Interstellar as a Contemporary Mythos: Exploring Themes of Creation, Heroism, and Immortality

This study examines how mythological elements are reinterpreted and reconstructed in modern science fiction cinema through Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Drawing on Karen Armstrong’s functional definition of myth, the article argues that myth should not be understood merely as an archaic or fictional narrative, but as a dynamic system of meaning that responds to humanity’s existential questions. The analysis focuses on the archetypal motifs of creation, immortality, and heroism within the framework of Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes. Although Interstellar is structured around scientific concepts such as gravity, relativity, black holes, and interdimensional time, it also activates ancient symbolic patterns that continue to shape modern imagination. In this respect, the film is evaluated not only as a work of science fiction, but also as a contemporary mythological narrative that stages crisis, sacrifice, descent, return, and transformation on both individual and collective levels.