Movie Substrate · Film
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
★ 7.3 · 4,613 ratings on TMDB
We are not alone.
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
DirectorSteven Spielberg
The emergence reading
In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, consciousness is carried by aliens — a plane of “first-contact encounter”. The story fights on E13/E12 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing otherness, communication, technology, fear, authority.
↷ aliensUSothernesscommunicationtechnologyfearauthority
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)E12/E13 · rare rung · authority, technology
Occupation: Rainfall (2020)E12/E13 · rare rung · technology
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)E13 · rare rung · authority
Men in Black (1997)E13 · rare rung · otherness
Thor: The Dark World (2013)E13 · rare rung · authority
Jupiter Ascending (2015)E13 · rare rung · technologySame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Seoul Station (2016)E4/E9/E10 · rare rung · authority, fear
Outlander (2008)E6/E9/E10 · rare rung · otherness, technology
Warriors of Future (2022)E6/E8/E10 · rare rung · authority, technology
War of the Worlds (2005)E8/E14 · rare rung · fear, technology
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)E9/E14 · rare rung · authority, technology
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)E8/E14 · rare rung · fear, technologyAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
The Abyss (1989)consciousness in aliens · deep‑sea alien encounter
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)consciousness in aliens · pod invasion
Masters of the Universe (1987)consciousness in aliens · interdimensional fantasy war
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)consciousness in aliens · interdimensional alien war
Justice League: Warworld (2023)consciousness in aliens · mythic oppression
Cosmic Sin (2021)consciousness in aliens · interstellar warSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
Ghostbusters (1984)consciousness in the dead · authority, fear
BLAME! (2017)consciousness in machines · authority, technology
Pulse (2006)consciousness in the dead · fear, technology
The BFG (2016)consciousness in animals · authority, fear
The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)consciousness in monsters · authority, fear
V/H/S/94 (2021)consciousness in machines · fear, otherness
