Alex Boyd

Professor Rob Cole

ENC 2135

29 January 2017

Make Him Stay: A Genre Analysis of Interstellar

Often, a single scene can perfectly represent a whole movie or television show. It

captivates the audience in such a way that they can put together the loose pieces and make a

connection to the rest of the movie. It is often the one scene that is thought of when that movie is

brought up. For the movie, Interstellar, this scene is the make him stay scene. Interstellar is a

science-fiction space thriller movie that takes place in the future. Food is running out on Earth,

so the main character, Cooper, decides to leave his family to captain a space mission with plans

to find a new home for humanity. The make him stay scene makes connections back to when

Cooper decides to leave his family, which makes it one of the more memorable scenes

Interstellar. It also portrays a ton of emotion and adventure, while making the audience

contemplate what is happening. Not only is the make him stay scene a great example of what

Interstellar is about, but it is also the perfect example of genre and what its components are.

In the make him stay scene, Cooper is sucked into a black hole and ends up in another

dimension where he can see moments from the past occurring through a wall. Cooper sees

himself leaving his daughter, Murph, behind and screams to her to Make him stay. It is also at

this moment that Cooper and Murph realize that he was the ghost behind the bookshelf at the

beginning, while behind different dimensions. Cooper also learns that gravity was exerted across

space-time and uses his situation to send a message to his daughter, Murph. He sends the
coordinates of NASA to Murph and himself. Because he does this, Murph is able to save

humanity.

One of the reasons why the make him stay scene is a perfect example of genre is

because it crosses over multiple genres. Just like the movie as a whole, the Make him stay

scene falls under the science-fiction space thriller genre. Although this genre is very specific, it

still has certain characteristics that a work must meet to be in this genre. This scene, as well as

the movie, is a great example of these characteristics. One of the more important characteristics

it meets is science fiction. Interstellar perfectly represents the genre of science fiction because

the science in the film is sound, but the film is still fiction. Although its based on some what

ifs, the science included in Interstellar is believable and mostly correct. The make him stay

scene is a great example of this. During the scene, Cooper is sucked into a black hole. Because a

black whole is a large whole with a strong gravitational pull, the film meets the science

requirement of science-fiction. It is also very clear that the scene is fiction, which allows the

scene, and the film, to be labeled in the science-fiction genre.

Genre not only functions as a way to categorize similar works of media or text, but also

as a way for audiences to compare the work to others. This helps them figure out what the movie

will generally be about. Genre allows people to quickly decide whether they fit into the

designated target audience. The movie Interstellar helps to demonstrate this. By looking at its

genre, science-fiction space thriller, potential audience members could compare it to other films

within that genre. This is one way in which Interstellar shows why genre is important. Genre

affects everyone without them even knowing. When a person is looking for a movie to rent, they

often know what type of movie they want to watch. By dividing the movies into genres and

different categories, people can make sure that they are a part of the audience that the movie is
targeted at. Genre is also important for those writing a text or creating media. Composers also

use genre to determine the target audience for their work. Through the use of genre, a composer

can draw a connection between the type of audience they are addressing or targeting and how to

compose their work. Interstellar also helps to prove that genre is important for composers as

well. As stated previously, the film is a science-fiction space thriller. By creating a movie in this

genre, the director, Christopher Nolan, is creating a film for an audience that loves that type of

genre. Because we know what the genre is, we are able to determine the target audience as

science fiction lovers, or even just people who like action packed movies. By determining your

audience, you can determine what genre your work is and vice versa.

Interstellars purpose is not only to entertain but to keep the audience on the edge of their

seats and to keep them in suspense. The purpose of the film is also easily seen in the make him

stay scene. During the scene, viewers learn that Cooper was the ghost from the beginning. This

keeps them on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what is going to happen. The audience also

gets a feeling of thrill and an adrenaline rush. By looking closely at this scene, one could

determine that the purpose Interstellar is to be suspenseful and keep them on the edge of their

seats. The purpose of a film is also important in genre. The purpose of the film can distinguish it

from two separate genres. Because the purpose of Interstellar is to be suspenseful, it would be in

a different genre than a space film that is meant to inform the viewers. The film shows why genre

is so important and how the purpose of the film affects genre.

As stated previously, the reason this artifact stands out in relation to genre is because of

how many different genres it can be categorized under. Interstellar can be labeled under a range

of genres as broad as a form of media or a film, to one as specific as a science-fiction space

thriller. Just like most pieces of work, Interstellar is not just limited to one or two genres.
Interstellars affordances allow it to cross over multiple genres. One such affordance is how

Interstellar has many different stories going on at the same time. The film not only shows the

astronauts trip to find a new planet to live on, but it also follows the conflicts between Cooper,

the main character, and his family, as shown in the make him stay scene. The film shows how

the astronauts struggle to leave the ones they love and their fight to return to them. Because of

the overlapping storylines, Interstellar is also able to overlap genres. In addition to its

affordances, Interstellar also has some constraints that limit it from being labeled under certain

genres. The most obvious constraint is that Interstellar is fiction. The fact that Interstellar is

fiction limits it from being labeled under genres such as non-fiction. Another constraint is that

the film takes place in the future. This limits the film from being categorized in the historical

fiction or historical drama genres.

The simple definition of genre is that its a category under which similar types of

composition are placed under, but there is much more to it than that. Most works overlap

multiple genres. Some genres limit the work from being categorized under a specific genre while

others allow it to be labeled under another. Because Interstellar has multiple story lines

occurring and overlapping each other, it is also labeled under multiple genres. Interstellar is in

the science-fiction genre because although it is a fictional story, the science included in the film

is correct and sound. It is in the space genre because a lot of the movie takes place in space. It is

in the thriller genre because of all the suspense and twists and turns in the plot. Interstellar can

be labeled under so many genres because genre does not necessarily have a strict set of rules.

Genre is a vague summary of a work of art and a way to compare it to similar works of art.
 Rhetorical Rationale

The first thing I did to start the composing process was to search for an artifact to write

about. Initially, I decided I was going to use a scene from Prison Break as my artifact. I wrote a

proposal stating that this scene was a good example of genre because I thought that it could be

labeled under multiple genres. I tried to write down an outline and start writing using Prison

Break as my artifact but I felt that I did not have enough ideas to write my paper. I then decided

on using the movie Interstellar after watching the movie and thinking about how it could be

labeled under many different genres. After writing my first draft and having it reviewed by Mr.

Cole and my peers, I realized that there was a lot of revision and changes that I had to make to

my paper. One of which was focusing more on the artifact. In my first draft, I did not write

enough about the movie, Interstellar, and why it is related to genre. In the next draft, I made sure

that I added more about the artifact and how it represents genre. The next major thing I had to

change was writing about a specific scene. This was a major change to my whole paper because I

analyzed the scene through genre instead of analyzing the whole movie. My peers gave me this

suggestion during peer review and I agreed that it would be easier to analyze a single scene and

compare it to genre than analyzing the entire movie. Lastly, I completely rewrote my

introduction and conclusion. In my first draft, I had to delete a few sentences from the

introduction. I thought that a whole new introduction would be better so I rewrote a new intro.

On the conclusion on my first draft, I basically restated my thesis and intro. While writing my

second draft I decided to move my definition of genre to the conclusion. I also changed

sentences that were restating the thesis.

Works Cited

Jay M. Interstellar - Make Him Stay Murph Scene 1080p HD. Online video clip. YouTube.

March 21, 2015. Web. January 26, 2017.

Interstellar. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Matthew McConaughey. 2014. Amazon Prime Video.

25 January 2017.