The alien mothership makes contact with Earth in this scene from ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’
Columbia Pictures
Amy Adams attempts to communicate with a cephalopod-like, seven-limbed alien that has landed on Earth in this scene from ‘Arrival.’
Paramount Pictures
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) carries his daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) through a crowd of survivors and military personnel in this scene from ‘War of the Worlds’ (2005).
Dreamworks Pictures/Paramount Pictures
Bo (Abigail Breslin) watches through a broken window as her Uncle Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) battles an alien being in ‘Signs.’
Disney
In one of the most memorable moments — and my personal favorite scene — from M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 sci-fi thriller “Signs,” Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), a faithless former pastor, tells his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) what people are thinking when they look at the extraterrestrial lights that have appeared in the sky.
To Graham, there are only two kinds of responses: either you’re scared because you believe that you’re entirely alone in the universe and every good thing you’ve experienced has been the result of dumb luck, or you’re hopeful because you believe that something greater than yourself is out there, watching over you and guiding you.
“See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?” says Graham.
“Signs” is a movie about faith, a movie that is not subtle when it comes to its affirmation that we are not alone in the universe — that some greater power is out there, whether it’s aliens, some cosmic force or whatever version of God you believe in.
It’s an intimate family drama masquerading as an alien invasion movie, sentimental and comforting. Filmed during and then released in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, “Signs” is a kind of escapist fantasy where you can have faith that everything happens for a reason, even immense tragedy.
Alien invasion movies have a long history of giving voice to our collective anxieties.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1951) explores our fear of nuclear destruction and Communist takeover during the Cold War, while “Arrival” (2016) deals with the dangerous implications of fear-mongering and misinformation.
These movies, like all movies, also provide a window into who the filmmakers are and what they believe.
For example, based on his films, M. Night Shyamalan has a positive, spiritual outlook on life. Most of his work ends with a feeling of hope.
Though the aliens in “Signs” are scary and undeniably malicious, Shyamalan was clearly inspired by those in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
It’s the wonder of making contact with something otherworldly that Shyamalan borrows from the 1977 classic, although Spielberg goes much harder in that direction.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” shows its aliens as mysterious and fundamentally unknowable, but largely benevolent.
The encounters between the aliens and the characters of the film progress from unnerving to breathtakingly beautiful. The ending scene of Earth making successful communication with the UFO, underscored by John Williams’ whimsical and iconic five-tone motif, feels like a religious experience.
Shyamalan and Spielberg’s films are examples of the two different kinds of alien invasion movies we typically get. In one version, it’s a positive experience, and the aliens are usually trying to help humankind in some way, like in 1951’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “Arrival.”
Another Spielberg flick, 2005’s “War of the Worlds” is an example of the other kind — the hostile invasion.
Based on H. G. Wells’ seminal 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds,” and set in contemporary America, the film was no doubt influenced by the “veil of fear” Spielberg said the country has been living in since the Sep. 11 attacks.
For the first time in his career, he made a scary alien film, where there was no attempt at communication — only destruction.
This leads me, of course, to Spielberg’s latest film, “Disclosure Day,” which revisits his fascination with aliens nearly 50 years after “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
What kind of alien movie is “Disclosure Day” and how have Spielberg’s feelings on humanity, technology, and UFOs changed since “War of the Worlds”?
I hope to find out soon.
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