What I learned from ‘The Theory of Everything’? | Maham Reviews

Life is certainly a pattern-less series of events. One after another things past by us and the only thing which is constant is us. All the life events may change us drastically but they don't change the fact who we really are.

Theory of Everything

Theory of everything, a biopic film of world renowned scientist, Dr. Stephen Hawking, is based on memoir, “Travelling to Infinity: My life with Stephen” written by Hawking’s first wife, Jane. The story starts from 1963, a late night party where they both met each other for the first time and instant spark connected them for lifetime. After just a brief meeting, they gravitated towards each other which was followed by few more beautifully fun dates and Jane’s meeting with his family as well. Stephen was studying cosmology, an atheist and had not decided his PhD major yet. Meanwhile, Jane on the other hand was studying Medieval Spanish poetry, religious, passionate, and kind hearted. They both contrastingly complemented each other and everything seemed fine. However, Stephen had been experiencing little clumsiness and shivering while performing his extensive passionate math practices but he ignored them until one afternoon when he fell down the university courtyard in the broad day light bringing all the attention and noticeable injury to himself. That’s when he found about his illness. Motor Neuron Disease, or ALS in other words.

It is the disease in which your brain stops sending commands to your muscles meaning that one eventually loses all control to voluntary movements like walking, talking, or even swallowing. Basically all sort of muscle movement would be lost. The whole body is affected except brain and that’s what I think was the turning point in his personal as well as scientific life.

He was given two years to live and that's when he decided to dedicate all the given time to his theories and use his intellectual capability up to his fullest. Soon he decides his major too, ‘time’. How ironic, he decided to study exactly what he was not left with. On the other hand, Jane refuses to leave him and stand by his side at the alter and carries her three children gradually during their married life.

She took care of him, their children and home, all at the same time without any external help unless he was completely paralyzed and birth of their third child brought Jane to her knees. Out of fear of losing her, he agrees to get help from another young man, whom Jane married in the later life after their divorce. It all started with him voluntarily helping them in regular tasks to escape his loneliness after her wife’s death. However soon they both caught feelings for each other and with him playing the family's father figure and taking their responsibilities made it much smoother for Jane to rely on him. In time Hawking found pleasure in spending time with his live-in nurse whom he married later. Meanwhile, they both married with a spark and left each other to find solace in different arms. This was a glimpse of their personal life.

Meanwhile, professionally Dr. Hawking was cultivating with success as his body decayed rapidly. His mind was the only part of him which worked fine, actually extraordinarily. Its quite amazing to spectate his transformation from a young healthy body to paralyzed world renowned scientist who has presented theories about black whole, time and universe while he is himself limited to his seat. It’s very much inspiring to see how his mind endeavored spaces while his body made him rely on others. How much dependent he become on others escalated his freedom intellectually. He wrote books with shivering hands initially, which were rewritten and corrected by Jane. Later on when his all movement was lost, including speech, he was brought on electrical machine which detected his brain signals and translated his thoughts into words. And that’s how he wrote his globally famous best selling book, “A brief history of time”.

There was another reason why it touched me so much. You see I am a writer myself with a dream and desire to write a book of my own but dragged back each time whenever I sit to write by many distractions and interesting fellow activities. Actually there are two reasons that motivated and moved me; one, I am reading the book, "A brief history of time" slowly from a long time now and witnessing, even virtually and fictionally, how he wrote it inspired me to pick it up again; two, I found his physical condition and illness as a perfect enzyme in his dedication towards writing and passion towards science. His mind was the only thing he was left with, as his only chance to prove himself. As his only source to escape his world and explore new different undiscovered realities. This all pushed him a little harder towards his discoveries. Meanwhile, his illness certainly was heart wrenching but if it was not for it, we may have never met Dr. Stephen Hawking at all.

Concluding it, it taught me how often our opinions change. Through out the movie, his opinions change about love, religion, God, and even his own theories. It taught me how impact our situation has on us yet every tragedy can be turned into a triumph with the right attitude and passion. The way he embraced his disease with a warm smile and funny little jokes, optimistic dialogue to Jane when she broke down, “Everything will be just fine”, taught me how to live in the moment.

Although the movie has been criticized for glamourizing their personal life and playing safe when portraying their reality, I found it utterly wonderful and aesthetically portrayed. However, the only fact that I found genuinely disturbing was how little Jane was appreciated for her efforts and sacrifices. She invested her younger years in him, devoted herself completely to him whilst he enjoyed global fame and appreciation for his genius yet she was rarely to almost never appreciated by him or anyone else for her extreme efforts. She was not recognized in his success, and which was another factor that I think compelled her gradually to part her way from his. She was the person who adored him, empowered him yet she wasn’t credited at any occasion and this made me furious at Stephen and everyone around him for not acknowledging it. However, what we know is just a droplet version of their whole oceanic life story. So briefing the movie, I can say that

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It is a love story of a young man, Stephen, and his devoted wife, Jane. It is a journey through constant personal conflicts of a strong mind in fading body. It is an insight in life of an amazing scientist and globally admired thinker for his ability to see beyond universes even when his physical world was crippled into certain room with an unusual perspective of a man with paralyzed body. Precisely, it a lifetime story of young hearts yearning in the fate of illness and a mind blooming in contrast to the decaying body.