Close Encounters: Cultural Impact

2016 ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
American Government ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
First Contact

This chapter reflects on the cultural impact of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). During the filming of Close Encounters, a rumour spread that the film was being secretly sponsored by an American government agency as part of its acclimation programme to ready humankind for imminent first contact with extraterrestrials. In some ways, there is a sense — conspiracy theories aside — that Spielberg may have achieved something along those lines. As such, the cosmic outlook of Close Encounters has influenced not only subsequent science-fiction films but also the continuing fascination with extraterrestrial life and a whole UFO subculture. Even if the film itself is all but forgotten in certain quarters, its impact can still be felt keenly on popular culture and in the SETI/ufology community at large.

Introduction: ‘The UFOs Are Coming!’

2016 ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
New Age ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Alien Abduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Close Encounters is a UFO movie that arose from a resurgence of ufology in the 1970s, which coincided with the growth of New Age movements, mysticism, alien-abduction cults, and an increasing belief in conspiracy theories. The film speaks to Utopianism, the belief within international relations theory that war can be eliminated either by perfecting man or by perfecting government. Utopianism is, of course, a key concept in science fiction. The chapter then looks at Jack Kroll's review of Close Encounters, which demonstrates how so many of the political criticisms surrounding the film stem from the time of its initial reception, and how its cultural denotation as ‘transcendent’ science fiction was immediately recognised and accepted by some — but not all — critics. The chapter also details the synopsis of the film.

Jurassic Park

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Steven Spielberg ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

‘Constellations: Jurassic Park’ explores how Steven Spielberg used the film to investigate several key themes that have been important to him across his career. These themes are: nature and humankind’s relationship with it, the importance of cinematic fantasy and how it shapes our view of the world, and the impact of toxic masculinity on both men and women. The book also looks at how Spielberg blends genres across his career as a whole and Jurassic Park specifically. This is particularly true of the science fiction and horror genres, which are used in Jurassic Park to create a film that is both cathartically scary and thematically satisfying. These points are contextualised within the wider scope of Spielberg’s life and career to understand how Jurassic Park acted as bridging point between the light entertainments he had been known for up to that point (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for example) and the more serious filmmaking he focused on after its release (Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln).

Close Encounters: Genre and Context

2016 ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Art Cinema ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Human Need ◽  
Science Fiction Films

This chapter discusses the genre and context of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). It begins by tracing the emergence of science fiction in literature and in cinema. The chapter then looks at how film serials popularised pulp science-fiction cinema in the form of rocketships, ray guns, alien invaders, evil intergalactic emperors, and damsels in distress. One can see them as the inspiration for the likes of Star Wars and the myriad superhero blockbuster movies that continue to dominate Hollywood today. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey returned science fiction to its origins in Greek mythology. It is perhaps the first example of ‘transcendent’ science-fiction cinema, exploring the human need to place trust in a force larger than ourselves. In the early 1970s, science-fiction films were more overtly concerned with identity and environment, and how both were increasingly shaped or misshapen by technology. Meanwhile, post-9/11 has seen a move towards intelligent science fiction as a bankable commodity within Hollywood. Part of the genre's continuing appeal is, of course, the showcasing of state-of-the-art cinema technology within the sci-fi narrative. Special-effects technology has evolved in line with cinema's own development.

Conclusion: We Are Not Alone

2016 ◽  
pp. 133-134
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Active Form ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Radio Signals ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Intelligent Life

This concluding chapter explains why Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) remains a singular science-fiction film. In the intervening years since the release of Close Encounters, one can arguably see in the convergence of science fiction, ufology, and SETI, a continuing desire for the kind of transformative ‘encounter’ with alien intelligence that Close Encounters represents. The cultural impact of Close Encounters and ‘transcendent’ science fiction in general has, in fact, served to increase public awareness of the work being done in the scientific community to detect extraterrestrial life. Even now, cosmologists involved in SETI are proposing a more active form of search for alien civilisations, in which radio signals will be aimed at parts of the galaxy where Earth-like planets exist and with it an increased possibility of contact with intelligent life. However, the recent detection of these Earth-like planets that may be capable of sustaining life in the ‘habitable zones’ of distant stars has prompted scientists to consider stepping up activities to what is known as METI (Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Regardless of the objections of some scientists to METI, the scientific community in general seems to be in consensus that the likelihood of intelligent life existing elsewhere is high (the so-called ‘Drake Equation’), even though the probability of detection may be low.

The God in Science Fiction

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Los Angeles Times ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Saturday Review

Bradbury’s successful 1977 stage adaptation of The Martian Chronicles with Terrence Shank and Paul Gregory opens chapter ten and leads into Bradbury’s fully realized understanding of Hamlet while attending Jack O’Brien’s production at San Diego’s Globe Theater. The chapter examines Bradbury’s influential Saturday Review essay “The God in Science Fiction,” which continues his exploration of the spiritual intersection between science and science fiction. His significant Los Angeles Times review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind embraced the film’s global spiritual implications. The chapter goes on to document Bradbury’s grief over the loss of friends Loren Eiseley, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, and his willingness to guarantee completion of Brackett’s Empire Strikes Back screenplay. She lived to complete it and acknowledge their enduring friendship.

scholarly journals UFO Religions – Beginnings and Main Forms

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-139
Author(s):  
Danijel Sinani
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Heaven's Gate ◽  
Major Factors

This paper looks at UFO religions, and considers the major factors that have played a role in the emergence and development of these alternative religious movements - from reports of close encounters of the third and fourth kinds and science fiction production, to alternative ideological elaborations of contacts with extraterrestrial worlds. It looks at the basic theological premises, iconography, activities, and, more generally, cultural precepts of several UFO religious movements (the Aetherius Society, Heaven's Gate, Unarius, the Raelian movement). Attention is drawn to the religious connotations of UFO discourse, and its motifs of "otherness" and "supernaturalness". In addition, the relation between the roles and themes promoted within the contactee movement and the accounts of persons claiming to have been abducted by aliens is explored. Finally, the paper highlights the key existential questions and identifies the themes and motifs with which UFO religionists present themselves to the public.

Infinite Worlds

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-87
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Jules Verne ◽  
Federico Fellini ◽  
Birthday Anniversary ◽  
High Regard

Chapter 11 documents Bradbury’s 1978 trip to Europe and his participation in the 150th birthday anniversary celebrations for Jules Verne. He was an honored guest in Paris and continued with his wife to visit Italian film director Federico Fellini at his studio in Rome. The chapter also surveys the back story to Bradbury’s visit with Fellini, and Fellini’s sense that they were spiritual twins, sharing a love of fantasy and a distain of authoritarianism. The success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the high regard he found for science fiction and fantasy films in Europe, led Bradbury to change film agents back in Los Angeles.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Production History ◽  
Intensity Of Emotion ◽  
The Way

For many, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) is not so much a movie as a religious experience. On its release in 1977, CE3K virtually redefined the science-fiction film, shifting it away from spaceships, laser guns, and bug-eyed monsters into a modified form of science fiction that John Wyndham once called ‘logical fantasy’. What would it be like if extra-terrestrials made contact with people on Earth? How would it feel? Like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Steven Spielberg's primary inspiration, CE3K is concerned with mankind's evolution towards the stars, towards a state of transcendence. But Spielberg's vision hinges not so much on cool scientific intellect being the key to our next stage of evolution, as on the necessary development of emotional intelligence. To that end, we must regain our childlike curiosity for what lies beyond the skies, we must recover our capacity to experience wonder. Intensity of emotion is inherent to the film's meaning, and the aim of this book is to explore this in detail. Along the way, the book delves into the film's production history, explores Spielberg's remarkable cinematic realization of the film (including a comparison study of the three different release versions), and considers in detail how CE3K fits into the Spielberg oeuvre.

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