I saw the feature film The Martian this evening. Besides being a great and entertaining movie, there was a strong, “Grounded” message that was contained within it. First, it is clear that Matt Damon’s character in the movie is dealing with an unexpected event, which is being left behind on Mars. He immediately starts thinking and working towards how he is going to survive four years on that desolate planet. He kept his head and came up with ingenious ways to remain alive.
Those back on earth struggle with how they are going to rescue him and, in the end, the head of NASA makes what seems to be a well-thought-out business decision. But, the crew of the ship returning to earth decides to abort their return and go pick up their crewmate. In other words, they thought more about one another than of themselves.
Now, there are plenty of examples of where the left behind “Martian” first reacted out in instinct instead of responding rationally. Particularly, this occurs with the smarmy communication back to NASA and also with a couple of moments of understandable frustration. But, the overall message is that there was a reasoned response to the event rather than just a reaction. This film showed viewers successful tactics in handling a stressful situation: remain calm, respond before reacting, and regard other’s interests over our own. These allowed the crew to retrieve their shipwrecked crewmate and successfully return to earth. The crew was truly Grounded!