I watched Silent Running again the other night, the 1972 cult classic directed by Douglas Trumbull and starring Bruce Dern. Trumbull created the Visual Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Blade Runner, among others. The effects hold up well after forty plus years, but it’s the story and the characters that always bring me back. In 1972, the idea of one man standing against his friends, shipmates, and a society gone terribly wrong was not considered as naïve or as irrelevant as it seems today. It seemed noble, and I was young enough when I first saw it that some of that idealism stuck with me.
Today, I don’t mind hearing other's political opinions or their preferred solutions to social problems. I’m just happy they have opinions. So many seem distracted, unaware of what’s happening in their state, country, or the world. It makes me miss 1972 just a little.
I created this small diorama today of one of the drones from the movie. I’ll keep it on my desk to remind me that ideas matter and are worth fighting for. Color me cheerfully naïve.
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