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Alien Movies

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The Alien As Other: Spiritual, Political, And Cultural Representations Of The Alien In Late 20 Th Century Cinema, Benjamin Franz Oct 2008

The Alien As Other: Spiritual, Political, And Cultural Representations Of The Alien In Late 20 Th Century Cinema, Benjamin Franz

Publications and Research

Storytellers frame their morals and fables of us through the lens of the 'Others'. When the popular form of storytelling evolved into film, the Other naturally became that which was most fascinating and curious, the Intergalactic Entity, or Alien.

In the film Contact(1997), Dr. Ellie Arroway struggles with a disbelief in things greater than herself, and the desire to see what is out there in the cosmos. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), strangers are brought together by the vision of harmony set forth by cosmic visitors. The theme of belief in something greater than oneself echoes …