#phm analysis

The first time:

He is surrounded by white (bravery) and is wearing yellow (cowardice)

The world is telling him to be brave, but he can’t, not yet, because he is a coward.

He has lost his identity and autonomy

The decision is already made (he must die)

He is all alone (he doesn’t have the bravery gene)

The second time:

He is surrounded by yellow (cowardice) and is wearing white (bravery)

He is in the middle of his namesake: a field of rye. The field is the yellow of cowardice; that is who he was, but he can’t be that, not anymore, because he is brave.

You know who you are. You’ll do great.

The decision is already made (Rocky must live)

I’ve seen a few posts pointing out how Stratt walks into Grace’s classroom beneath all those flags, visually representing the whole world. I love that imagery so much, and honestly, the whole scene!! It tells you exactly who these two people are and what their dynamic will be. Stratt, carrying the weight of the world, is very straightforward: she doesn’t play games, she’s not afraid to ask for help, and she immediately tells Grace who she is and why she’s there. Grace, on the other hand, showcases his “cowardice” from the very first moment. The hesitant “maybe?” when Stratt asks if he’s Dr Grace, the way he glances down and then back up to check if the scary lady is still there, it’s like he’s trying to leave himself an escape route in case the conversation becomes too real! He doesn’t even want to fully own his own name if it means he needs to take responsibility for something. It’s such a good dynamic, and of course it’s wonderfully portrayed by Sandra Hüller and Ryan Gosling. Ryland’s nervous little glances that make him look like a kid who’s been caught doing something wrong, and Stratt’s no-nonsense presence that just cuts right through it??? A masterclass!

Have I mentioned that I love them so much??

Obviously like okay it makes sense that Iron Lung and pmh are being put together. They're both unwilling people who were forced to go somewhere by themselves to possibly do something for the good of humanity. But I do think they're fundamentally different. Besides the genre ofc.

I feel like a lot of people talk about Simon's choice to send the blackbox data was like, really beautiful and his first real decision and it shows his humanity and all the things. And that just... doesn't sit right with me? He was indoctrinated his entire life. He grew up in a cult that shaped all of his beliefs until he dared defy them and wound up in prison for over a decade. He was forced into the blood ocean to find the information that he could and was constantly told that he would return and that he would survive and that it was more than him. "More than you" is said throughout the entire film. I don't think him choosing to send the data is him making a choice of his own.

I've never really liked the idea of "the first choice of their own" being... just choosing the thing that everyone around them wants them to do except... willingly instead of being forced. And I don't think Iron Lung is doing this. Simon is coerced and forced throughout the entirety of the movie. Throughout the entirety of his life. The only time he defied that, so many people died and he was put in prison for the rest of his life. The only time he made his own choice, terrible things befell him. I don't think it's beautiful that he sends the data up at the end. I think it's tragic. I think he is once again being convinced that something is more important than him when, in reality, not a single one of these trips has ever yielded anything helpful. They say it's more than him because the COI says it's more than him, but realistically... is it? Will they ever find anything useful? Based on Ava's words we don't even know if they were actually able to retrieve the data.

While Simon technically "chooses" to send it... he's still influenced. It's not a choice he made it's a choice he was convinced he had to do. He doesn't ever make a choice that his own because his entire life he has been indoctrinated into others' beliefs. He has no choice, he has no peace.

Grace... is also forced. He worked on the project, yes. He was interested in the project, but he didn't understand it. Or, he didn't understand how people would be willing to die like that. He is physically forced into the position, and for the majority of it he doesn't even know that. He's just assumed that he had a reason to choose to, even though he knows he is not at peace with the fact that he will not return.

But when Grace chooses not to go home... it does feel like his choice. The movie says that to be willing to die you need to have someone you are willing to die for. Grace did not have that on earth. But he found Rocky and he bonded with him he found that he was someone he is willing to die for. So he didn't go home. That is his choice.

They are both forced on these missions. But I feel like everyone frames both of these movies as movies about a character who does not get a choice, but in the final moments of the movie finally get to make their choice. And I just don't think that's right.

Project Hail Mary is the story of a man who doesn't have a choice is forced to give his life for the possible good of humanity. It is about a man who finds someone he really connects with and cares about beyond anything. It is about a man who does get to make a decision by the end of the movie that is fully his own. And it's a wonderful ending because not only does he save Rocky - he lives. Just not on Earth. He carves out a home for himself and he does what he loves. He saves humanity and Eridians.

That is not what Iron Lung is about.

Iron Lung is also a movie about a man who does not have a choice and is forced to give his life for the possible good of humanity. It is a movie about a man who was indoctrinated his entire life, and is nothing but abused throughout the entire run of the movie. It is about a man who ultimately does everything that is asked of him because what else would he do? And it's tragic because he does not get grace or peace from it. He dies. (i'm aware there's a lot of theories about what happens i'm not talking about those) He gives his life for a cause that is extremely likely to always be futile.

And like??? That's beautiful. I love the differences. I think that makes the idea of their interaction even more interesting. They have a lot of similarities in their origins but their stories are different. And I think Rocky is a really big part of that. Rocky is what made Grace be able to have a choice. If he hadn't met Rocky, he would have died. He probably wouldn't have saved anyone. There would be no choice to make. But because he met someone who he decided he was willing to die for, he did have a choice. Simon didn't have that. We don't know if Simon ever had a real friend. If he ever had anyone he could depend on. But in the runtime of the movie? Definitely not. He didn't have anything to be able to make that choice because he had no one to make the choice for.

There's definitely the argument of for humanity. And honestly that is valid. He cares deeply about humanity, and I think in that sense it was a choice. I do think he wanted to save them because he's just so full of hope and love for people. But I do still think that it is ultimately nothing but tragic, because that hope goes nowhere. There is no hope for him. You can argue that he makes a choice, but he only makes a choice for an abstract idea of something he could love. Of something that could love him.

Grace first passes it to the kids, his students, and they play Earth is Lava with it. The Earth’s future, their survival is in their hands, but not completely, not as much as it should be. They can try, the next generation, but it will be futile. The Sun will die and the Earth will die with it. The child passes it back to him and, attempting to pass it to another kid, they toss it right back at him while asking about their future, about the Petrova line.

Next time we see it, it’s in the little basket on his desk when Stratt comes in. It’s in nobody’s hands — the decision to help hasn’t been made yet. Then Stratt picks it up of her own accord, the Earth in her hands, and Grace tells her not to touch it, to leave it alone, it’s made of lava, but she tells him “it’s not lava”. It’s not what you say it is; I’m right to pick it up. If no one else will do it, I will.

I don’t believe it makes another appearance until the Hail Mary. Whoever packed his suitcase — it must have been Stratt, or at the very least, she had some sort of hand in it because the hackysack was there. Like her drugging him and forcing him onto that ship to go on a suicide mission for all of humanity, she packs the little Earth. He has no choice in it, it’s in his hands now with no one left to pass it off to. The fate of the world.

(It shows up a couple more time but I’d need to rewatch to get a better understanding of the nature of those scenes.)

Which makes it better that Grace gives Rocky the Earth hackysack after they find a solution to their Astrophage problem. But it’s not about the fate of the world anymore, it’s not Grace passing off this responsibility onto somebody else, this is about giving Rocky credit. It’s about sharing his world with Rocky, just as Rocky will later share his world with Grace.

It’s about how Grace giving Rocky the Earth hackysack was the first time it was passed hand to hand, person to person, with acceptance from both sides. It’s about how, before this moment, the Earth toy was either forced on somebody unwillingly or taken without consent.

Or that one scene in the book where Grace is arguing with Lokken and she's just silent. And when Lokken starts explaining the centrifuge, she takes a notably slower amount of time understanding them Ryland does.

eva stratt wears black or other dark shades the entire film, visually contrasting basically every other character (excluding those in a uniform). i can't help framing it alongside the use of the dies irae motif in the soundtrack - death is a fundamental part of her work and it weighs on her at all times. it's her armor and strength, the wall separating her from everyone else, the reaper, the wolf, the mourning dress, the end her astronauts will find in space and the grave dirt of those on earth.

it's particularly fascinating that, talking to grace three days before the launch, stratt is shrouded in black moreso than ever before. she knows the weight of the mission and that there will be no going back. she is acutely aware that what comes after isn't 30 years of peace and hope, but unavoidable tragedy and hard choices no matter what. but it's also the narrative clearly telling us what's about to happen - death is clutching more tightly than they realise and it will force her hand that day.

contrast this with grace's colours- oranges, yellows (with their own layer of symbolism), blues, and cream/white. he is warm and vibrant and alive and always wearing his heart on his sleeve. but white in particular is notable as a contrast to stratt's black hues. it's hope and bravery, it's his memory loss, a layer of grace's own detachment from the world despite containing every color, the lamb to the slaughter, the astronauts' ultimate sacrifice. i might have missed it elsewhere, but i think the only times grace wears the white flight suit is after getting drugged on earth and when sacrificing himself to go back and save rocky - notable for the latter being his choice.

stratt also wears a coat when she needs to be official and show leadership (recruiting grace, the warship conference, the meeting room ultimatum) and sheds it in moments of greater vulnerability. the last time grace sees her, she's coatless - but it's also the only scene the audience gets with her wearing a light grey. death is still there and on some level she's still the wolf, but she has made herself vulnerable to try and connect with grace, to try to make him understand. she is so very aware of what she's doing, that they are both sacrifices to the cause, and for better or worse she has just as little choice as he does in that moment. there are endless possibilites and yet only one path saves the flock, and she has to take it.

First of all, I know embarrassingly little about music theory for how long I've been playing musical instruments (which is most of my life). But I have a piano, I can play by ear, and Project Hail Mary has consumed my life. This isn't a crazy deep analysis, but I haven't been able to listen to the soundtrack the same since realizing these.

There are two main themes I've noticed (and I know there are more, I just haven't found them). I'm calling them the Life is Reason theme and the Ryland Grace theme. I don't know if there are more "official" names for these themes—they're just what I've been calling them.