¶ … Earth A Symbolic Analysis of Another Earth

Movies, for better or for worse, are a reflection of popular culture in one way or another; mainstream films tend to show exactly what a culture likes to consume, while more "independent" or at times "experimental" films reflect culture from other perspectives that are perhaps not the dominant voices in society. Either way, however, films cannot help but provide some insight into who we are, what we desire, and what our world looks like. Examining films in with this understanding and in this context provides some very interesting insights into our culture and ourselves, and how we are likely to respond to changing circumstances and possible realities. The film Another Earth does this quite explicitly, as the following analysis of the film in light of other social commentary shows.

The central conceit of this science fiction film from writer/director Mike Cahill (co-authored by lead actress Brit Marling) is that, as the title implies, another Earth has been found that mirrors the Earth we occupy. Over the course of the film, Marling's character Rhoda causes the death of a man's wife and son in a drunk driving incident -- something completely out of character for Rhoda -- and she befriends the husband/father, John, under false pretenses. As their relationship grows so does Rhoda's anxiety...

The other Earth might have the twins of John's wife and child, Rhoda learns, and ultimately she sends him to the mirror planet in her stead, in an attempt to atone for her actions and to give John another chance at the life she took from him.
There are many ways that this film can be interpreted, but above all it is clear that Rhoda seeks some way to make things right -- to undo the decision that she made, and in a sense to create a separation from her history. This could be very directly related to the pace of change experienced in the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, when the "hurricane of change has threatened to cut us loose from the past so decisively that it has transformed how we think about history itself" (Christian, p. 442). In other words, the rate at which technological and even political and social events occur is much faster than at any other point in human history, and this makes the lack of control in our lives an especially pressing aspect of the modern human condition. Gaining this control or even simply gaining the knowledge that there is the potential to undo actions, or to choose a different course than the one our previous actions has inevitably set us…