Signs

The movie "Signs" by M. Night Shyamalan is an excellent movie that explains how reflections and occurrences of the past can influence your overall perceptions and views of the future. It takes place in a small farm town where everyone knows each other very well. A single father is forced to continue raising his two young children due to the tragic death of his wife who was involved in a fatal car accident. This causes him to resign from his preaching career and become a stay at home farmer due possibly to his question of faith. Being a preacher, this man must have thought that nothing would have ever happened to him because of the way that he reacted to the stimuli. He was probably one preacher of only a few in the whole area. With the arrival of extra terrestrials all over the globe, including in the corn crops of his farm, this already upset father ends up with his hands full of problems that he is unwilling to accept and face. It is hard to understand what this man has had to deal with. There is an extreme lack of communication in this household and something happened for a reason to bring them back together and much more tightly knit. The presence of the uncle has been positive and well received during these tough times for the whole family. There are many theories that can describe what is happening. They are the attribution theory, causal attribution theory and the social penetration theory which will be included in the following paragraphs.

First of all, the social penetration theory is a theory that we as people disclose to others in stages like pieces of a pie. Each piece is different facets of self and has the potential to be superficial or deep. It was very interesting to analyze how things were, or more the less weren't communicated in this seemingly lifeless household.

The children did not talk or play like most children grow up doing. There was a blank stare on their faces most of the time and their voices were monotone. The father would experience flashbacks of the incident where his wife was killed which was sending him a message that he needed to change his ways of non communication towards his children. Even in the case of traumatic events, it is necessary to talk about them to ensure closure and strength to the survivors of the woman. When the extra terrestrials started to invade was a major point where the father finally disclosed to his children not knowing of the outcome of the attack. At this time he told the children about the moments of their birth and how special they were to him and their mother. The fathers visions influenced his new found willingness to let the children know how special they are to him. These seemed to be extremely deep feelings that were hard to let out because he had been shattered from the inside out and left alone.

Next, the attribution theory is how we generate specific motives and causes to the behaviors of others. It helps interpret what people do and why they do it. Obviously, a major motive for the way the father acts is due to the unfortunate death of his wife. This was more than him or anyone else could swallow. The movie was supposedly taking place about six months after the death and it seemed as if nothing had healed or even begun to do so. He kept everything inside and intended to do so. This all changed when the world was under attack by creatures no one dreamed of encountering. This was obviously the second motive. This forced the father to think and realize what he was still blessed with despite what he was missing. The presence of the children was the only thing that was really keeping him together although you might not be able to tell. When the son told his father he hated him was a break down point due to all the stress and uncertainty of what may become of them. It hurt the kid very badly when the father said that he would not waste another minute on prayer and for the most part gave up on everything he

...