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What Midnight Special is, and why many viewers didn't get it (SPOILERS)

posted 8 years ago by eugenia_loli
17 replies | jump to latest

Contrary to popular belief, "Midnight Special" is a spiritual movie, turned sci-fi, turned spiritual again.

Some Q&A, and ***SPOILERS***:

1. Where did Alton come from?

- Alton was conceived & born normally by his parents, as any human has. The fact that he could reach to other dimensions was a product of evolution. His father exhibits the same abilities (as shown at the very end when his eyes shine), but to a much smaller degree. The evolution of human kind to another state of being is teased.

2. Where did the alien structures come from?

- They were not "alien" in the traditional meaning. They were on a parallel Earth (or another dimension), an Earth that had a different evolutionary path than ours. Parallel dimensions are hidden from our awareness under normal circumstances, but the biological evolutionary step mentioned above made it possible for Alton.

3. What were these beings?

- These were light beings. That's where the spiritual part comes in: "light beings" are considered in spiritual circles to be very advanced entities. It's been teased by the movie that that's where humanity's future lies too. Also telling is that Alton is reborn by the sun (the light that gives life to everything in our planet).

4. What was the point of the movie?

- Alton is a messianic figure, just not in the traditional terms. The cult thought that he was literally a religious figure, while Alton is messianic in a more subtle way: he reluctantly gives a preview to humanity of what lies ahead for them. The movie is about humanity's "first glimpse" of how expansive the Cosmos is. Not just in terms of aliens travelling from planet A to planet B (in the same universe) as all traditional sci-fi movies have been for so long, but also in parallel, and also up and down and inner and outer (in other words, the Cosmos is a web in all directions of different universes and dimensional existences). That's next-level sci-fi. That's the border between sci-fi and New Age spirituality (without the negative baggage that usually accompanies it in the minds of most people).

5. Ugh, so New Age hogwash was the point of the movie?

- No. What people today call "spirituality" is really science that hasn't been understood yet. And since science can't explain it yet, some "faith" might be required in the meantime for those who had direct experience with it. This is why it was so important for Lucas to say "I believe", because after he had his direct experiences with Alton, he made the leap to faith. But belief is to be transcended by hard data, otherwise it becomes dogma, which keeps you down. This is what the movie is going for too: the leap from unbelief, to belief, to hard data, and not to dogma (that the organized religion / cult had fallen victim of).

The most telling scene on this interpretation, is at the very end, when Durst is cutting her hair. You can interpret that scene as simply trying to get away from FBI, so she needs to change her appearance. Another, deeper explanation would be though, that Durst's character now is free from religion and dogma. You see, her braids were the same as the women in the cult. Even if she had left the cult, she was still bound by their beliefs for years after. By cutting down the braids, she's now free from such beliefs and dogma, she understands that the cosmos is more expansive, and that said expansiveness is not necessarily "religious" in nature, but rather, "just is".

This was for me the best movie of 2016. The most forward-looking, and the most "edgy" sci-fi movie of them all, by literally moving the needle of sci-fi from caricature super-heroes, monsters, and A-to-B aliens, to a more expansive terrain that's more rich in potential. As an ex-filmmaker myself, that's the kind of sci-fi I always wanted to make too (I'm a meta-psychedelic visual artist now).

6. So why didn't so many people get it?

- It's because most people aren't indoctrinated in such cosmological ideas. Even if Alton did explain it at some point, about a "world on top of ours", that still didn't register with most people. Most viewers needed a way more spoon-fed explanation to get it (and maybe they should have received it, that's a failure of the movie production companies involved to not insist that the director gives it to them).

Additionally, the press' comparison of this movie to the '80s Spielberg movies didn't help at all, because this movie had absolutely nothing to do with these older movies (people went to the cinema expecting something specific and recognizable, and they got something completely different instead). So they found the movie a boring dud, as if without significance, and with a WTF ending. But there is significance in the movie, it tells of a larger world that we will eventually reach one way or another, but that we must have faith until that day comes, when that faith transforms from belief to hard scientific data.

This is not different than if the year was 1870, Jules Verne trying to convince people that one day we will have technology to reach for the stars, or the deeps of the sea, and instead, he gets people thinking he was crazy, or just a "fantasy story without significance". All it needed was some faith in the natural process of technological and/or biological evolution. That's what the filmmaker is asking of you today too.

[–] RayPeterson 8 years ago

The film is easy to understand. I'm guessing it performed poorly at the box office because it's dull.

If the last ten minutes of this film had been the FIRST ten minutes, it might have developed into a thought-provoking film. We'll never know. Luckily, there are dozens of superior films.

With MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, the audience is treated to a bunch of pointless chasing, shooting, interviewing, and driving around... humorless....bland, blank-faced characters....no musical score....no character development.....no character arc......the magic boy offers no thoughts on how contemporary humans might evolve (no thoughts of any kind, really)....zzzzzzzZzzzzz

Magic boy walks into the field at the end of the movie like: "I'm out."
Kirsten dunst is like: "Kay."
General Zod is like: "I'm gonna keep speeding around until someone makes me stop"

zzzzzzzz

I would check out last year's film ARRIVAL. It kind of touches on the same themes, except it's better in every conceivable way. Characters have actual conversations about the subject matter. They ask questions. They evolve. No pointless chasing in search of a story.

[–] eugenia_loli 8 years ago

>The film is easy to understand.

Not according to this subforum. It seems that a lot of people had trouble with it.

>no character development.

There's plenty of that. Lucas now believes, the NSA guy now believes, even Alton is dying and gets reborn in that field when he sees his first sunrise. And the mother cuts down the braids as explained in my post above. Heck, the whole humanity changes after the big reveal!

>I would check out last year's film ARRIVAL.

Personally, I didn't quite like Arrival. The main point of Arrival is that language transforms you, and that's true, but only up to a point. Language is a poor substitute for true ascension. In fact, language can keep you down just as much as dogma can, exactly because language means DEFINITION. When you define things, you put them in boxes, and this is a step back to the evolution of the mind, because you can only reach with it things that are defined in one way or another.

To truly go next-level, as any good meditator will you tell you, you need to UNdefine.

Philosophy today in the Western world is split between Analytical (language/knowledge) in the UK & and the Americas, and Continental (wisdom) mostly popular in France, Germany etc. Arrival was the brain child product of American philosophy.

And that's the main problem I have with Arrival. It picked Language as its main vehicle, which gets you far, but only so far. Definitely not as far as seeing the future as the movie postulates...

Sure, you might like Arrival as an overall movie plot/production/direction/etc, but when it comes to what Arrival actually teaches you, it eventually hits a roadblock.

[–] hjemmefra 8 years ago

You should not confuse science with fantasy. It is ok to fantasize, but you should read up on real science before spouting moronic pseudo-science fit for sheep in your chrystal-healing classes. Your problem with Arrival, is your problem with science itself; -you do not like things to be defined:)
"When you define things, you put them in boxes, and this is a step back to the evolution of the mind, because you can only reach with it things that are defined in one way or another"
Wow..
That´s a Mission-Statement of the Confused, right there!
But, donˋt worry. You donˋt have to believe in science. Scientific thought shapes the whole of existence around you, gives you all the benefits of modern society. Keeps you and your loved ones safe and comfortable, nonetheless.
You can snap at the fingers that feeds you as a confused animal all through adulthood and still be fed:)

[–] eugenia_loli 8 years ago

Your whole reply was nothing but a vicious attack, hidden behind an anonymous handle. I didn't attack you, so you could have replied in a better manner.

As for your assertions: my reply on Arrival was based on philosophical text, not "crystal-healing" religion. Yes, I also mentioned meditation above. But if you think that philosophy and meditation are as useless as organized religion is, then I think it's you who only sees one part of the world, but not the full extend of it.

Yes, science requires things to be defined. But to go one step further in your personal development and evolution, you HAVE to undefine. Without undefining (and subsequent redefinition), there's no progress. This is how it has always worked.

I'm not interested in making this thread a Reddit-style thread btw. This is a thread about Midnight Special and any further replies will be limited to that subject.

[–] hjemmefra 8 years ago

So you "undefine", then "redefine". Sounds a lot like the opposite of your condemnation of the need to define as you stated earlier.)
To have a working thesis, review it, then modify is not anything new or "next level".
Your hypothesis and conclusions however, are just so like a twelve year old upon discovering new age and not yet understanding much of anything else.
Your whole posts reeks of silly pseudo-science and a profound dimness disguised as "philosophy".
Your understanding of philosophy seems to be "if I can think it; however unfounded, unoriginal and out of context, it is just as valid as any other thought" Well then; I guess you are a philosopher. Silly girl:)

[–] joliet_jane 8 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to write all that. It's a very helpful analysis for the film.

[–] eliel77 8 years ago

thanks for your insights,I really liked to read them.
this movie made me think, in a positive way, to discover more of its universe. nice story here

Jacarutu!
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=20186983

[–] Agilis 8 years ago

Thank you for writing that. I absolutely enjoyed reading your analysis and it made this film that much more enjoyable.

I believe people are so used to movies spoon-feeding them that when a movie features thought-provoking content, people do not know how to adjust. Rather than attempt to understand, they instead ridicule the movie.

This movie was excellent and I will watch it again after reading your analysis.

Thanks again!

--
Rick
Failure is not an option

[–] TeraisaWrites 8 years ago

Love your post, thanks!

[–] vexata 8 years ago

I think you can enjoy the movie without going too far outside the realm of science. Along with other possible dimensions, consider 'dark' matter for example. The physicists tell us we are surrounded by far more dark matter than ordinary matter. But you can't see it or touch it or otherwise detect it except by its gravity. So what is it? Where is it? Another civilization right on top of ours only in another dimension as this movie suggests? Why not? Seems possible to me. Not to mention dark energy which also apparently exists.

Imagine going back in time and trying to explain radio waves to someone living in the middle ages. That there are these invisible waves that can travel through the air at incredible speed and carry pictures and sound. You would either be laughed at or burned at the stake for dabbling in witchcraft. Yet radio waves exist and man did not invent them. They're just a natural phenomena that we discovered and learned how to use.

I personally believe that there are many more forces and phenomena yet to be discovered simply because we don't have the technology yet. It's a mistake to think we have reality all figured out as far as what is possible and what is not and what exists and what doesn't. Trust me, we don't.

As to the movie itself, I appreciate any director who attempts to make something different whether or not he succeeds in pleasing large numbers of people. I saw Stanley Kubrick's 2001 when I was 11 and the grumbling and head-scratching over the ending of that film persist to this day. I may not have completely understood it but I certainly enjoyed it and I enjoyed this movie as well as your take on it Eugenia_loli.

[–] sage2112 8 years ago

Mumbo jumbo. This is "sci fi for dummies". Nothing has to be explained - you just stick in some cool looking sci-fi type effects, and let that be the thing that carries the movie.

[–] smolanis 8 years ago

My good man, i agree with you 100%, my opinion also.. :)

[–] Movie-Jay 8 years ago

Lol, the OP has a wonderful imagination. I'll give them that. But just like religion, nobody holds the secrets of what this movie is or isn't.

The best we can do is collect evidence from what we saw. And from what we saw, there is nothing to indicate that Alton is messianic in any way. For reasons unknown to us, he belongs in a parallel universe to our own. We have no idea how he fits or what is role is there. We're not even sure what his role was here.

The reason why I love this movie is because it's playing in open-chord tuning the whole time, tonally floating on a series of fascinating questions rooted in our curiosity about the universe.

On the surface, this is a sci-fi/fantasy drama. Beneath it, it's a movie about parenting. The part having to do with what it's like giving up control to the universe a part of your own self.