Weeks ago, I was writing my thoughts about a character from the Game of Thrones spin-off show, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." One thing I was struck by was the show's positive, upbeat nature, especially since it takes place in the same world where cynicism and nihilism reign supreme.
I was impressed with the main character, Dunk, and how he wasn't some dark, tragic, reluctant hero. He was genuinely a good guy who held himself to standards those above his station won't even approach, and inspires people around him as a result. It almost caught me off guard, and by the time I finished the season, I couldn't believe I had just watched the feel-good show of the year, a la George R.R. Martin.
Read: Good Guys Are Back in Entertainment
Now I'm hearing the movie, "Project Hail Mary," will carry this same type of hopeful, good-guy-out-of-his-depth-but-carries-on-anyway mentality.
I read Project Hail Mary — or rather listened to it on audiobook through headphones while I rocked my baby to sleep — and I can attest that Andy Weir's book, the movie is based on, is exactly what the doctor ordered. I've read two of Weir's books, this one and "The Martian," which I've read twice. I've seen the movie more times than I can count.
The funny part is, I keep going back to Weir's books when I want to feel good. Both "Martian" and "Hail Mary" are about a man put into an impossible situation and doing the best they can to stay alive. They both involve elements of isolation, working problems, and keeping the best possible attitude you can as you go.
Matt Damon, who played Mark Watney in "The Martian," has a final monologue to students that I think really nails the attitude of Weir's books very, very well, and funny enough, it's a mentality that I apply to myself every time I'm faced with what seems like an impossible or gigantic task.
"That's all it is. You just... begin," he says on problem-solving. "You do the math. You solve one problem, then you solve the next one, and then the next, and if you solve enough problems, you get to come home."
Reading these books and watching these movies makes me feel lighter, and I think it's a refreshing feeling that has become exceedingly rare because our society, especially our entertainment, has fallen into something a bit darker and less hopeful.
But now "Project Hail Mary" seems to be another addition to a trend that's getting away from all that.
Someone on X, a man named Paul Anleitner, put it so well that it actually inspired me to write this article:
If you see Project Hail Mary this weekend, I hope you'll remember how I told you over 3 years ago that stuff like this was going to explode in pop culture.
-From ironic cynicism to post-ironic sincerity.
-Embracing the "cringe" & the celebration of the earnest "try-hard."
-From deconstructing the past, to a nostalgia for some positive "vibe" we lost in the deconstruction.
-The rejection of Fight Club-era nihilism.
-The ability to stare at the apocalypse in front of you and be hopeful instead of a "doomer."
If you see Project Hail Mary this weekend, I hope you'll remember how I told you over 3 years ago that stuff like this was going to explode in pop culture.
— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) March 19, 2026
-From ironic cynicism to post-ironic sincerity.
-Embracing the "cringe" & the celebration of the earnest "try-hard."… pic.twitter.com/hlH8PQJPH8
He brought up something about deconstructing our past that hit me like a ton of bricks.
On a societal level, we were being unmade. Our past was being scrutinized for every sin. Every hero had his or her flaws magnified until they were practically being defined by them, and there is an undeniable cynicism that comes with doing that too much. It becomes a drag. The world starts to seem darker and less hopeful.
Delving into the past to get the full picture is fine. For instance, H.P. Lovecraft was an incredible horror author who was racist, and that racism did help him craft his ideas around horror. You get a much larger understanding of the art by understanding the man, but Lovecraft's racism does not and should not ultimately define him any more than it should be the defining issue with some of our founding fathers.
If all we did was focus on the negatives of any event, any person, or any thing, we would find a world only capable of evil and not worth going on with. We're so much more than all that, though. The brightness of humanity has always outweighed the darker parts of it.
And I think our media needs to be able to reflect that more often than not. It's fine to have our "Fight Club" deconstructions from time to time, but its profundity is only sharp because it gives us a larger picture of culture and society, and should not convince us that it's all ridiculous and stupid. That's not seeing through the veil and understanding things as they really are? That, in itself, is just small-minded thinking.
I'm thrilled we're getting the hopefulness back. We needed it.
