The part about purpose or mission, near the end, is key to understanding any sort of masculine endeavor. People have struggled for decades to justify space exploration, at least sending humans (robots can do it so much better!). It's been a big divide in the space community. But I get exasperated with folks struggling to come up with some explanation like, "By exploring the Moon we'll get a better understanding of the origins of the Solar System." Probably, but why can't we just say we want to go there, and then build there?
What's made Elon stand out is he's not afraid to say that, that he wants to send large numbers of people to live on Mars. Whether that's the best strategy is debatable, but at least he's thinking in dominion terms, even if he doesn't realize it (but did, recently, admit to being a cultural Christian).
Great piece, and thank you for sharing a movie review, do keep it up! Unfortunately, I’m at the point where I just can’t watch a movie where a kid dies, so I’ll have to trust y’all on this one.
The downside to the astronauts as you pointed out was that they were often poor family men. I think The Right Stuff (1984) demonstrated this more aptly than The First Man. Many of the first astronauts
divorced the wives who endured the space race with them. For Christian men this might make the astronauts poor role models. Yes, they did incredible things. But in the end the covenant you share with your wife, and duty to your children is far more important than technical achievements.
I didn't see the movie so I don't know how it treated his parenting skills, but a case can be made that a wise father who is busy outside the home, not just to make another dollar or to crawl up one more rung on the status ladder, but in pursuit of greatness can provide for his children a role model of hard work and bravery. The marriage covenant requires time with the family, but it also requires that the father be outside the family, engaging with the world. It takes both mother and father and much care and prayer to make this work. Was the moon shot a great cause? I'd like to think so.
This is a fantastic piece. I initially was dismissive of yet another movie review in my inbox, but then I saw your point and thought it was incredibly compelling. Samuel D. James recently wrote, "All [these psycho-political] strategies, whatever their merits, have one thing in common: they push a man’s gaze inward. They are invitations for men to look at themselves one more time, to make their economic or ideological or sexual success the measure of their life.... It is important that George [Bailey] does not come back to his senses because he has now been filled with a high opinion of himself. Instead, he realizes that there is something greater than himself at all."
That last line speaks volumes, and I think we live in a white collar where everything feels optional and customer satisfaction is at a premium. This is not true of the blue collar trades, since survival is more front and center to the mission. Either we build the house safely or we die, and that's more important than your comfort.
Anyway, this is a fantastic article. Thanks for writing it.
Thank you so much for your kind words! This is a topic that means a lot to me too. So it was really cathartic to write about. I'm glad that it resonated as much with you as it did me.
The part about purpose or mission, near the end, is key to understanding any sort of masculine endeavor. People have struggled for decades to justify space exploration, at least sending humans (robots can do it so much better!). It's been a big divide in the space community. But I get exasperated with folks struggling to come up with some explanation like, "By exploring the Moon we'll get a better understanding of the origins of the Solar System." Probably, but why can't we just say we want to go there, and then build there?
What's made Elon stand out is he's not afraid to say that, that he wants to send large numbers of people to live on Mars. Whether that's the best strategy is debatable, but at least he's thinking in dominion terms, even if he doesn't realize it (but did, recently, admit to being a cultural Christian).
Great piece, and thank you for sharing a movie review, do keep it up! Unfortunately, I’m at the point where I just can’t watch a movie where a kid dies, so I’ll have to trust y’all on this one.
The downside to the astronauts as you pointed out was that they were often poor family men. I think The Right Stuff (1984) demonstrated this more aptly than The First Man. Many of the first astronauts
divorced the wives who endured the space race with them. For Christian men this might make the astronauts poor role models. Yes, they did incredible things. But in the end the covenant you share with your wife, and duty to your children is far more important than technical achievements.
I didn't see the movie so I don't know how it treated his parenting skills, but a case can be made that a wise father who is busy outside the home, not just to make another dollar or to crawl up one more rung on the status ladder, but in pursuit of greatness can provide for his children a role model of hard work and bravery. The marriage covenant requires time with the family, but it also requires that the father be outside the family, engaging with the world. It takes both mother and father and much care and prayer to make this work. Was the moon shot a great cause? I'd like to think so.
Never heard of the movie...now I'm going to find it and watch it.
I’ve long thought The First Man was an excellent film. The fact that Gosling is both Armstrong and Ken in the Barbie film is too rich for words.
This is a fantastic piece. I initially was dismissive of yet another movie review in my inbox, but then I saw your point and thought it was incredibly compelling. Samuel D. James recently wrote, "All [these psycho-political] strategies, whatever their merits, have one thing in common: they push a man’s gaze inward. They are invitations for men to look at themselves one more time, to make their economic or ideological or sexual success the measure of their life.... It is important that George [Bailey] does not come back to his senses because he has now been filled with a high opinion of himself. Instead, he realizes that there is something greater than himself at all."
That last line speaks volumes, and I think we live in a white collar where everything feels optional and customer satisfaction is at a premium. This is not true of the blue collar trades, since survival is more front and center to the mission. Either we build the house safely or we die, and that's more important than your comfort.
Anyway, this is a fantastic article. Thanks for writing it.
Thank you so much for your kind words! This is a topic that means a lot to me too. So it was really cathartic to write about. I'm glad that it resonated as much with you as it did me.
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.