The politics of The Martian present a powerful counterpoint to the rise of anti-intellectualism in the United States. Whereas the heavy majority of big-budget space adventures set in present day or the near future pay little attention to scientific accuracy in the name of entertainment, The Martian is, at its core, about science. It is about the triumph of the scientific method and the value of education. Trapped alone on Mars, astronaut Mark Watney has to conduct what are essentially a series of real-world scientific experiments to survive. He has to figure out how to make water, how to grow food, how to communicate with NASA back on Earth, how to increase the battery life of his rover in order to get home. At the same time, scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory do the same – using hard math in order overcome their own series of obstacles to bring Mark
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Neither effort would have been successful on its own – and this the most potent pro-science argument the film makes: whether on Earth or on Mars, undertaken by a single individual alone or by a team of brilliant scientists with extensive resources – science
Neither effort would have been successful on its own – and this the most potent pro-science argument the film makes: whether on Earth or on Mars, undertaken by a single individual alone or by a team of brilliant scientists with extensive resources – science