Seen from the Sky

"What kind of person are you?"
Signs (2002)

Points for Reflection

M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002)

1. What sort of genre does the film’s visually simple, aurally dramatic beginning (scored by James Newton Howard) signal will follow the opening credits?
2. The opening shot of the film captures the outdoors through the imperfect, slightly wavy glass one often finds in rural settings.  Why?
3. At what other points in the film does Shyamalan use glass—either transparent or reflective—to fashion creative shots?
4. Though the film’s main action takes place in a rural area outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the TV newscasts expand the story’s reach to touch what other countries?
5. M. Night Shyamalan employs quite a few extended shots, in which objects and subjects move in and out of the frame while the camera remains immobile.  Is this as effective at creating dramatic tension as the more familiar tendency to move the camera often and piece together lots of brief, action-packed shots?
6. How reliant on dialogue is Shyamalan, and how much does he manage to express without words?
7. What forms of humor does Shyamalan insert into the storyline, and what purpose do they serve in such a consistently somber film?
8. Which does Shyamalan use more often when transitioning between scenes, dissolves, hard cuts, or fades?  What effect does each type of transition create?
9. How effective is Graham at protecting his children from physical and emotional threats?
10. Do Graham and Merrill offer different types of protection to the kids?
11. How does Graham respond to interruptions, shock, and trauma?  What likely shapes this customary response to stressors?
12. Is Graham a caring and attentive father?
13. Why do the dogs, Houdini and Isabelle, begin to behave so erratically?
14. Does Graham create a space for his kids to talk about their deceased mother?
15. Why might Shyamalan use an aerial shot to capture the family as they head into town to get their minds off things (23:32-33)?
16. Which does Shyamalan uses more often in this film, j-cuts or l-cuts?
17. What array of excuses does Bo use for leaving glasses of water around the house?
18. Does Bo’s enduring anxiety about problems with water expand to touch on any other issues?
19. In what situations does Morgan use his asthma inhaler?
20. Which of Morgan’s brotherly qualities can be traced back to Graham’s fatherly virtues?
21. Why is Merrill Hess both famous and infamous for his exploits in minor league baseball?
22. Does Officer Caroline Paski balance personal and professional vibes when interacting with the Hess family, or veer hard in one direction over the other?
23. What is so odd about the crop circles?
24. How does Graham usually respond to being called “Father” by those outside his family, and in what singular situation does he not respond in his customary fashion?
25. What does Bo supposedly see outside her room that first night that she wakes her father?
26. What various angles are used to capture the presence of the mysterious figure who shows up at Graham’s house the first evening?
27. At what point does Graham discover unequivocal proof of what’s going on? What is his response?
28. Which of the many things predicted by the book Morgan bought prove to be accurate?
29. Why does Graham hesitate to curse when encouraged to do so by his brother?
30. Upon what belief was Graham’s previous faith resting?
31. According to the binary that Graham sets up halfway through the film, when distinguishing between two types of people, what type is he at the beginning of the film—and what type at the end?
32. Does Merrill hold progressive ideas about women and gender roles?
33. Which of the various opinions about the . . . inexplicable phenomenon in humanity’s midst seems grounded, and which untenable?
34. Amidst news reports about the unexpected, widespread phenomenon, Merrill observes, “It’s like War of the Worlds” (1:07:45).  For those of you familiar with this novella, or any of its cinematic adaptations, in what ways does Shyamalan’s own story about extra-terrestrials differ from H. G. Wells’s own tale?
35. At what point does Shyamalan use a swish pan, and when does he employ a mask?
36. How does the family respond when they see Ray Reddy in town?  Is their response similar to his own?
37. Who echoes Ray Reddy’s words, “it was meant to be”?
38. What do we glean about Colleen’s character from Graham’s flashbacks?
39. Is Merrill as effective a protector as his brother, Graham?  What forms of protection does he provide?
40. How does Shyamalan employ sound during those slow pans and zooms in the film’s suspenseful, final act?
41. How often do we actually see what we’re hearing, amidst the adversaries’ slow incursion?
42. What type of camera lens does Shyamalan use to capture the moment when Graham has his big epiphany towards the end of the film?
43. Does the balance of fear, courage, and love that together shapes Graham’s parenting style shift over the course of the film?
44. C. S. Lewis writes in The Problem of Pain (1940) that God allows suffering to upend the happiness of honest, hard-working people in order to draw them closer to himself (96). Is this what happens in Shyamalan’s film?
    

Signs (2002)
theatrical poster

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu