My latest article for Books & Culture is now online. Here’s how it opens:
On the surface, it might not seem that films like The Martian, Everest, and The Walk have a lot in common, beyond their spectacular 3D imagery. The first film is a sci-fi thriller about an astronaut stranded on Mars, the second tells the tragic true story of a hiking expedition that went wrong, and the third is practically a light comedy—also based on a true story—about a wire-walker who walked between the World Trade Center towers in the early 1970s. But all three films, which came out in theaters within a few weeks of one another, do have this much in common: they are about the confidence, and sometimes hubris, of bold, brilliant people who think they can outsmart death. . . .
B&C subscribers can read the article, which is currently behind a paywall, here.
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