Abstract:
Situated within the Digital Age, where technology and science have made life in space possible, Alfonso
Caurón's award-winning space-thriller, Gravity, explores critical notions of the relationship between
technology and the soul. More specifically, Cuarón’s depiction of space voyage illustrates the dualistic
approach to the soul in relation to technology, especially the gnostic mind/body split and its manifestation in
the Digital Age. This intersection between technology and the soul is a notion of increasingly importance in
contemporary society, however it is often evaded in literature. Accordingly, it is crucial to analyze and unpack
films, such as Gravity, that confront audiences with these concepts, to better understand this relation. In this
article I provide a broad overview of gnostic thought, in terms of the soul and dualism, and then situate these
gnostic views within the Digital Age and the realm of film. Finally, drawing from these discussions, I then
analyze Gravity in terms of identified key characteristics, in order to interpret the gnostic relation of
technology and the soul in the Digital Age.
