One thing that Scientists do better than almost anyone else is assume that they are qualified in realms that they are not. That sounds harsh but think about it: A scientist is bound to an empirical method and most of them don't bother to do much more than dabble in philosophical pursuits, the same way that most philosophers never do much serious study of the natural sciences. A philosopher, however, is never going to assume he's a qualified physicist, but the reverse is quite false.
So we need to approach their presentation of love with some degree of skepticism. That said, their discussion is rather scientific. Why do we love? How did our capacity for love evolve? What selective advantage does love provide?
Mathew Mcconaughey starts off the conversation saying it provides "social utility," preserves bonds and such, but is forced to concede that there is no social utility in loving people who have died.
The conversation picks up again when Matt Damon's character says that our children are the last thing we see before we die. Why? Because that gives us a reason to stay alive. Up until this point, love is accepted to be more or less a sensible phenomenon in terms of natural selection. It provides incentives to stay alive and helps preserve a strong social structure.
At this point it's only fair to object that science has overstepped its bounds. It's describing a feeling any mammal can have and equating that feeling with what a father feels for his lost children or a lover for her dead partner.
But this is where Interstellar comes through: it acknowledges that love is altogether excessive, overstepping the bounds of any rational species bent on its own survival.
What does it conclude? In as many words Interstellar makes the case that love is an artifact from a higher dimension. There is no explaining the existence of love as it is, and here I think we see a guess ventured by the screenwriters, many of whom were accomplished scientists. If it sounds like the typical cop out that ____ is simply something we can't yet understand with science that's because it is. But Interstellar presents love alongside the discovery of the nature of gravitational singularities and space-time travel, using the context of the film to demonstrate their point as best they can.
At the end of the movie, Mcconaughey's character asks his daughter how she knew he would come back. She tells him, "Because my daddy promised me." This isn't meant to be a sentimental moment so much as a fact. Love in their vision provides an irrational yet accurate communication of nature in a way our lower dimensional species cannot understand. Love is a tool as far as the writer is concerned, but it is the most powerful tool we have as humans, transcending our own nature and the laws of natural selection.
I'll get back to Tolkien in another day or two, but Christopher Nolan's films are always a good break, and worth an excessive number of re-watches.
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