ALT.SF4M

  Contact - SPOILERS

   • j********o@***.com
     16/07/1997 00:00:000 UTC

     They never did say what that billionaire died of! (Explosive

     decompression, perhaps? Smoke inhalation?)

     Considering the pathetically limited interaction they have with her, the

     aliens would be crazy to have actually bothered to transport her! And no

     real contact takes place: it might as well be a sweet dream, for all the

     actual exchange that takes place (the resemblance to her flight from her

     lover is striking: she takes off before he can get to make a mess in the

     kitchen or stink up the toilet, just as the aliens don't reveal any of

     their merely mortal details). This reflects the whole religiosity about

     contact of the movie: we don't meet real aliens, with weird faces, funny

     voices, bad odors, warts and disgusting habits (you know, like the

     French), but a nice angel who comforts her and sends her home (what a
     sick

     schtick to pull, too!) Real aliens you have to take a stand on: they

     have bodies, walk around, and talk - they always seem a little
     ridiculous

     because they ground out the mist of otherness into the specific and
     merely

     other. My life wouldn't be changed much by the discovery of distant
     alien

     intelligence, at least not after the first week. I want to meet aliens
     so

     we can pal around with them, trade technologies, and have someone new
     and

     interesting to shoot at. This crap about contact making the interstellar

     loneliness bearable: what a crock. Familiarity breeds contempt. There

     have always been diferent races and cultures on Earth - we've been quite

     happy "alone" together, and chatty aliens would quickly become another
     set

     of "thems." And Sagan's vision seems to me to reduce to long dead people

     comparing notes on how crappy it is to be trapped in one solar system.

     Some fun! The primary topic of inquiry is probably "Gotta
     hyperdrive??!!"

     Gorno

     Many CNN cuties present, too.

       • Jennifer Adams
         20/07/1997 00:00:000 UTC

         In the book it was more worth the risk. They left out some kind of

         important ideas. I'm not really sure why they chose to do that. I

         still liked the movie though.

         Beatnik