Signs (2002) is a fantastic depiction of the end of the world from the viewpoint of a normal family

Signs is one of my favorite movies of all time, and everyone (rightly) talks about the scares, but the thing that makes it so great to me is the depiction of the world falling apart.

Most movies in this genre tend to take it on from a global scale, other countries collapsing and a sweeping view of the global scale of it all. Signs narrows it down and gives you the POV of an average family being confused and trying to handle the world collapsing around them the best they can. This, in my opinion, is what makes it so frightening all these years later- you can imagine it from your point of view, and it makes it that much more relatable.

In addition, there’s no trope of characters doing stupid things to advance the plot. Graham and Merril take on the situation the best way they can.

My favorite scene is the night before all hell breaks loose, while the family is watching the lights of the ships all over the world on the news, when Merril asks Graham for comfort:

“can’t you pretend to be like you used to be and give me some comfort?”

“People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?”

Submitted June 24, 2023 at 08:51AM by Dense_Organization31 https://ift.tt/72giybY