This week I saw Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, and walking out of the theater I couldn’t help but draw parallels between that and Zulus. Like Zulus, Interstellar takes place in a future dystopian Earth corrupted by its past inhabitants. The planet can no longer sustain its population and it is up to the protagonist (Matthew McConaughey) to save the world, similarly to Alice Achitophel. What I found to be the most interesting about this movie is that it questions the human perception of time and space; are we limited to only three dimensions? To capture the essence of Zulus, one must look beyond the conventional “dimensions” of close reading. Pericival Everett includes so many minute details in his novel that may or may not contribute to the general understanding of it. For example, one may research every aspect of his chapter titles and may not understand Zulus in the least bit more. In Interstellar, the characters were looking so narrowly for the “key to survival” when the answer was broadly staring them in the face. The word dimension automatically associates itself with discipline in my head. As English majors, we look for answers beyond our own dimension/discipline. Anyway, I thought the movie was phenomenal and everyone should see it because it is so similar to Zulus!
English Majors Practising Criticism