“You have to watch it. It is so up your alley, it’s not even funny. They basically made this movie for you, Rachel, just watch it.”

Well, I finally watched it, okay? And darn it all, my friends were exactly right.

For anyone who may not know, Project Hail Mary follows Ryland Grace, who wakes up completely alone on a spaceship with no clue how he got there. He has to piece together who he was before and why he’s there. Oh, yeah, and he makes contact with an alien who teams up with him to complete his mission.

Per usual, there will be spoilers, so if you’re like I was and you haven’t seen this movie yet, approach with caution.

Project Hail Mary is a story about loneliness, connection, and humanity.

While Ryland clearly cares deeply about his students back on Earth, it doesn’t appear that he has very many friends. He tries to befriend his Hail Mary team members, but just when things start looking up, they, y’know, send him on a suicide space mission against his will. (To be fair, they had their reasons.) The project leader points out that he has “no children, no immediate family members, not even a dog.” She even cites this as a reason why he’s best suited for the mission—when he dies, no one will miss him.

But Ryland’s life wasn’t meaningless just because it was lonely. He may not have had the traditional life that many adults his age had. He may have been almost painfully awkward and lonely.

But the film shows us that his life was still worth fighting for. And it also shows us that no matter how alone he believed he was, more people cared about him than he thought. People did miss him when he was gone.

The value of his life wasn’t in how many friends he had or in anything he could do. His life mattered simply because he was human.

But he still ends up in space with two dead crewmates and no memories, even more alone than he was on Earth. He sorts through their belongings, unpacking photo after photo of them with people they love. Meanwhile, he has one photo of himself, alone. Even as he holds a funeral reminding his crewmates how loved they were, he can’t say the same of himself.

I highly doubt that any of us are stranded on a spaceship. (And if you are, maybe message me, I have a few questions and concerns.) But loneliness is weird like that. No matter how close you are to other humans, it’s easy to feel like you’re lightyears away.

Tagging on to my previous post about Spider-Man: Brand New Day (read that post here), this also feels like a particularly poignant problem for young adults, when it feels like all our friends are growing up and moving on and leaving us behind.

Enter Rocky.

An alien ship contacts Ryland, and he slowly learns how to communicate with the lifeform aboard. The alien, whom he dubs Rocky, is also alone in space, and has been for forty-something years. Eventually, the two figure out they were sent into space for the exact same reason.

But it doesn’t happen right away, and it takes a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication to get there. Ryland and Rocky come from two different planets. But they come to understand they have the same mission.
They might have the same loneliness, too.

Yeah, so the movie is about them trying to save the world with the power of friendship.  

As Yao—one of the other astronauts on the Hail Mary team—says early on, “You just have to find someone to be brave for.”

Ryland doesn’t suddenly become brave and selfless because he’s just that good, no matter how good his intentions. Ryland becomes more brave and more selfless through his connection with another lonely being.
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is reach out to someone. To do the work to really know someone.

My teen years were isolated due to circumstances that were beyond my control. Even today, it’s easy to get too deep inside my own head, to withdraw even from the people I care about most. That loneliness still sneaks up on me.

I’ve spent years with people being there for me when I’ve needed someone most. And now, like Ryland, I’m slowly growing into a phase where I can be there for others in the same way.

If you feel lonely and isolated and lightyears away from everyone right now, let Project Hail Mary encourage you to reach out to someone, even if they seem universes away. To embrace the weird and the awkward of getting to know someone, with all its misunderstandings and miscommunications.

And if you do have a good support system right now, let Project Hail Mary encourage you to give as much as you take. Sometimes allowing someone to be there for you is the biggest gift you can give them. But you also can be there for someone else. To sacrifice something of your own if it means you can show up for someone else.

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is connect with another being.

Have you seen Project Hail Mary yet? You probably have. I get it, I’m late to the party. What did you think? Let me know in the comments below! 

Hi, I’m Rachel! I write young adult fantasy. I write the novels I needed growing up—the novels I still need. Novels for the weird little girls and the women they’re becoming.

Maybe you need those stories, too? You can get one for free by signing up for my email newsletter via the “HOME” page of my website. It might involve a girl and the magical violin she didn’t want and maybe a metaphor about grief. Plus, you’ll also get email-exclusive updates on my dieselpunk Anastasia reimaging. Sound good? I hope I’ll see you there!

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been counting down to Spider-Man: Brand New Day since Marvel announced it.
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Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has been my favorite Marvel hero ever since Captain America: Civil War. I’d missed the other films’ theatrical runs, so I decided that no matter what, I was going to see this one.

I tracked all the leaked trailer snippets. I researched fan theories. I even got opening weekend tickets so I wouldn’t fall prey to spoilers.

And it did not disappoint. A movie has not made me feel so seen in a long time. (I cried twice. I regret nothing.) After the movie, once the hype and adrenaline quieted, I realized this story very much mirrored my own and spoke into my current struggles.

So consider this my official review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with a dash of encouragement. Maybe my noticings can help you out, too.

Obviously, there will be MASSIVE spoilers ahead, so if you’ve not seen it, please do yourself the biggest of favors and come back here after you’ve watched the movie.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is about adulthood.

I was fifteen when Tom Holland’s Spider-Man made his first MCU appearance. Ironically, Peter Parker was also fifteen. Even though I didn’t get into Marvel until later, I still grew up alongside this character. I related deeply to him for many reasons, but most of all, he felt very real to my teen experience.

Now I’m twenty-five, and this character I grew up with is also in his twenties. He takes down crime bosses, saves the city, and then has to deal with the laundry he put off.

To quote a Conan Gray song, growing up doesn’t always go how we’d like it. It doesn’t for Peter. He loses everyone he loves. Everyone he cares about forgets him and moves on. He’s starting over completely from scratch, and he’s not sure he likes who he is becoming.

No one teaches you how to be an adult. I’m not sure anybody can, at least not entirely. Sometimes adulthood feels like a mountain of things we’re supposed to instinctively know how to do.

And when we don’t, it’s all too easy to believe we failed. We look around at other adults our age, and they seem to have it all together. They thrive at work and smash their goals and they probably know how to do their taxes, too. It feels like we’re falling behind.

On top of that, everyone else is changing, too. Family dynamics shift. Friends go to college or move away or get married. It’s all too easy to feel alone and forgotten, and it’s all too easy to isolate ourselves so we never feel that way again.

Growing up can be weird and scary—but this movie reminded me that it will be okay. It won’t be weird and scary forever.

But for now, while you’re still in the weird and scary, you don’t have to have it all together. No one here on earth has it all together, no matter how much it may look like they do. We’re all struggling to one degree or another, and you’re not a failure if you can’t keep up with it all. And we still need each other in that.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is about burnout. 

Peter’s colleagues—the few colleagues he has—beg him to slow down. His own body screams at him to stop. But Peter insists on pushing through.

So his body takes matters into its own hands. It’s almost like constant stress and pressure can mess you up physically? Who knew?

I’ve discussed this on my blog before, but I went through a time where I could not write. An ability I had always had disappeared. I was dealing with stress and trauma, all while trying very hard to be a successful human. My body and mind begged me to rest, but my responsibilities were always there to remind me that I didn’t have time. (I wrote more about it HERE.)

Back then, I think I optimistically believed that I had cracked the code, and if I just followed my own advice, when the burnout came back, it wouldn’t be so bad, and one day, it would even disappear. That’s not what happened, at least not yet. I still go through burnout cycles and all the fun stuff that comes with that.

But this movie reminded me of the advice I tried to give myself back then. It’s okay to rest. Take naps. Set smaller goals for yourself. Step back from a non-essential responsibility. Your whole world won’t implode (most likely). Choose the form of rest that works for you and what you need right now.

Because if you don’t choose to rest, if you don’t choose to listen to what your body and brain tell you, then they will make sure you do. Also, you might mutate into a spider.  

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is about healing.

Ultimately, Peter’s story is about healing. Peter has spent the past several years desperately shoving away his hurt and his feelings and his grief.

All throughout my childhood and into my adulthood, I did the same. I got really good (or at least I thought I was) at shoving my feelings away until I literally couldn’t anymore—and then feeling ashamed for letting them out at all.

Eventually, all those feelings came back to haunt me. I had to admit that I had feelings that scared me. I was deeply angry and deeply hurt and deeply sad. And I couldn’t just tuck them away for a more convenient time. I had to feel all those feelings.

Peter finally hits a point where he has to deal with his own rage and grief and depression. He can’t just shut off the parts of him that he doesn’t like, no matter how much he wants to. He finally has to feel it all and accept all those parts of himself.

But that doesn’t mean he lets his bad traits drive him. You can’t ignore the parts of yourself that you don’t like, but those parts don’t have to control you, either.

His healing also comes through reconnecting with the people he’s kept away. Friendship matters, especially when you’re an adult, whether it’s strengthening relationships you already have or seeking out new ones. Peter has to be honest, be vulnerable and let other people in to what’s going on in his head (sometimes literally). Adulting can be weird and scary, and it’s so, so important that we don’t do it alone.

And when he opens up about his deepest hurts, he becomes the person his younger self needed. He becomes the person Aunt May was for him.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day brought me both comfort and hope. Comfort that I’m not alone in my struggle, that I can rest as long as I need, and that I’m not failing or falling behind. And hope that I can become the person my younger self needed, that I can be there for other people, and that I’m not alone.

Spider-Man movies have always been a place where I feel seen and explore my struggles, and this latest installment is no exception. Take whatever reminder you need with you today, and know you are not alone.

Have you seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day yet? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! 

Hi, I’m Rachel! I write young adult fantasy. I write the novels I needed growing up—the novels I still need. Novels for the weird little girls and the women they’re becoming.

Maybe you need those stories, too? You can get one for free by signing up for my email newsletter via the “HOME” page of my website. It might involve a girl and the magical violin she didn’t want and maybe a metaphor about grief. Plus, you’ll also get email-exclusive updates on my dieselpunk Anastasia reimaging. Sound good? I hope I’ll see you there! ​