Solid Block of Ise

(this entry contains some spoilers for a really nice hollywood-movie from 1997 called Contact. If you haven’t seen it and don’t want your experience ruined then don’t read on.)

Me and Ann-Sofie watched Contact a little while ago. It’s in my opinion one truly great film, and one of the few scifi-movies who have some kind of grounding in “real” science. Sure, after they receive the signal it gets a little out there, but none of the scenarios presented are completely unrealistic. Of course, a certain suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy any movie. If one were too critical it wouldn’t be much fun, would it?

So we watched it, and Ann-Sofie made a comment that they should’ve left the ending after the machine out. You know, the whole inquiry into why it supposedly “failed”. I thought about it for a second or two and then disagreed with her, I felt that without that ending the whole movie would just be a waste of time. Sure, a very pretty waste of time, but none the less it wouldn’t have the same punch as with it.

I didn’t continue with the argument since I didn’t want to seem condescending or as if I was lecturing her from high up on my soapbox. I have a tendency to sound very arrogant when explaining stuff, and I’ve learned in the past that this isn’t always appreciated by my peers. Thus I chose to keep quiet at the time. Instead I’m going to off here.

You see, the whole theme of the film (and to a certain extent the book it was based off) is that of the conflict between science and faith.

The main character –Ellie Arroway– is a woman steeped in science, she believes in things that she can observe through empirical evidence. She does not believe in a higher being of any kind, and this causes a lot of friction between her and other characters as the movie unfolds. In a dramatic moment she is denied the trip in the machine due to not believing in god, something that apparently is a prerequisite for that privilege. She is frustrated that such a trivial thing is the key to keeping her grounded, and we as viewers share that anguish. Us viewers get even more frustrated when her opponent for the chair in the machine more or less flatly admits to lying to the board of directors and telling them what they want to hear, even though he doesn’t believe anything himself.

But the theme of the film is faith as opposed to science. The ending is essentially a change of roles for Ellie. All through the film (and her life) religion has never answered any of the really big questions for her. No priest or any believer has ever produced any tangible evidence of the existence of god. Yet, at the end of the movie, she’s in the same position. She’s experienced something amazing, something truly eye-opening — yet she cannot produce a single proof that it’s happened. She just knows that it has happened, deep inside her heart she has faith in it. The only other person in the entire world who can understand what she feels is her exact opposite, the enigmatic and openly religious Palmer Joss.

Without placing her in the position that she earlier placed Palmer Joss and religion there wouldn’t be a proper ending. Also, without the last two lines of dialogue there wouldn’t be a proper ending.

It’s a great film, even if you don’t care about the juxtaposition between two very different bases for belief. Carl Sagan himself was in my opinion even at the best of times rather fuzzy about what he believed in, and I think it reflects in the movie. The movie just as well as Sagan himself begs the viewer to find their own truth.

Me, I don’t think there’s a god out there. Sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some really mind-boggling things out in the great big universe we live in. But an all-powerful god watching over us? Nope.

One thing that I thought about while watching the ending of Contact is how unfairly science is competing with organized religion. Religion has never had to prove anything since faith itself cannot be proven in a scientific manner. No one puts any pressure on faith proving that god exists, or any of the other deities that people all over the world believe in. Yet these religions put huge pressure on scientists and atheists to prove everything from the theory of evolution to gravity itself. If we don’t prove it, then essentially we’re proclaimed not trustworthy and accused of pulling stuff right out of our asses.

It’s quite strange in my opinion. Overall I feel more and more that organized religion is more like a collective psychotic episode, but then again it’s impossible to prove faith. Also, I again stress that I don’t mind faith as such, but I feel it’s a bit wasted to use that faith to believe in a book or some invisible god rather than humanity itself.

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