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I like ambiguous movies, but any form of art whose goal is ambiguity is in danger of crossing from the honesty of, "It's hard to know truth," to the agnostic dogma of, "There is no truth to know." I think "Contact" falls into the latter category.
Language and concepts both lead me to discourage using this below the high-intermediate level. The vocabulary is heavy in scientific terms and the concepts depend on a foundation of science and philosophy. The key theme of the film is the existence of God, but this is explored through a metaphor of whether there is life on other planets. Unfortunately, both of these themes could be offensive to some audiences. Throw in the facts that no traditional religious leaders are portrayed positively, and the most positive religious leader sleeps with the heroine on their first date, and you're left with a film that will offend almost all potential audiences.
Even with these flaws, though, I would recommend it for language teaching. It's entertaining, thoughtful, and much more honest than most films that deal with big issues. I've only used it a handful of times, and no students said it was their favorite film, but no one hated it, and they all improved their English through discussing it.
Genre: Drama/Science Fiction
Rating: PG13, sexuality, language
English: standard American, advanced (scientific)
Major Themes: Man vs. Himself, Power, Search for Truth, Man vs. God, Freedom vs. Destiny, Technology, Death of a Family Member, Religion, Science, Supernatural (paranormal), Man vs. Nature
Minor Themes: Betrayal, Man vs. Man, Falling in Love, Man vs. System | |
Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Continue to Parts 5-10
Section 1
Time: 10:50
Summary: The camera moves from the earth into distant space, and the sounds of radio messages from earth grow older as the camera retreats until only silence remains. Then the image shifts to the eye of a little girl talking into a short-wave radio. She talks with her father about space and the possibility of talking to creatures from other planets, and the possibility of making a tool that would allow her to talk to her dead mother. The section ends with the little girl, Ellie, grown and working on a search for extraterrestrial life project at a giant radar station in Puerto Rico, where she meets Dr. Haraway (a blind man) and Dr. Vernon (a black man). She sits at a much more sophisticated computer now, listening to sounds from space.
Vocabulary: - names of planets in English: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto
- Pensacola, Florida: large city in Florida
- Puerto Rico: Caribbean island territory of the USA
- satellite dish: round device to receive satellite signals
- shift: change in a noticeable way
- glitch: small problem, especially with computers or electronics
- driven: compelled, strongly motivated
- gamma ray: very powerful type of radiation (compare alpha rays)
- little green men: common extraterrestrial characters in science fiction
Questions: - How did the sounds change during the opening scene? Why did they change this way?
- Describe the relationship between the girl and her father.
- What happened to the girl's mother?
- What is the woman listening for at the satellite station? Why is she listening for it?
- What happens to radio waves when they leave the atmosphere?
- Describe the sounds you heard as the camera went further away from earth. Why did the sounds change that way?
- Do you believe that there is life in outer space?
- Do you believe that it is possible to communicate with people who have died?
- Do you believe that it is could be possible to use technology to communicate with people who had died?
- What is the purpose of studying space?
For Further Discussion:: - This film moves quickly between characters, concepts, and timeframes. It is edited so that many time changes happen without warning. Students may need to watch the first few sections more than once to get a feeling for all that's happening.
- The opening part of this film almost certainly needs to be discussed. Stop the section after the opening sequence, just before the scene of the girl talking into a short-wave radio. It's about 4:20 into the film. Talk about the images and sounds they heard and what tone and theme the film is trying to convey. The rewind the film and watch the whole first section without interruption.
Section 2
Time: 13:30
Summary: Ellie, at a cantina, meets Palmer, a New-Age type of activist and former priest. He asks her out, but she refuses. Dr. Drummond, the head of the governmental research project arrives. It is clear that he has little respect for Ellie and a great deal of respect for himself. At a party, Palmer stands up to Drummond, and Ellie notices. They end up in bed-talking. Palmer tells Ellie about his religious experience, a life change that he cannot prove. She is obviously skeptical. He asks her why she's afraid of being alone and asks her about her father. Ellie leaves, promising to call. She has a flashback to her father's death and her avowal of dependence on human power alone. The section ends with the young Ellie crying into a short-wave for her dad to answer her.
Vocabulary: - nebulae: new star
- quasars: sub-atomic particle
- pulsars: radiation given by stars
- extra-terrestrial: life from another planet
- fringe: on the edge of what is acceptable
- compass: device to tell which direction is north
- SETI (abbreviation in the film)
- Cain and Able: biblical sons of the first man and woman; Cain killed Able out of jealousy after God accepted Able's sacrifice and rejected Cain's.
Questions: - In Drummond's opinion, what is the purpose of science?
- In Palmer's opinion, what is the purpose of science?
- Why does Ellie leave Palmer?
- What caused Ellie's father's death?
- Why is Palmer studying the impact of technology on the Third World? What does he mean by it?
- How do people ask each other for dates in your culture?
- What is the difference between Palmer's and Drummond's views of the role of science?
- Which is more important, to know the truth or to have a good life?
- What does "the pursuit of truth" mean? What does it involve?
- Palmer says that religion and science both have the same goal: the pursuit of truth. Is he right?
- Which way is better for finding truth; religion, or science?
- Why is Ellie so afraid of being alone?
- Why does Ellie leave Palmer?
- What does Palmer give Ellie? What does this symbolize?
- How did Ellie's father die?
- What is responsible for Ellie's father's death? Ellie? God? Fate? Bad planning of where to put the medicine?
- What advice does the priest give to Ellie?
- What is Ellie's response to the priest's advice?
For Further Discussion:: Huge issues come up very quickly in this movie, and multiple issues may arise simultaneously. Try to keep discussions lively, but steer them away from simplistic answers or answers they may give simply because they think you will approve. Play devil's advocate often.
Section 3
Time: 11:20
Summary: Drummond cuts funding for the research station. Ellie is furious. Drummond says that government-sponsored projects should focus on applications that will improve human lives, not on theoretical research. Ellie counters with the "pursuit of truth" line. Ellie and Haraway decide to start out on their own. Ellie leaves without calling Palmer. She starts trying to raise money from foundations, and gets her wish. She begins her research at a New Mexico lab, but then finds that the government is going to close it, too. Haraway wants to give up, but Ellie refuses. A TV monitor in the background reveals that Palmer has written a best-selling book and is telling Larry King that technology and science are incapable of finding answers to our basic desires. The section ends with the image of Ellie sitting on her car hood with headphones on in the middle of the night, all alone, listening to sounds from outer space.
Vocabulary: - pull the plug: end the project, euphemism for disconnecting life support in a hospital so that a person may die
- confrontational: wanting to have an argument
- foundations (financial): institutions that control how money is given from a company to an organization that does not directly create revenue
- high priestess: most powerful female religious leader
- chaos: lack of rules, lack of order, absolute wildness
- go it alone: do something without help
- theologian: someone who studies theology (the academic discipline of religious studies)
- vampire: a dead person who comes back to life by drinking the blood of living people
- Halloween: October 31, a common holiday for remembering the dead or dressing in scary costumes to mock death and fear
- synthesized: brought many things together to make one new thing
Questions: - Why did Drummond close the research station?
- What arguments does Ellie make to convince the agency to give her money for research?
- What is Palmer's new job?
- What reasons does Drummond give for shutting down the research station?
- Is Drummond right in what he does?
- What duty do scientists have to the taxpayers who fund their research?
- Do poets, philosophers, scientists, and others have a duty to society first, or a duty to their studies first?
- Does Ellie have the right to do the kind of work that she wants to do?
- Why does Ellie leave without calling Palmer?
- How does Ellie get money to fund her research?
- Why does Ellie fight with Haraway?
- Which is more important, truth or relationships?
- What does Palmer say causes the problems in our society?
- Does science make life better?
- Do relationships make life better?
For Further Discussion:: Again, a lot of issues arise. Focus on the ones relating to the source of happiness and the source of problems in relationships. Questions about the role of government in funding and controlling research might also be interesting, if the class doesn't like the more personal discussion.
Section 4
Time: 20:30
Summary: Ellie sits on her car hood, listening. Suddenly, the sound is different. She calls the men at the research station, and they start documenting it. Soon, they have documented that the sound is a series of prime numbers originating from outer space. The military quickly gets involved. They find that the signal originated 26 years earlier and is actually a TV message: a broadcast of the Berlin Olympics. President Clinton appears at a press conference on the issue, and Drummond is chosen to make the announcement, even though it was Ellie's discovery. Then they find that a secret message in an elaborate code is encrypted in the TV image. The section ends with a montage of news programs commenting on the issue.
Vocabulary: - prime numbers: numbers that can only be divided by themselves and 1.
- beacon: an electronic or light signal
- harmonic: a sound that is related to another in a mathematical way
- interlaced: woven together, tied together
- structure: method of designing something
- benign: not wanting to harm something else
- imminent domain: the ultimate right of the government to control everything within its borders for the sake of the greater good
- militarize: put an area under the control of the military
Questions: - What image does the transmission give?
- Why does it show this image?
- What does this transmission prove?
- How did Ellie know that there was a new message?
- Do all changes have to have a cause?
- Should the media be involved with a discovery like this?
- Should the military be involved with a discovery like this?
- Should many countries be involved with a discovery like this?
- What does Ellie mean when she says that science is "the universal language"? Do you agree with her?
- What does it mean that the message has structure?
- Does the structure of the message prove that it came from intelligent life?
- Why does Drummond get to make the announcement instead of Ellie?
- If you were able to send a message to creatures on another planet, what would you say?
- Are the people right to be afraid of the authors of this message?
For Further Discussion:: - This would be a great time to bring up issues of what it would take to prove something beyond a doubt.
- Put the students in small groups to discuss the implications a discovery like this would have on their lives or societies.
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