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Passengers
Movie

Passengers

2016 • Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

The spaceship, Starship Avalon, in its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet known as the "Homestead Colony" and transporting 5,258 people has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result one hibernation pod opens prematurely and the one person that awakes, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is stranded on the spaceship, still 90 years from his destination.

Overall Series Review

The film centers on Jim Preston's premature awakening and his subsequent choice to awaken Aurora Lane, dooming her to the same fate of living out their lives alone on the spacecraft. The core of the story revolves around the moral implications of this selfish, non-consensual act, Jim's deep isolation, and the eventual development of a romantic relationship between the two. The narrative shifts from a moral dilemma to a crisis of survival when the ship suffers a critical malfunction, forcing the couple to work together to save the thousands of other sleeping passengers. The film’s characters are defined by their personal choices and vocational skills—a mechanic and a writer—rather than by group identity or political lecture. The future society, represented by the ship's mission, is presented as an ambitious corporate venture, not a fundamentally corrupt Western system. The central ethical issue and the resulting companionship and self-sacrifice form the dramatic focus.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

Characters Jim and Aurora are defined by their occupation—mechanic and writer—and their universal struggle with isolation and human connection. The plot focuses entirely on an ethical conflict of one man's choice versus another person's fate. The narrative does not utilize race or intersectional hierarchy to establish conflict or vilify the main characters.

Oikophobia1/10

The film avoids hostility toward Western civilization. The setting is an interstellar colonization mission, which reflects ambition for human expansion and continuity. The ending shows a clear commitment to establishing a new lineage and recording ancestry on the ship, viewing continuity and family as a positive force against chaos.

Feminism2/10

The core plot is criticized for having a male character make a non-consensual choice that dictates the female lead’s destiny, which is the opposite of the 'Girl Boss' trope. The male lead is portrayed as deeply morally flawed for his selfish initial action, which avoids full male emasculation. The narrative concludes with the man and woman in a complementary relationship, starting a new life and lineage together, suggesting a pro-natalist theme.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative centers on a normative male-female pairing. The only secondary character is an android bartender, Arthur, who is asexual and provides advice but does not engage in sexual ideology or centering of alternative sexualities. The traditional nuclear family structure, in the form of a couple creating a life together, is the ultimate outcome.

Anti-Theism4/10

The film is overwhelmingly secular, operating in a spiritual vacuum with no mention of faith. There is no representation of faith as a source of strength, but neither is traditional religion presented as the root of evil or are Christian characters depicted as villains. The conflict is centered on a strong ethical question about the objective right and wrong of Jim's action, acknowledging a higher moral law inherent in human conduct.