Movie Signs Term Paper

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Night Shyamalan's 2002 motion picture "Signs" is more about faith than it is about either crop circles or aliens. Although the plot centers around the imminent arrival of extraterrestrial beings and what that arrival entails, the film focuses on the disillusioned Reverend Graham Hess, played by Mel Gibson. Following the untimely death of his wife, Hess loses his faith in God and renounces the church. This loss of faith is established early in the film, when he tells the police officer to "please stop calling me Father," and this theme is reexamined throughout the film as Hess confronts the alien presence. Flashbacks and conversations with family members eventually restore Hess's faith in the church. However, religion is only one expression of faith; faith in God and religion is ostensible, but so is the faith in the unseen, in reason, or even in the status quo. Confronted with a foreign, incomprehensible, and frightening reality, various characters in "Signs" develop an individual faith. According to the Gage dictionary, faith means "believing without proof." Therefore, the children and all the people who believe that the signs signal the arrival of extraterrestrials have faith that these beings exist -- even before they witness them. It is not until Graham Hess sees the green, gnarled claw of the alien in Ray Reddy's pantry that the audience -- and Hess -- can believe without a doubt that the aliens exist. "Signs" sets up a definition of faith that encompasses primarily faith in religion, but expands this definition to entail faith in family, in miracles, and in any power greater than material life.

One of the first conversations of the film has Morgan Hess (Rory Culkin) say to his father, "I think God did it," referring to the mysterious circles in the cornfield.

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Therefore, Shyamalan establishes the theme of the movie early. The crop circles have no rational explanation, and therefore, some supernatural power or God must have had a hand in it. The disillusioned clergyman seems at first to dismiss God's role in the eerie signs. This may seem to indicate a total lack of faith, but instead it shows that faith takes many forms. Instead of placing his faith in God and believing that God had a role in the crop circles, Graham Hess has faith that there will be a scientific explanation. However, it is immediately apparent that the film will eventually progress to reestablish Hess's faith in God. Moreover, Hess has not completely lost faith in powers greater than himself, for his little girl Bo points out that he regularly talks to his dead wife "when you're by yourself." When Bo asks her father why he does this, he responds, "It makes me feel better." This shows that Graham has faith that his wife can hear him, in whatever incorporeal state she is in.

However, Graham proceeds to tell his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) that there are two types of people: those….....

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