An article today in the Colorado Springs Gazette was about aliens and what we feel about them. There was a list of 'beloved' alien movies, which sparked the idea for this list and commentary, in the tradition of Lilly Moscovitz and Mia Thermopolis.
Fire in the Sky. This was one of the first alien movies I remember. It was one of the first to inspire my irrational and deep phobia of aliens. The scene where the man wakes up in the alien womb-like pod is particularly memorable.
Asteroids (I think that is the title.) This was a made-for-TV movie, in the format of a newscast. It was powerful for my young (10-year-old) mind because of its newscaster-reality. The gist was that some alien group was sending asteroids to earth as a test of our fitness for 'first contact.' Of course, we were not. And so, we were destroyed.
Another TV movie; I don't even remember anything about this one (so I can't search for the title) except that there was a scene where the woman went to her doctor because she has sinus pain, and she was told that she had extensive surgery! And she had never has surgery...at least not on earth! And THEN that night, an electric-line work crew woke her up, and she called the power company. They told her that they had no crews out...and when she looked out her window, all the workers were staring at her with their big black eyes! She ran downstairs to lock the doors and the aliens started to walk through the walls!!! When I was 8 with an undisciplined imagination, that was a terrifying image...and still is, to some extent.
Contact. This Sagan movie featured a debate between science and religion. I remember the scene where Jodi Foster was testifying to her experiences at Vega: nobody believed her testimony. You just had to have faith in her. Ironic, because she didn't understand faith before her peculiar travel experience.
Stargate. An interesting movie that posited that we are the aliens here. Supposedly we were placed here by some alien whose ship was a huge pyramid and that the Egyptian culture is the original culture. The best part? The nerd Egyptologist becomes the hero.
Sphere. Ok, I never saw the movie, and it's not really about aliens, per se. This commentary is about the book, and I think it's interesting that an alien weapon just creates each person's secret fears. Now that is a powerful weapon.
Independence Day. I thought this was cool when it came out (because Data was the kooky alien 'doctor'!), but I watched it this year on July 4th...and it was a too-predictable movie. The end especially was such a phallic-symbol overload, I laughed till I cried. And anna grace brown was here (she is a film student for those who do not know her), so that just made the enjoyment of the gratutitous scene with torpedos and long skinny bobms galore that much more silly.
Muppets from Space! Gonzo finds his family. Muppet jokes yuk it up in this not-as-good-as-The Muppets' Christmas Carol Muppet movie. Still, it is a Muppet movie and has all the requisite characters.
Lilo and Stitch. An alien lands in Hawaii. The aliens are more advanced than we are (as always) except for Experiment 626. But the love and loyalty of a Hawaiian family changes him and he becomes Stitch, a beloved pet/family member. Includes good music.
Who can forget ET? I don't remember it well, except that the plant and Eliot are connected. And ET loves Reeses' Pieces. And the bike ride with the huge moon.
These all are part of my idea of aliens. I am totally over my disabling irrational fear of aliens, but this is the root of the fear.
Posted by at August 5, 2003 02:23 AM | TrackBackWhy didn't your parents think about not letting you watch movies that could potentially produce irrational fears? I say _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_ when I was about 5, and that girl turned into a blueberry and scared me and I had nightmares. For the rest of my childhood I was not allowed to watch that movie. But I saw it a couple of years ago and it is great! Visually hokey and socially incisive. What a combination. I can't wait to see the new one with Johnny Depp playing Wonka.
Posted by: Jeep at August 5, 2003 02:37 PM