Mel Gibson and the Crop Circles, what a crap!

[Rykion]

The idea that crop circles are caused by aliens has become prevalent in modern sci-fi, but supernatural sources were blamed in the past. People used to believe that strange markings in their fields were caused by witches or demons. So it really does make sense to use them in a movie in which demons may be mistaken as aliens.

Signs is my favorite M. Night Shyamalan movie, but I also like Unbreakable a lot. Their plot twists are that the movies aren't really about what they originally appeared to be.

 

[Firebeetle]

Signs is the ultimate alien invasion movie! It's better than Invasion of the Pod People, Day of the Triffids, AND They. Why? It shows one family who don't repel the whole invasion, just their part of it.

As such a movie (sci-fi by designation only) it follows all the rules:

The aliens are unlike us in intelligence, being more primal creatures. How did such primal creatures get superior technology to get here? Never explained. Maybe you don't need to be terribly sentient to be a great engineer, maybe the followed some more advanced aliens down an alleyway, mugged them and checked their pockets for loose technology. Maybe they are hive creatures, guided by a higher intelligence queen.

The aliens need to kill/kidnap us to survive. Maybe they want us as slaves, or breeding stock, or dinner. Whatever it is, they need us. Why? Maybe they don't like to work, maybe eating less intelligent animals offends them (the same way we don't like to eat perfectly nutrious worms and bugs), maybe they "borrow" DNA from other races. Again, never quite explained. Hive creatures would steal slaves to work for them.

The aliens are vulnerable to some common thing. This gives us hope that the main characters will survive. Why do they come here when water/salt water/liverwurst/roll-on deodorant kills them? Why do we go out in little boats in the middle of the ocean, or jump out of airplanes, or drive in multi-ton vehicles at high speed narrowly missing each other? Same answer, we don't think we will get hurt or die.

The aliens, unless dressed like us, are naked. Of course they are. Why spend all the effort and time on making multi-colored wrapping? Why spend such considerable space storing it and time maintaining a pile of the stuff? Aliens don't see the need for clothes, see primal creatures above. Again, hive creatures have no need of modesty nor manufactured clothing.

Also, the aliens do have an attack, they spray people in the face with poison, remember? Sure, it's not a ray gun or anything. They are steal, skulk, and grab by nature. Not "stick and gun in your face and yell at you" by nature. Again, hive creatures would be like this. They don't "dominate" each other as primates do. And why worry about armaments when drones are a dime a dozen?

So, it follows the rules and my theory is that they are hive creatures. Guided by a superior intelligence the naked, unarmed drones follow the signs, like a honey bee's dance, to guide them to likely targets. There they kidnap slaves to take back to the hive. They don't need superior technology on the ground because they don't spend time to manufacture it, they might not even thing that way or don't want it to end up in the target's hands. Just a good, old-fashioned "smash-and-grab" raid.

 

[Bront]

Then you really ought to pay more attention. It was patently obvious the story wasn't about alien invaders, but rather was about how Mel Gibson's character lost and then regained his faith in God, about how there are no coincidences, but rather that everything hinges together in a pattern that only makes sense in the light of faith, et cetera.

Every single one of M. Night's movies have been remarkably well-written, acted, and conceived, and that includes The Village, which wasn't a movie about a village with monsters but rather was about the loss of original innocence and the futility of all utopian visions.

IOW: It's all a metaphor.

While I agree with you for the most part (See my post above), I will say that on many levels, Signs was disapointing because of the genre he chose to tell the story in created expectations, and meanwhile, the Villiage "twist" seemed lame compared to that of his other movies. They both were generaly well acted, and overall well thought out and written, but one just hit the wrong group of fans, and the other... well, the whole of the Villiage does not equal the sum of it's parts.

 

[Pielorinho]

As I said above, although I like the theory that it's demons sent to test Mel's faith, I'm not sure that's what MKS intended; it seems likelier that he intended everything from his wife's death to the alien invasion to destroy and rebuild Mel's faith.

Unlike most movies that I hate because of plot holes, this is a movie I really want to like: the cinematography is beautiful, and the scene in which you first see the alien, via home video from India, was a genuinely scary moment for me, and something unlike what I normally expect in alien movies. I'm much happier to forgive plot holes (or, as in this case, unexplained plot elements) when I otherwise like the movie.

The Village? It was clear that he was trying to do a big switcheroo (the opening scene is

Spoiler

of a gravestone with incorrect dates on it

, which serves no purpose internal to the movie but only serves to trick the viewer), but the switcheroo was obvious to me from the trailer. When it came to the other tricks, I anticipated them coming, and was thinking, "Please don't let this be the lame trick, PLEASE don't let this be the lame trick!" but it was. If only he'd made it clear from the beginning what the twist was (for example,

Spoiler

by having the characters use tools with modern brand names

), I think the movie would have been far improved. It, too, had some great scenes; but his lame trick was just too distracting to me. It's as if, in Lord of the Rings, Sauron were a paper bag puppet.

Daniel

 

[Morrus]

Well, think a minute - how do we know they are aliens? Really, how?

We assume they are aliens because they match the tropes that we call "alien". But who set up those tropes? Someone looking at actual evidence? When did we get proof that aliens make crop circles? Or is that just an assumption.

It is the old bait-and-switch. MKS uses them all the time - in every movie, there's at least one major element that isn't what it appears to be. This is why he's actually formulaic...

Spoilers for many movies:

Spoiler

In Sixth Sense, you think Willis is a living man, but he isn't. In Unbreakable, you think Glass is a mentor, but he isn't. In The Village, you think there's a monster, but there isn't. In Signs, you think there are aliens, but there aren't...

With all respect, Umbran, that's only an interpretation. There's more explicit evidence for them being aliens than them being demons. Spaceships were referred to in the TV broadcasts, for example.

The other examples you mentioned had twists explicitly spelled out - Signs does not have the fact that the aliens are really demons spelled out explicitly anywhere.

I think that your interpretation is a valid one, but it's only an interpretation. I don't agree with it; that movie featured aliens. Whether or not they were a metaphor for demons is another matter entirely.

However, even if they are a metaphor for demons, why not make the same movie, using the aliens as a religious metaphor... and just not have the plot holes?

 

[Morrus]

The aliens are vulnerable to some common thing.[/U] This gives us hope that the main characters will survive. Why do they come here when water/salt water/liverwurst/roll-on deodorant kills them? Why do we go out in little boats in the middle of the ocean, or jump out of airplanes, or drive in multi-ton vehicles at high speed narrowly missing each other? Same answer, we don't think we will get hurt or die.

The aliens, unless dressed like us, are naked. Of course they are. Why spend all the effort and time on making multi-colored wrapping? Why spend such considerable space storing it and time maintaining a pile of the stuff? Aliens don't see the need for clothes, see primal creatures above. Again, hive creatures have no need of modesty nor manufactured clothing.

I made this point earlier, but it's worth making again. I feel this analogy (aliens coming to a hostile environment without protection = humans taking risks) is false.

Humans wear seatbelts. They wear diving suits. They have radiation suits, space suits. When they jump out of a plane, they use a parachute. The times when they don't do this are the times when they are purposefully taking a risk. And thus the only rationale which works on that basis is that the aliens are motivated by the kicks of the risk of wandering around in a hostile environment without protective gear.

Did they remember to close the door on their spaceship on the way over? Presumably. If they'd left that open for a laugh just to experience the risk, they'd not have lasted long.

 

[WayneLigon]

Well, think a minute - how do we know they are aliens? Really, how?

The big spacecraft with forcefields was a clue It could be a blind, of course; what is more beleivable to the general public? Alien invasion or demons?

Firebeetle's hivemind idea is a cool one. I like that.

 

[Morrus]

The big spacecraft with forcefields was a clue .

Yeah, they really are explicitly aliens.

 

[Turanil]

Firebeetle's hivemind idea is a cool one. I like that.

I agree it's a cool idea, but it's also his personnal interpretation. A good movie doesn't have to have you use your brain to fill in the blanks in order to redeem a scenario's weak points. I am pretty sure that thinking hard about it, we can explain why the invading aliens from Independance Day had computers and softwares compatible with that of a OS9.2 Macintosh, so they could be subject to a virus...

 

[Pielorinho]

The big spacecraft with forcefields was a clue It could be a blind, of course; what is more beleivable to the general public? Alien invasion or demons?

I don't remember that--all I remember is people seeing lights in the sky. Were there explicit mentions/sightings of spacecraft?

As for the risk thing, we never hear of aliens being killed by water except when it's thrown on them. It may be that they took a alculated risk: they'd land, stay away from liquid water, and grab people, and hope that they got enough tasty peoplesnacks and got away before it became widely known that throwing water on them killed them. If that's the risk they took, it appeared to succeed.

Daniel