that man has the potential to control his own destiny yet Buddhism is about understanding your lack of control. There are tons of other contrasts I thought of but they all pretty much say similar things.

Few similarities: The fifth dimensional beings are somewhat enlightened beings, they are literally one with the Universe. Love is the energy or flow of the Universe. In the tesseract, Cooper accepted that he couldn't change the past.

As for the connections with Christianity, the church organs are a big hint, and Nolan used the word religiosity which is as far as it goes with Nolan's intentions to connect the film to Christianity. I don't think the film has anything to do with the specifics of Christianity eg. Jesus and God. I just think it shares the same sense of faith for humanity and spiritual drive.

don't forget Cooper's key realization that it was about Murph, rather than himself.

A tenet of Buddhism is compassion, certainly the type of compassion that would exceed 'our own gaze,' as Dr. Mann might put it.

Cooper goes to the boundaries of the universe, only to reach a point of stillness within himself, through which he is able to work with his daughter to save the world.

"all is one" is another cornerstone of the Buddhist tradition, and many Eastern traditions. (also in Eastern Orthodox Christianity)... the sense of unity that Cooper experiences within the tesseract, in which he has transcended space and time, reinforces the Buddhist interpretation of the film.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of an intentional Buddhist inspiration is the fact that Nolan is clearly an Orientalist:

- The great trick that Borden pulls off in the Prestige comes at the inspiration of a Chinese magician

- everything involving the League of Shadows: Bruce's greatest lessons are learned at the hands of Bane and Ducard / Ras

- Middle Eastern / Japanese themes, geography, and architecture in Inception.

prince0gotham wrote:

sickofsickness wrote:Thank you for posting this. Finally some juxtaposition of the fervent claims this is a Christian movie.

I don't think anyone claims that.

lol have you read the christian symbolism thread

but Buddha prophesied of Christ. Let that think in for a minute.

My kind of thread.

celibate wrote:Let that think in for a minute.

mchekhov 2: Chek Harder wrote:

celibate wrote:Let that think in for a minute.