Movie Analysis (Part 4): “Gravity”

Scott Myers

29 May 2014 • 8 min read

This week, I’m going through the script for the movie Gravity, excerpting every scene that touches on its primary ‘small’ story: Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) dealing with her grief related to the death of her young daughter. I laid out my rationale for this exercise in Part 1 of the series:

I’m not suggesting the small story in Gravity is wholly responsible for its ginormous box office success. What I am saying is this:

* At least some of the positive BWOM (By Word Of Mouth) about this movie derived from the audience’s emotional connection with a mother who has lost her child and is forced to cope with her grief under remarkable circumstances.

* If the filmmakers themselves looked at the movie as a metaphor for the Protagonist dealing with her personal issues, then it makes sense for us to think about the story that way as well.

* No spectacle movie can be considered to be great unless it has a compelling small story at work in it.

Here is what I propose: Over the next week, I’m going to go through the script for Gravity and strip out every single scene that references the movie’s small story. In that process, I am going to focus on three dynamics:

1. The overall arc of that subplot moving from Beginning to End.

2. How the metaphor of outer space services the psychological nature of this subplot.

3. Stone’s metamorphosis as she is forced to grapple with her grief.

More generally, I am hoping each of us will come away with an appreciation for the importance of the machinations of a story’s Internal World balanced against the entertainment value of all the action in its External World.

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the movie and don’t wish to know what happens, do not click on More. If you do want to track the series, I’ll see you below the fold.

Plot Summary: A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit.

Background: Dr. Ryan Stone is a biomedical engineer on her first Space Shuttle mission. She is accompanied by Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) and Shariff (voiced by Phaldut Sharma).

Here’s where we left off yesterday per the IMDB Plot Summary:

As Kowalski floats away, he radios her with additional instructions about how to get to the Chinese space station, encouraging her to continue her survival mission. Stone enters the ISS through an airlock and gets out of the spacesuit. She begins to get familiarized with the ISS when an alarm suddenly alerts her to a fire. She makes her way to the module where the fire is and attempts to put it out, but she is momentarily stunned when the force of the extinguisher thrusts her backward into the bulkhead. She recovers and knocks the flames down again and pushes through them towards the Soyuz. With the fire closing in, she closes the hatch, pulling in the fire extinguisher at the last moment when it blocks the hatch. She separates from the ISS only to find that the Soyuz’s parachute lines are entangled in the ISS. She dons a Soviet spacesuit and exits the spacecraft to release the cables when the debris field completes its orbit. Clinging to the Soyuz, the ISS is destroyed around her.

At this point, Ryan utters these words:

Ryan: I hate space.

Text: Outer space. Subtext: The vacuum created by her daughter’s death. Then:

Free of the ISS and the parachute lines, Stone reenters the spacecraft and aligns it with Tiangong. She fires the thrusters but the fuel gauge is wrong: the tanks are empty.

Here are today’s excerpts from the shooting script:

INT. SOYUZ - DAYThe edge of the window, which starts to gather frost and freeze over.RYAN (O.S.): (into radio; wavering voice, sniffs) Houston, this is Missish --
Mission Specialist Ryan Stone, do you copy?
ANINGAAQ (V.O.): (over radio) (Indistinct)THE TOP OF A CONTROL PANELA card depicting a Russian religious character is affixed to it.RYAN (O.S.): (into radio) Houston, Houston, please confirm identity.
ANINGAAQ (V.O.): (over radio) (Indistinct)
RYAN (O.S.): (into radio) Houston, you’re coming in over an A.M. frequency.
Copy.RYAN’S HELMET AND A FIRE EXTINGUISHERBoth floating in the air.RYAN (O.S.): (into radio) Do you copy? (pants) Is this the Chinese station?
Is this Tiangong? Copy.ANINGAAQ (V.O.): (over radio) (Inuit)
RYAN (O.S.): (into radio) Mayday, can you copy?RYANleaning toward the control panel, reacting as a transmission finally comes
through the radio.RYAN: (into radio) Mayday, mayday, mayday.
ANINGAAQ (V.O.): (over radio) (Inuit)
RYAN: (into radio; panting) Ma-- Yes, yes. Mayday, mayday. Mayday, mayday.
An-- (whispering) Anin-- Aningaaq, is that -- ? Is that your -- ? Is that
your name? Aningaaq is your -- is your name? Is that your name?
ANINGAAQ (V.O.): (over radio; in Tagalog) Mayday!
RYAN: (into radio) No, no, no. No, my name is not ‘Mayday.’ I’m Stone. Dr.
Ryan Stone, I need help. I am --She reacts as she hears dogs over the radio.RYAN: Wh-- Those are dogs. They’re calling from Earth. They’re calling
from Earth.Ryan sits back in her seat and moves her fingers, trying to keep them warm.RYAN: (into radio) Aningaaq, make your dogs bark again for me, would you
please? Your dogs. Dogs, you know. Woof, woof. Dogs.Aningaaq makes barking sounds, howls. Ryan makes howling sounds along with
him.RYAN: (into radio) Woof, woof. Whoo, whoo!Ryan starts crying.RYAN: (into radio; crying) Oh, I’m gonna die, Aningaaq. I know, we’re all
gonna die. Everybody knows that. But I’m gonna die today. Funny, that. You
know, to know...Aningaaq starts to sing.RYAN: (into radio, crying) But the thing is, it’s that I’m still scared.
I’m really scared. Nobody will mourn for me, no one will pray for my soul.
Will you mourn for me? Will you say a prayer for me? Or is it too late?A tear falls from her eye, freezes, and floats. CAMERA RACK FOCUSES ON IT.RYAN: (into radio) I mean, I’d say one for myself, but I’ve never prayed in
my life, so... Nobody ever taught me how. Nobody ever taught me how.CAMERA RACK FOCUSES BACK ONRyan as she hears a baby over the radio. She reacts and cries, as she hears
Aningaaq singing.RYAN: (into radio) A baby. There’s a baby with you, huh? Is that a lullaby
you’re singing? (whispering) That’s so sweet. I used to sing to my baby. I
hope I see her soon.She leans over and presses a button on the control panel. CAMERA PANS WITH
her as she reaches up and switches off the lights. She turns some dials,
decreasing the oxygen in the cabin’s atmosphere, preparing to kill herself.The monitor, displaying the atmosphere levels and vital statistics of the
cabin. The oxygen meter drops rapidly as an alert sounds. Text under the
meter reads: “O2.”Ryan, now sitting back in the seat. She closes her eyes.RYAN: (into radio) That’s nice, Aningaaq. Keep singing, just like that.
(exhales sharply) Sing me to sleep, and I’ll sleep. Keep singing. And sing,
and sing.

Here is the scene from the movie:

This is where the ‘small story’ takes a theological turn. Naturally so. As a minister I knew once told me, “Dying men always find God.”

This theme is established at the head of the scene with this visual: A card depicting a Russian religious character is affixed to it. Indeed despite Ryan’s confession that she has never prayed before, the entire conversation between Ryan and Aningaaq is like a prayer, only in inverse: Ryan, the Human, is in the heavens. Aningaaq, the Divine Being, is on Earth.

The initial back and forth is played very much up top, Ryan desperate to determine who this person is and if he can be of some assistance to her in this time of crisis. For his part, Aningaaq has no idea of Ryan’s predicament.

Then a turn in the scene: Dogs barking. This is almost assuredly a vestige from the 2009 draft in which, as we noted in yesterday’s post, Ryan did not have a daughter, rather she owned a dog. Thus the presence of dogs in the previous draft would serve as a callback to Ryan’s own dog.

Here the moment is played differently than the 2009 draft. Specifically, she asks Aningaaq to “make your dogs bark for me.” My guess this is about Ryan wanting to hear another sound (other than Aningaaq’s voice) that reminds her of Earth.

Then Ryan begins to howl: “Woof, woof. Whoo, whoo!” And as opposed to the 2009 draft where the moment of barking by Ryan and Aningaaq results in shared laughter, here it leads to Ryan finally breaking down. It suggests the beginning of a transition point, where all of her psychic defenses have collapsed, and the howls she voices get her in touch with a primal part of her Self: Fear of death.

Here she confronts that prospect: “Oh, I’m gonna die, Aningaaq. I know, we’re all gonna die. Everybody knows that. But I’m gonna die today.” Death is staring her in the face, a tactile reality at this point. And this is where she tries to ‘find’ God: “But the thing is, it’s that I’m still scared. I’m really scared. Nobody will mourn for me, no one will pray for my soul. Will you mourn for me? Will you say a prayer for me? Or is it too late?”

In response, a moment of grace… in the form of a baby’s voice. Afraid of death and alone, with no philosophical or religious training of any sort to help handle her impending demise, Ryan is given a lifeline, something to which she can relate: a child.

I used to sing to my baby. I hope I see her soon.

Another turn in the scene as Ryan makes a choice: To die and be with her dead daughter. This suggests movement on two fronts with her character. First, she is willing to ‘detach’ herself from her grieving and move on. Second, she is open to believing in a reality that transcends what she can touch and see, beyond her rational scientific mind… which lays the groundwork for what happens next [to be discussed in tomorrow’s post].

Want to see the conversation between Ryan and Aningaaq from the Inuit’s perspective? Here is a featurette directed by Jonás Cuarón, who co-wrote the script for Gravity:

Aningaaq has some dialogue not in the script:

Aningaaq: Do you hear that? It's my dog Naanak. She's sick and in very bad
pain. There's nothing I can do but sacrifice her. Yes, I know it's normal. She's
a very old dog. But I can't give up on her. I can't say goodbye. I love that dog
so much."

“I can’t give up on her. I can’t say goodbye.” You can take this dialogue, give it to Ryan regarding her daughter, and it would fit like a glove. Here’s the thing: Unless we understand the Inuit language, we can not possibly know what Aningaaq is saying at this point in the movie… but it’s there… which means it is intentional on the part of the filmmakers. And the lines’ connection to Ryan’s psychic plight is indisputable.

Whether the ‘small story’ of Gravity worked for you emotionally or aesthetically, the critique some have offered — that this aspect of the narrative was somehow slapped on and is disconnected from the events of the plot — does not hold water. The Cuaróns embraced the idea that Ryan’s harrowing experiences in outer space were metaphorically tied to the fractured nature of her inner space related to her deceased daughter. As they said: Ryan’s psychological journey is one of rebirth.

How about you? What are your interpretations of what has transpired up to this point in the story? Do you feel it’s effective? Or not? If not, how would you have approached this ‘small’ story? Or maybe you have a different ‘small’ story you think would have worked better.

A reminder: As far as I’m concerned, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to an individual’s experience of a story, so if you liked or disliked Gravity, feel free to wade into the discussion. At the end of the day, I’m hoping this series will underscore the importance of stories having a compelling inner life.

Sign up for more like this.