Week 9 | Space + Art |

I've always been curious about outer-space and mankind's role in the grand scheme of things. As Carl Sagan melancholily states in an excerpt from A Pale Blue Dot that "our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light". That is, Earth, being “a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena”, potentially holds absolutely no significance in the universe; after understanding that, how can anyone on this “mote of dust” believe themselves to be in any way more important than another inhibiting the same “dot”.

Figure 1 - "Pale Blue Dot"
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2014/02/Pale_Blue_Dot_615_labeled/064c463bf.jpg

Charles and Ray Eames’ Powers of Ten also made quite an impact on me; it showed us that an individual is already a speck of dust at 100 meters wide, let alone 100 million light years away. However, it also showed us how our body ourselves look like galaxies seen at a microscopic levels; the “vast inner-space” of an atom after the clouds of electrons at 0.1 ångström interestingly looks eerily similar to outer-space at a million light years away. This fact reminded me of a “couch gag” from The Simpsons which was undoubtedly influenced by Powers of Ten; in the clip below, you’ll see the camera zooming out from Earth, then showing galaxies strangely turning into atoms, then into molecules, until finally zooming out to reveal Homer’s head. I found that to be an incredibly philosophical take on Powers of Ten, implying that we ourselves are the universe which interestingly contradicts Sagan’s view of mankind’s insignificance.

Figure 2 - The Simpsons Couch Gag featuring Powers of Ten

Watching these videos makes one realize that one’s accomplishments and failures are such miniscule events that should not be taken too deeply to heart; Sagan is truly right when he said that “astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience”.

Figure 3 - Powers of Ten images from video
http://urbanizedfilm.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/eames.jpg

Another point of interest for me when it comes to space is its portrayal in popular media. As Vesna notes in Lecture Part 6, “the amount of space exploration fantasy and fiction is just phenomenal” resulting in many different depictions of outer-space and aliens over many decades. In movies like E.T., aliens are shown to be friendly and curious creatures while in movies like Invaders from Mars or War of the Worlds, aliens are shown to be aggressive intellectual invaders, attempting to research and conquer humans. As a writer for Metacritic describes it, “the idea of a threat from another world has always touched a nerve in audience, giving them the thrill of being scared and the satisfaction of seeing humanity…triumph”. In later years, media would instead portray aliens and humans in a more comedic light, often negating differences between aliens and humans entirely as seen in Futurama and Men in Black. 

Figure 4 - One of my favorite movies, Men in Black
https://fanart.tv/movie/607/men-in-black/

Citations

• Eames, Charles, and Ray Eames. "Powers of Ten (1977)." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Aug. 2010. Web. 29 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0#t=431>.
  
• Sagan, Carl. "Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot." YouTube. Ed. Patrick Mylund Nielson. YouTube, 19 July 2011. Web. 29 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PN5JJDh78I>.
  
• "Simpsons Couch Gag on the the High School Classic "Powers of 10""CollegeHumor. N.p., 14 Mar. 2005. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.collegehumor.com/video/46485/this-is-so-funny>.

• Space Pt6. Perf. Victoria Vesna. N.p., 30 May 2012. Web. 29 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=13&v=VYmOtFjIj0M>.
  
• Thompson, Mike. "10 Alien Invasion Movies Worth Watching (and 5 to Avoid)." Metacritic. N.p., 09 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-and-worst-alien-invasion-movies>.