The Theory of Everything
Have you watched The Theory of Everything yet? It took me a while to watch this biopic about the great physicist Stephen Hawking because he's a role model for me.
You probably know that Prof Hawking wrote the bestselling 'A Brief History of Time', and that he has Motor Neuron Disease.
To understand the film, I needed to see the credits at the end. The film's based on a memoir by Prof Hawking's first wife Jane. So it's a love story from her point of view.
Until I saw that credit I was ready to criticise the film for showing mainly the carer's experience. Little about the disabled person's experience. Both are important, very important.
To me the most moving scenes show the ways Stephen, then Dr Hawking, then Prof Hawking lived and continues to live his life. The time he tries to climb stairs to his young child, but can't climb. The time he says to Jane, in their now-downstairs bedroom, 'This is temporary.' The time his nurse asks Jane to leave the room and 'give [them] a moment.'
I wanted more about how it feels to change from a student dancing in a college garden to somebody wheeling along a cloister. How it feels to give lectures from a wheelchair, and to become famous for your scientific brilliance.
When I saw the credit to Jane's memoir I felt differently. Prof Hawking deserves his fame and her love.
You probably know that Prof Hawking wrote the bestselling 'A Brief History of Time', and that he has Motor Neuron Disease.
To understand the film, I needed to see the credits at the end. The film's based on a memoir by Prof Hawking's first wife Jane. So it's a love story from her point of view.
Until I saw that credit I was ready to criticise the film for showing mainly the carer's experience. Little about the disabled person's experience. Both are important, very important.
To me the most moving scenes show the ways Stephen, then Dr Hawking, then Prof Hawking lived and continues to live his life. The time he tries to climb stairs to his young child, but can't climb. The time he says to Jane, in their now-downstairs bedroom, 'This is temporary.' The time his nurse asks Jane to leave the room and 'give [them] a moment.'
I wanted more about how it feels to change from a student dancing in a college garden to somebody wheeling along a cloister. How it feels to give lectures from a wheelchair, and to become famous for your scientific brilliance.
When I saw the credit to Jane's memoir I felt differently. Prof Hawking deserves his fame and her love.