Communicating Fears in Film: Astrophobia, Part 3 - Signs (2002)

Send us Fan MailIn part 3 of the "Astrophobia" discussion series to the Communicating Fears in Film season of Special Topics, cohosts Garret Castleberry and Scott McMurry jump ahead fifty years from recent coverage of 50s sci-fi chillers to discuss and dissect M. Night Shyamalan's blockbuster homage to Hitchcock, Signs (2002). The dialogic duo struggle with words (more Garret than Scott), either by intention or by design, while putting together a respectful defense of Shyamalan's auteur contributions to film history (7:20). With a cultural contextualization of for the director and film in place, the hosts place this film within an astrophobia narrative framework (23:49). Scott shifts from literary influences to the film's focus on crop circles as a unique phenomenon in mass mediated and folk history (28:07), the ocular affect of clear versus cloudy night skies (31:37), and their relationship to fears concerning alien surveillance and threats concerning borders and invasion (34:10). Tentacled analysis also examines the history of alien invasion movies, the narrative machinations that both imitate and innovate genre form, the presence versus absence of immediate extraterrestrial depictions onscreen, ultimately concluding with dueling interpretations of the ways in which Signs communicates fear in film. Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurryProducers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)Recommended readings paired with Season Seven "Communicating Fears in Film":Kendall Phillips. Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture. Praeger, 2006.Stephen Prince. Apocalypse Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2021.Murray Leeder. Horror Film: A Critical Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2018.M. Night Shayamalan. (Director). Signs. Pennsylvania, USA: Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Pictures, 2002.Ways to Connect with us online:Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics."Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media).Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode.Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel.Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/. Support the show