Hw

IDST 390: THE ENDS OF THE WORLD – FILM ANALYSIS

IDST 390: The Ends of the World – Film Analysis

Jane Q. Student

Western Kentucky University

Introduction

The film I chose was Signs. A primary reason why I chose this film is because I’m an avid fan of the director and producer, M. Night Shyamalan.  In the past, Shyamalan has produced films conveying messages with a deeper meaning than the movie itself.  This movie’s significance lies within a crisis of faith in reaction to an unknown extra-terrestrial threat to humanity.  Signs deals with The End by humans defending themselves from an extra-terrestrial invasion.  The deeper meaning behind this film can possibly be portrayed as one’s connection with God and how that plays into the survival of humanity.  Shyamalan provides religious iconography through a movie that primarily deals with a battle between good and evil.  Signs provides deep connections with fear and faith in regards to a worldwide threat and the possible end of humanity.  This film allows for multiple different understandings and views of its ultimate message which directly relates to the open-minded approach that interdisciplinary studies offers. 

Contexts

Signs was filmed in 2000/2001 on different farms across Pennsylvania.  Many of scenes were filmed on property of an agricultural school right outside of Philadelphia.  Mel Gibson played the main character, Father Graham Hess.  Joaquin Phoenix played his brother, Merrill, while Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin played Graham’s children, Morgan and Bo. The writer, producer and director of this film was M. Night Shyamalan.  He is known for producing and directing other films such as, The Sixth Sense and The Happening.  

The film’s primary view towards The End was based off of an up to date, extra-terrestrial threat to end humanity.  What started off as signs and messages designed in crop fields worldwide, eventually led to extra-terrestrial appearances on earth as physical threats to humans.  Mythology plays a factor in this movie within the UFO’s and extra-terrestrial physical features.  Although a physical battle was never put in place, the film states The End being a possible outcome multiple times although it is vague and unclear how the movie portrays what The End entails.  M. Night Shyamalan provides a current Christianity aspect within the main character and implements many relations towards religious faith.  

Analysis

Graham Hess, played by Mel Gibson, has recently lost his faith in God following a tragic car accident killing his wife.  Left behind with him are his son (Morgan), daughter (Bo), and brother as they all live together on a farm.  Crop circles begin to appear on their corn fields which are initially dismissed as pranks.  Soon, realization settles in for Graham as crop fields around the world have reportedly experienced the same issue.  This lead to a fury of strange extra-terrestrial activities and all of a sudden, there is fear and an alert human race prepares for a fight of survival.  Throughout the movie, Graham Hess battles his question of faith which eventually leads him to the root of survival for both him and his family.  

The movie title, Signs, takes on both a literal and symbolic meaning. The first thing that comes to mind is the obvious crop circles created by the extra-terrestrials. According to Andrews, Spignesi (2003), the first crop circle was discovered on June 22, 1995, by a farmer on his land in Winchester, Hampshire, England are determined to be a “genuine formation” (that is, not manmade) by the renowned biophysicist William Levengood.  Evidence such as no damage to the plants or soil compression, complex braiding of plants, and no tracks to vital construction points led Levengood to determine that this was almost impossible for human to achieve without leaving evidence of their presence (p. 16).  Crop circling is nothing new and has been a phenomenon for a long time.  This set the platform for the movie and its plot giving viewers the idea of extra-terrestrials sending messages and communicating a possible invasion of earth and the end to humanity.  Comment by Basham, Cortney: Follow proper citation format.

An interesting note throughout the movie is how different parts of the community viewed the crop circles and potential “alien invaders”.  .” Initially, the cop saw these crop circles as teenage pranks, the bookstore owner viewed them as a marketing scam for drink companies, the army officer saw them as military enemies, the priest saw these invaders as a test of faith, and the kids saw them as scary aliens.  This was resonating because of how relatable this was to any field regarding end times.  No matter the facts or beliefs, interpretation is incredibly diverse.  As this class has previously discussed, malleability plays a huge factor when buying into a belief system and how society can shape someone.  Comment by Basham, Cortney: Excellent course connection.

Although extra-terrestrial invaders were suggested as the main theme to this film, the ultimate theme lied within the hidden religious messages. There is a possibility that this movie wasn’t necessarily made to portray “aliens” as the story’s antagonist. Notice that this film is mainly about a priest’s resurgence of belief. At one point, Graham, the former priest, declares that he is not wasting one more minute of his life on a prayer.  He is initially adamant about his loss of faith until fear settles in from the potential attack on humanity and, of course, his family. Extremely broad similarities can be made with the book of Revelation as God distinguished from the non-believers within a battle between good and evil.  These invaders in the films could easily be portrayed as mythological creatures or the return of demons as a part of Satan’s army.  After all, this film did not detail or assure that these creatures were, in fact, extra-terrestrials or “aliens”. .” (Periods go inside quotation marks) 

Throughout the movie, Graham’s daughter, Bo, had a constant dissatisfaction with her water.  She would always ask for a new glass of water for a different reason every time. At one point, Graham goes on to describe the scene of Bo’s birth.  He states how everyone was looking at her and how she seemed like an “angel” from heaven.  At the end of the movie during an encounter with one of the creatures, they come to realize that the glasses of water that she constantly leaves around the house, burned and served as a kryptonite to kill this creature.  The symbolism used in this instance is that the water is holy water and used as a means of repelling evil.   Comment by Basham, Cortney: Great pickup here.

Whether hidden or not, the message lays in the sacred apocalyptic view filtered into American mass culture.  In the 1980’s, a boost in evangelicalism and fundamentalism lead to prophetic belief being disseminated through American media (Boyer 2003). Since World War II, many movies have been made symbolizing prophetic belief such as The Convergence, Left Behind and 2012.  Signs wasn’t was not directly about aliens and extra terrestrials coming to take over earth.  M. Night Shyamalan portrays a massive religious presence on faith and fear regarding The End. However one perceives this film, the ultimate message is clear: we all live by a plan.  Whether it is God’s plan or our own, we should keep faith in that plan as the end eventually comes for all of us.   As stated in the film, “nothing happens by chance”.     .” (Periods go inside the quotation marks)    

References

Andrews, C., & Spignesi, S. J. (2003). Crop Circles: Signs of Contact. Career Press.

Boyer, P. (2009). When time shall be no more: Prophecy belief in modern American culture. Harvard University Press.