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Project Hail Mary, MacGyver and Frontier Spirit
Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir will be published in March 2021 and will be a science fiction novel that has created a great deal of buzz around the world.
In “Project Hail Mary,” the story begins as follows
One day, the main character, Ryland Grace, wakes up on a lonely spaceship with no memory. He remembers that he is a scientist and that he was sent out to acquire the information necessary for a mission to save the Earth.
Here he finds himself alone, on a planet far from Earth, remembering his purpose and searching for a way to save the planet. In the process, he also encounters creatures from other celestial bodies and tries to solve their problems as well.
This story of a single man working alone from scratch to solve problems one by one based on a hypothesis can be compared to the “frontier spirit” of American society, a spirit of continual challenge in the face of difficult situations, a willingness to go it alone, and a culture that values hard work and ingenuity. The frontier spirit here refers to the spirit of exploration, adventure, and challenge that was formed during America’s pioneering days in the West.
Christianity, a religion deeply rooted in American history and culture, emphasizes values such as love, tolerance, mercy, justice, peace, and self-sacrifice, and as stated in “Reading Augustine’s Confessions: The Core of Christianity,” life is an “uninterrupted trial. As stated in “Reading Augustine’s Confessions” in “Reading the Core of Christianity,” life is an “uninterrupted trial,” an idea that allows us to love others at the expense of ourselves even in the face of difficult circumstances, while at the same time emphasizing self-determination and individualism. This ideology is also consistent with the frontier spirit’s values of courage, self-sacrifice, and individualism.
In other words, “Project Hail Mary” can be superimposed on this very American “frontier spirit” and “Christian ideology,” and it is no wonder that it is widely accepted in the United States. A similar story can be found in the science fiction novel “The Martian” by Andy Weir, which became a bestseller and a movie starring Matt Damon (the novel is set in the distant future on Mars. (The novel is set in the distant future on Mars and tells the story of a lone Mars explorer who is stranded alone on Mars and is running out of food, water, oxygen, and other resources necessary for survival on Mars, but he uses his knowledge and skills to continue to survive on Mars, repair various equipment to help himself, grow crops, repair communications equipment, and wait to be rescued. and waiting to be rescued).
A film adaptation of “Project Hail Mary” is also planned, reportedly to be released in 2023. The film is said to star Ryan Gosling.
He fits the image of Ryland Grace, the novel’s protagonist.
This frontier spirit also has something in common with Zen thought.” As noted in “Zen Thought and History, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity,” Zen thought focuses on exploration, self-overcoming, purposeful focus, spiritual freedom, and inner growth, always moving forward, not stuck in the present. This stance is identical to that of the frontier spirit, and it is evident that there is some overlap between the two concepts.
However, there is a difference between the two. That is, while frontier spirit emphasizes individualism and materialism, and stresses adaptation to a competitive society, Zen philosophy emphasizes harmony with the community and nature, and the pursuit of a state beyond the self. These differences can be attributed to the cultural background and historical circumstances in which the two concepts arose.
Finally, I would like to introduce a few TV dramas in which the American frontier mentality was on full display. Little House on the Prairie,” a drama series produced in the U.S. from 1974 to 1982, is a straightforward dramatization of the frontier spirit that depicts a family living in a covered wagon in the Midwest during the western frontier period.
The Japanese version of this drama was aired by NHK between 1975 and 1982, and has recently been shown on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
Next up is MacGyver the Adventurer.
This would be a TV drama that aired in the United States from 1985 to 1992 and was created by Richard Dean Anderson, who starred in the series. The story follows Angus MacGyver, a former ice hockey player, bomb squad member in the Vietnam War, and racer, as he uses his engineering talents to create various tricky devices to survive critical situations. He boasts a very broad scientific knowledge, including physics, chemistry, and engineering, and has the mental strength to get through any difficult situation “with an army knife, duct tape, and a quick wit, he can do anything,” making this drama a true “Project Hail Mary” or “The Martian.”
The drama is also being rebooted as “MACGYVER/MacGyver” from 2016 to 2021.
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