Matt Damon’s critically acclaimed film The Martian earned him an Oscar nomination for his exemplary performance as the botanist Dr. Mark Watney, who was stranded on Mars after his crew thought he was dead. The gripping tale of survival had many fans at the edge of their seats, silently praying for the poor guy to finally get back home.
As with any survival film, there is the usual plot structure where the main character gets stuck somewhere and uses every resource to get out of that situation, hoping to come back to their loved ones. With The Martian, we didn’t see any of this.
Matt Damon on why The Martian avoided the ‘family’ trope
Based on Andy Weir’s 2011 novel, Ridley Scott’s The Martian saw Matt Damon rigorously transform himself into an astronaut struggling to survive on Mars. The job entailed not only physical but mental exertion as well. He perceived the novel as not about the chances of someone surviving on another planet but more of what kind of person can get through this.
Damon spoke with Variety to explain that Weir worked on his book in an unconventional way—he determined first that the survivor is a botanist before gradually shaping him as the narrative went on. It’s also important to remember that the author deliberately made Watney single for a specific purpose, and changing this for the sake of emotional investment wouldn’t do the movie justice.
I think a family or a wife at home or kids or something would’ve felt, in an odd way, kind of an extra layer of artificiality to the movie or a conceit or whatever. It’s a pretty lean, focused story. We talked about it but it just didn’t feel right. And it felt good that you don’t know what he’s trying to get back to.
It’s the mystery that viewers tried to decipher throughout the film, but at the end of it, we figured out that it is more of a plot-driven story than a character-focused one. The Martian isn’t about Watney, Damon confirmed. The survivor could be anyone, hence the idea of introducing Watney’s loved ones—the people we assume he needed to get back to on Earth—wouldn’t really serve the plot.
The Martian was never about surviving for a loved one
It’s a common trope in survival movies for the main character to have someone to return to once their critical journey is over, but Scott and Damon actively avoided this. However, at some point during the preparation, they did consider it believing it would add more factor in his determination to stay alive.
We can say that they made the right decision to opt out of this overused motif in cinema. It would have ruined the essence of the story and would have made a huge plot change. Watney survived by relying on his knowledge, and Damon was able to show the audience how he captured the mindset of a true NASA astronaut.
The Martian is currently available to watch on Disney+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
