In the early 1980s, Spielberg released this new science fiction film "Aliens" after the great success of his famous science fiction film "The Third Type of Contact". Success seems to have been expected. The crowd of audiences, the enthusiastic praises of film critics, the T-shirts all over the street, and the game shows created based on the film once again made this "prodigy" and even his "academic" companions in the American film scene. The status of Shanghai has been confirmed. At the same time, it also shows that science fiction movies are being pushed to a new beginning.
As a kind of juggling and magic, the film that enters modern human society has drawn inspiration from scientific fantasy from the very beginning. In 1912, Mélière, one of the pioneers of French cinema, filmed the well-known classic "Travel to the Moon" and became the originator of the world's science fiction movies. But unfortunately, with the rapid development of modern civilization, the romantic fantasy of human technological progress that Meili Ai placed in the film has not been inherited by people. On the contrary, the illusion of science was replaced by the horror of science. Before and after World War I, horror science fiction films became the mainstream in this genre. People began to work hard to create a kind of "Frankenstein" who abused science and technology to satisfy the audience's distorted feelings about modern civilization. By the end of the Second World War, science fiction films about aliens began to appear in the Western film industry. However, in an era promoted by politicians as the "Cold War", filmmakers are more willing to portray uninvited guests from outside the sky as the incarnation of the "Eastern threat" that may fall from the sky at any time, hoping to be frightened by atomic weapons all day long. The restless Western public earns more money. It wasn't until the end of the 1960s that the situation changed. In Kubrick's "2001: Space Travel", human astronauts flew into space again confidently with the accompaniment of Strauss's beautiful waltz. The film created a new milestone in science fiction films with the praise of human civilization, amazing spaceship models and special effects. In the 1970s, the climax of sci-fi movies appeared in the American film scene, and two different types of sci-fi movies about alien worlds were formed. One is represented by Lucas's "Star Wars". It uses high-tech stunts to create magnificent space and spaceship battle scenes, becoming an important pillar in the "New Hollywood" myth. The other type started with Spielberg's "Third Type of Contact." It depicts the first contact between mankind and aliens with a stronger cultural color. And from these films, it is not difficult for every audience to feel such a meaningful change: the sense of horror when people stood in front of the gate of the universe for the first time since the 1950s is turning into a kind of awe of the alien world. And curiosity.
In "Aliens," Spielberg further manipulated this transformation. It makes a kind and helpless alien come to the human race, seeking human protection. The image of the alien race has undoubtedly undergone a fundamental change here. Although the little alien in the film is still ugly, its short stature and gentle character are obviously no longer threatening. And its position of seeking protection is far different from the alien monsters that came in groups in the 1950s and slaughtered the earth's creatures. And another more important point of view is Spielberg's description of his attitude towards alien guests. He actually divided his compatriots into two categories in the film. One is the innocent and caring children. With a pure nature, they immediately accepted the existence of aliens, which also belonged to life in the universe, and carefully protected it from human harm. The other is an adult with a city mind in mind. They are either wary of their alien races, or adopt a more practical attitude, trying to treat the unfortunate aliens who have landed on the earth as specimens for scientific research. Although this pattern of distinguishing childishness and adulthood has already existed in previous movie stories, it has a special meaning for Spielberg.
In fact, under the packaging of this touching story, Spielberg is trying to recreate a new myth about aliens, and its degree of "myth" is by no means inferior to the so-called milestone of "Planet" The Great War. The difference between the two is only that Spielberg does not use dazzling special effects and magnificent scenes to create a visual mystery for the alien world, but by injecting a sense of mystery into a "small story". A deeper cultural-religious connotation makes the story of aliens a true myth. As some film critics have pointed out, Spielberg has actually incorporated the story of Jesus in the Bible into his own image. Following this, we can see that at the beginning of the film, a spacecraft from space descended in the night and chaos, bringing an unexpected guest to mankind-the little alien. It is like the Christ of the year, not understood by people and pursued by those "power-holders." Then, like Christ, it continues to create "miracles" for people-to make small balls fly off the ground, and make flowers grow and wither. Later, the "death" of the little alien in the hospital was just like the sacrifice of Jesus, and it was resurrected through "faith" (Iliot). It is not difficult to draw out Spielberg's "criticism" on the increasingly "mature" human beings based on this ancient, religious sentiment basis. In his opinion, it seems that the adult society, which has forgotten its ancestors and has become increasingly self-righteous, has difficulty communicating with the universe, and only those children who are still innocent are truly "blessed." Because they have the so-called "sacred heart", they can understand those supernatural miracles. Spielberg is only playing here a game of Hollywood narrative strategy, or is he really fond of mankind's ability to explore the wonders of the universe one day? We don't know. But in any case, the final scene of the film is enough to be included in the classic scenes of science fiction movies: in the music of the famous religious musician John Williams, the parents of Little Illiott seem to have finally realized what the aliens include The truth is, they put their hands on their chests, knelt to the ground, looking up at the spaceship disappearing into the air with a sacred look. It is believed that this is a perfect reproduction of the scene of Jesus ascending to heaven after his resurrection.
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