MovieChat Forums > Contact (1997) Discussion > So .......... (spoilers)

So .......... (spoilers)

posted 7 days ago by newts (195)
8 replies | jump to latest

The aliens make mankind construct a giant machine that is so expensive to make that nation states begin to negotiate about its funding

only to send some dude or dudette on a trip so they can say "you're not alone keep reaching for the stars little buddy ok time is up, now piss off you little sucker, sending you home with no evidence where your life is ruined by my unclear instructions and garbled message"

what reason do I have to assume they aren't hostile?

[–] fc31 (4849) 7 days ago

Because with the technology they have they could have destroyed the earth if they wanted.

They just have to use that machine to open a portal and send a bomb.

To think of it it was really dumb the fact they were building that machine, without even knowing what it does. It could so easily turn into something a lot worse than 'species'.

In fact sending signal into space is really dumb, they obviously never read '3 body problem'.

[–] newts (195) 7 days ago

Okay let me rephrase my question
What reason is there to believe they're benevolent? all they did was made mankind waste all that work and material
some of it which might have been rare ores etc

only to send someone on a nonsense trip

[–] fc31 (4849) 7 days ago

Like I said they could have killed us, but they did not.

That means they are not bad people.

The fact everything earth people are doing is our own problem, you can't blame our own stupidity on aliens.

Why am I thinking of Trump? Anyway, now I lost chain of thoughts.

[–] newts (195) 7 days ago

>Like I said they could have killed us, but they did not.
>That means they are not bad people.

Damn thats pretty low standards. Ok they didnt kill anyone but they trolled them on a planetary level.

[–] fc31 (4849) 7 days ago

That is all we can hope with strangers.

If you are old enough, and have been screwed enough times, you'd think the same.

[–] TandyMan (10661) 7 days ago

I think it was a bit of a test to see if we could and would build and use the machine. First Contacts are probably often messy and a waste of time. It was probably more about who we sent than any info that came back to us. Imagine if we threw some Homer Simpson in the pod. They'd be like "forget them Earth losers".

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12884) 7 days ago

It was worse in the book, trust me. I couldn't get through Carl Sagan's droning slog, but my mom did. She said in the original story, the machine could hold several travelers, and when they got to the other star system, each one had a vision of someone they cared about (but was actually the aliens in disguise) talking to them, and they too came back to earth with no evidence they went anywhere, and were made a laughinstock by the entire world.

Small wonder my mom threw the book into the fireplace when she was done.

[–] pazuzu9 (322) 7 days ago

Are we maybe taking this movie too literally? There's a strong theme of religion (faith) vs science through out the movie. Could that be more the point at the end?