Talk:Alien (Signs)

THEY ARE NOT ALIENS. THEY ARE DEMONS.

THIS FILM IS ABOUT FAITH AND LOSS OF FAITH: Graham is former priest who has lost his faith. After the tragic, seemingly senseless death of his wife, in which he sees no point, no reason, no heavenly explanation…he discards his once strong belief in God. He trudges through life in survival mode, seeing everything as bad luck and chance.

Meantime, inexplicable things are happening all around. Crop circles. Violent animals. His daughter’s obsession with leaving glasses of water all over the house. And most importantly: the arrival of lights over large cities all over the world. Are these “signs” of God’s existence or are they “signs” of an impending doom.

By film’s end, Graham has recovered his faith upon realization that what looked like coincidence were all pieces set in place for the preservation of his family: the water set by the daughter, the asthma saving his son’s life, and his wife’s necessary death for the instructions from God to “swing away”.

These are “all ways in which you can tell that there really is someone watching over us”. And he now sees them as “signs” of a higher power.

EVIL: There is an apprehension, tension, and anxiety throughout the film - from the senseless death of Graham’s wife - to the growing realization that these visitors are not here for benevolent reasons.

There is an evil in the universe that even the animals can feel and react to…an evil that has come to destroy the world.

NOTE ON THE MEANING OF THIS EVIL:

Seeing as this is a “crisis of faith turned into a resurgence of belief” film - everything points to the fact that the visiting creatures are not aliens at all…but demons.

Bo is the daughter of a priest who is referred to constantly as an “angel”, and therefore the water she strategically places everywhere is “holy water”. This is why it burns the skin of the alien and kills him. The water as weapon is not a simple plot trick (as it was in “War Of The Worlds”), but part of the design of a greater plot: a war between God and demons who have come down to earth.

That the “Aliens” have no technology or any typical science fiction gear, is a sign that they are really demonic creatures that came from the sky…fallen from heaven perhaps. Though they act like superior tricksters, but are not able to break in through simple closed doors and can be trapped behind simple wooden latches – all mythological elements of demons and biblical creatures of lore. It also explains the news over the radio at the end of the movie: that an ancient method of killing the creatures has been found "in three small cities in the Middle East" - one would suspect the religious "hubs" of the three main Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).

It seems that M. Night Shyamalan has another meaning for the title: that he has left “signs” throughout the story about the true meaning of the film.

The THEME of the FILM: 

When evil comes and bad things happen, look for the signs that there is a protector…and have faith.

There is a bigger plan going on, a higher power at work that will protect you if you listen to the signs.

FROM SCENE ANALYSIS on www.actorsfoundryonline.com

24.84.168.34 23:01, March 14, 2020 (UTC) Ethan Augustus