Matthew mcconaughey as palmer joss and jodie foster as dr. Rewatched contact, and its still great, but it really. Eleanor arroway what is there in the precepts of science that keeps the scientist from doing evil. It deals with the theme of contact between humanity and a more technologically advanced, extraterrestrial life form. In the film she forms a cautious relationship with palmer joss matthew mcconaughey, a believer in god who writes about science. Watching the film again after 14 years, i was startled by how bold it is. When ellie is asked by joss about whether she is a spiritual person she is honest, and we all realise this was the wrong thing to say, if she wanted the job. At the presidents insistence, ellie agrees to meet with two religious leaders, billy jo rankin and palmer joss. Contact cast and crew cast photos and info fandango.
Key roles are played by science advisors to the president, who see aliens, god and messages. Unlike most hollywood science fiction adaptations, this attempted to stay true to the original and get the science right. And im nothing like ellie and nothing sad has happened. In the book, joss was a preacher, representing the religious views on the message and the universe. Ellie the atheist is reduced to the status of those poor religious folk who have no proof for their claims, but must simply live by faith and bear witness to their lifechanging experiences in an unbelieving world. We are all spiritual beings having a physical experience. Jul 16, 2017 jodie foster stars as ellie arroway in contact, a science fiction film based on the bestselling novel by carl sagan. Nov 09, 2017 it is the 20th aniversary of carl sagans scifi film, contact and a great time to celebrate its legacy and revisit its main premise of science vs. Jodie foster stars as ellie arroway in contact, a science fiction film based on the bestselling novel by carl sagan. However, the film mutes sagans argument, notably in seeming too afraid to ever come out and name palmer joss as being a fundamentalist christian.
However, sagan uses the omniscient voice to dump palmers backstory in after his introduction. Palmer and ellie have a discussion on the proof of god. Ellie arroway is your garden variety young scientist, pure and noble in her utter trust in science as the path to discovering truth. Analysis of the movie contact introduction francis schaeffer, a prominent christian philosopher of the twentieth century, made a compelling observation about the development of philosophy, theology, and the arts in human society.
Sagan and his wife ann druyan wrote the story outline for the film. There is one bit of evidence to back eleanors story up. Palmer joss is the deuteragonist and love interest of dr. Contact is a 1997 american science fiction drama film directed by robert zemeckis. The conversation in the following scene is one of my favorites in the movie. The fact that religion, spirituality and science can co. Palmer tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power but as their relationship grows intimate, ellie pushes palmer away, unable to reveal the vulnerable, wounded child within. The book opens with a description of her childhood. May 24, 2010 yes, palmer joss may be a proud man who loves the spotlight and the celebrity of publishing a book and being interviewed on larry king and being on a firstname basis with the president. The last few chapters are worth the buildup for me. I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where the kind of idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded, not taken advantage of. An archive of our own, a project of the organization for transformative works. The heroine of the story is eleanor arroway, an astrophysicist and radio telescope engineer, working on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence also known as seti.
Arroway first met him and the two begin to have romantic feelings. Eleanor ann ellie arroway, matthew mcconaughey as palmer joss, james woods as national security adviser. Contact is a 1985 science fiction novel by american scientist carl sagan. The whole issue of faith versus science felt forced in contact, especially with the presence of palmer joss and his debates with ellie. Palmer joss may be a proud man who loves the spotlight and the celebrity of publishing a book and being interviewed on larry king and being on a firstname basis with the president. Ultimately, the book and the movie leave its audience with a sense that as wayne dyer and many others are fond of saying.
Palmer joss is the most amalgamated character in the movie compositing at least 3 or 4 characters from the book by my count, including a smidgen of ellies briefly mentioned rockband college lover, but matthew mcconaughey who was terrific in 2014. Contact by robert zemeckis jodie foster, matthew mcconaughey. Key roles are played by science advisors to the president, who see aliens, god and messages from. In the first scene, young ellie arroway contacts someone far from her wisconsin home with her ham radio. Choose from 500 different sets of contact flashcards on quizlet. Get your prd online and lets drop through the machine. Oct 10, 2011 settling into her work in puerto rico, ellie meets the handsome palmer joss, a failed priest who is writing a book on the impact of technology on third world peoples.
A quiz about contact, the film based on carl sagans novel. Ellie and palmer joss have a nice, long conversation before their first romantic encounter. Contact reminded me a lot of abyss in its attempt to extract morality from science. Unlike the priest at the funeral, palmer is not affiliated with any organized religious group. Ellie arroway finds a blueprint and infers intelligence. Join facebook to connect with felipe cagno and others you may know. Contact 1997 matthew mcconaughey as palmer joss imdb. Ellie befriends a man named palmer joss, who is a theologian and a humanitarian specialist who writes books about the lack of meaning in our lives. Ellie arroway matthew mcconaughey palmer joss james woods michael kitz john hurt s. Matthew mcconaughey as ellies love interestphilosophical sparring partner, palmer joss. Nov 21, 2014 when ellie arroway, as a child, asks her father if there are any life forms out in the universe, he says that if there isnt, it would be an awful waste of space. Contact is a 1985 hard science fiction novel by american scientist carl sagan. Jodi fosters empiricism in contact thinking in a marrow. When palmer joss and ellie arroway met early in the movie, he identified himself as a person who had gone through religious seminary, but dropped.
Rankin did not appear in the movie, unless you count the good rev. Contact is a 1997 science fiction film adapted from the novel by carl sagan. Arroway, would you consider yourself a spiritual person. In the movie you have two main characters, ellie arroway jodie foster and palmer joss matthew mcconaughey.
And jodie fosters performance as ellie arroway in the movie as well as the reader in the audio version is unsurpassed. What can be carl sagans message in his novel contact. Directed by robert zemeckis, it stars jodie foster as dr. Using the books main characters as a mouthpiece for many of his personal views, carl sagan is successful in revealing that science and religion are not necessarily mutually exclusive. He served as a foil character to both ellie arroway, the strong agnostic woman of science, and revered billy ranki n, a hardline fundamentalist christian. Contact is a 1997 movie directed by robert zemeckis and based on astronomer carl sagans novel of the same name, although in an odd case, sagan wrote it first for the screen, then turned it into a book after it ended up in development hell. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. You know, there are four hundred billion stars out there, just in our galaxy alone. If only one out of a million of those had planets, and just of out of a million of those had life, and just one out of a million of those had intelligent life. Jan 22, 2016 when ellie is asked by joss about whether she is a spiritual person she is honest, and we all realise this was the wrong thing to say, if she wanted the job. Ellie being the scientist says she needs empirical proof.
Carl sagan had the optimistic view that science could offer hope to humanity and evidence of a higher power as seen in the ending of the book. Ive had an idea for a story along similar lines for some time but i could never work out a decent setting, cast of characters, or a good enough outline of just where i wanted to go with the plot. For what its worth, this is coming from me, a straightup atheist. Hadden john hurt, a multimillionaire willing to fund her attempts to contact the source of the message. Ellie arroway has something to teach us about biblical faith movies like this convince me why str is so vital. But if he wants to be objective, he needs to find a way to balance his relationship with ellie and his devotion to the pursuit of truth. Phoenix was searching for signals from the directions of about 1,000 nearby, sunlike stars. The novel originated as a screenplay by sagan and ann druyan whom he later married in 1979. Ellie arroway and her friend palmer joss discuss the meaning of religious experience. I emotionally connect to ellie so much that both when i saw the movie and read the book for the first time, i thought theres no reason for me to cry this much. The young ellie arroway is curious and skeptical, asking questions about everything. When ellie arroway, as a child, asks her father if there are any life forms out in the universe, he says that if there isnt, it would be an awful waste of space.
It is the 20th aniversary of carl sagans scifi film, contact and a great time to celebrate its legacy and revisit its main premise of science vs. Its gonna take aliens to show you silly humans how to coexist. Eleanor ellie ann arroway in a romantic scene from the 1997 american science fiction drama film contact. A lifelong religious skeptic, ellie tries to convince joss of her faith in science by standing near a heavy foucault pendulum and trusting that its amplitude will not increase. Of course, the movie, in general terms, follows the book fairly well. The fact that palmer joss, the theologian, is in allnight strategy meetings with the president and shes waiting outside in the hall is ridiculous. Revisiting the wonders of robert zemeckis scifi drama.
Eleanor ellie arroway and matthew mcconaughey as palmer joss. Ellie arroway jodie foster, the heroine of the movie contact, finds an alien broadcast in much the same way that project phoenix operated. It is a film adaptation of carl sagan s 1985 novel of the same name. He finds it remarkable that despite an increased standard of living and incredible technology, we continue reading. Ellie challenges palmer to prove the existence of god did you love your father. As pointed out by several commentators, the original book handles several aspects of what i mentioned better, and is an allaround great read. This is just one line from many such brilliant conversations that the lead character dr. Its bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. The aliens in contact are so alien that its impossible for humans to even perceive them directly. Arroway enters a pod by herself and traveled through a series of wormholes and enters a unknown planet from her childhood drawings and. Palmer and ellie could have a series of formal debates arranged by the national science foundation and the national council of churches ncc.
A team of editors takes feedback from our visitors to keep trivia as up to date and as accurate as possible. Josss character is a means to counterpoint ellies scientific fervor and inability to cultivate faithto believe without proofand he works well in this function. He noted that these three disciplines follow parallel tracks, with new philosophies influencing standing theological beliefs, and the two then affecting trends. So, a year or so after the viewing, i got the book. The book itself is at least an inch thick and the inside page margins are only about a quarter of an inch. The other central character, palmer joss played by matthew mcconaughey shows. Eleanor ann ellie arroway, matthew mcconaughey as palmer joss, james woods as national security adviser michael kitz, and tom skerritt as dr. Palmer is a humanitarian, a humanist, and yet a firm believer in god and religious experience. Palmer joss matthew mcconaughey is the promiscuous, erstwhile priesttobe i couldnt handle the chastity bit. Carl sagon wrote only one science fiction novel, his other works were nonfiction and essays on subjects related to astronomy. Palmer joss matthew mcconaughey, a respected religious scholar and toplevel government advisor. Based on the book by carl sagan famous atheist astronomer.
Contact, carl sagan fanfiction archive with over 1 stories. I cant put my finger on any specific reason, sagan is a great writer and top notch communicator. Ellie arroway from the 1997 science fiction film, contact. Although dismissing rankins outbursts, ellie is intrigued by joss worldview. Palmer joss is a part of a panel to select the first human who will go into outer space to meet with the newly discovered life forms. Aug 22, 2011 ellie arroway jodie foster, the heroine of the movie contact, finds an alien broadcast in much the same way that project phoenix operated. The largest and most important change to any characters persona is that of palmer joss. Eleanor ellie arroway, a seti scientist who finds strong evidence of. Contact is still okay to go 20 years later musings. Palmer joss repeats the line to an adult ellie as they engage in a conversation under a starry sky in puerto rico.
Contact is still okay to go 20 years later musings of. Ellie arroway has something to teach us about biblical faith. Unlike the priest at the funeral, palmer is not affiliated with any organized. As a child, eleanor ellie arroway displays a strong aptitude for science and mathematics. Using the book s main characters as a mouthpiece for many of his personal views, carl sagan is successful in revealing that science and religion are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Movies ac this category is for questions and answers related to contact, as asked by users of. I have to say, the movie can easily stand on its own merits just as the book can also. And jodie fosters performance as ellie arroway in the movie as. The immediate impression of the film after the book is that there is a great emphasis on faith, proof, truth and opinion. Hadden tom skerritt david drumlin william fichtner kent david morse ted arroway angela bassett rachel constantine geoffrey blake fisher max martini willie rob lowe richard rank jake busey joseph jena malone young ellie tucker smallwood mission director david. Was ellie arroway dreaming or did she really visit vega in. However, ellie receives moral support from palmer joss matthew mcconaughey, a spiritual teacher who advises president clinton and tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power, and financial backing from s. Ellie arroway has something to teach us about biblical faith movies like this convince me why str is so vital septemberoctober, 1997 dear friend, every once in a while hollywood tries to be profound. Perhaps a separate film should have been made just for these issues.