"Signs"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the movie "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.

From the Paper:

"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."

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