by Sara R. Bradley

Created on: August 09, 2008   Last Updated: August 12, 2008

As most gifted directors do, M. Night Shyamalan always has an underlying message in his movies. He conveys the message successfully in Signs. There is a strong message in this movie regarding faith and spirituality. Graham Hess, the farmer and former minister played by Mel Gibson, has to face his emotions through the events that take place in the movie. The beginning of these events is the discovery of crop circles in his field.

Crop Circles began to make front page news in the early 1980's. Many reports came out earlier, one for sure in 1880 by John Rand Capron, however the crop circles did not make front page until there were more accounts with evidence to back up these accounts. There are various hypotheses to explain crop circles. Man-made hoaxes, UFO's, geological anomalies and linkage to ancient sites are just a few of the hypotheses that have been offered up as explanations. In truth, there is no physical evidence to definitely pinpoint one idea or another in most of the cases. Many crop circle cases have been classified as man-made hoaxes.

In Signs, the crop circles were made by aliens. This was proven, in the movie, since the aliens actually landed and tried to take over the earth. To analyze the message, I believe that Shyamalan is showing movie goers there are so many incidences in your life that you do not actually see due to avoidance or simply ignoring the signs. Those incidences constantly have an effect on your present and future.

Shyamalan uses the title of the movie to express two separate meanings. First, the title of the film refers to the crop circles and the many signs of what has been happening around the world. Second, it is about having faith and the very real existence of signs that come from above.

Graham Hess was incredibly distraught and disconnected since his wife's tragic death. He is left to raise his two children with the help of his brother. In one portion of the movie, you discover what actually happened to Graham's wife. As the movie progresses, you learn of the wife's last message to her husband and her specific instructions that save the family from the aliens that have invaded their home. In the movie, the aliens are the physical invaders. However, the other invader would have to be the depression that settled upon Graham after his wife's death. The message: Pay attention to the signs in your life.

Whatever you believe or do not believe in signs from above, make sure that you look for the underlying message. You may be missing an important key to your life or even getting the life that you want back.

References:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/interface2005.htm

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