The Gravity of PhD Qualifiers

"They ask if I’m happy and elated by its [Gravity’s] success and all of this. For me, it’s like the fox who has been chased by hounds for four and a half years, and then the fox gets away. Is the fox happy? The fox is happy when he is frolicking with another fox, playing with the cubs in the meadow, mating, but when he escapes it’s just relief. That’s not happiness." 

Alfonso Cuarón

When I first read this quote a few days ago, I couldn’t get it completely. I mean the movie has earned him almost half a billion dollars (as a producer) and brilliant critical ratings (as a director) - all of which he rightly deserves. But then I explained myself that, well he’s a great artist and he can go about saying whatever he likes to say.

I had savored two other works of Cuarón (HP3, and Children of Men) earlier, so I had a good deal of expectations from him before I entered the movie theater today. And, amazingly he did live up to the hype; he’s proved once again that he’s one of the few brilliant directors in Hollywood. Especially, considering that he achieved this with a sci-fi plot, a category which Hollywood exploits and sells ridiculously now and then (read Ender’s Game). And I guess I shouldn’t get started on the all the fantasy/superhero Hollywood crap always floating around (read Thor: The Dark World). Oh wait, but that’s just what people like - mindless action - don’t they? Bollywood too follows closely here. Krrish 3, which couldn’t get worse, made, what, 500 crores?

So yes, overall, I’m stunned with Gravity. To go into a theater with a hell lot of expectations and to come out in agreeable humor is a sign that the movie was indeed brilliant. Hat’s off to Cuarón for pulling it off. A few hours before the movie, I finished my qualifying exam which branded me officially capable of working towards getting a PhD. It was near the end, when the committee congratulated me for passing the exam and discussed a bit about my future research work, that Cuarón’s quote above started making sense. I realized then, instantaneously, and I realize now, passively. That’s it’s not always happiness which is the end product of success.

I’m not happy that I passed. I’m simply relieved. My breaths are deep and long. But I know that the hounds are still out there. I’ll have to keep fighting, no matter what. The relief is just temporary, and the thrill will resume soon.