Carl Sagan was an avowed nonbeliever -- but in 'Contact,' as one of his biographers put it, he gave us "one of the most religious science-fiction tales ever written.” 25 years after the film opened, I look at its continuing influence, for @NautilusMag: nautil.us/a-surprising-s…
^^ It was a pleasure to speak with @SashaSagan for this story, along with radio astronomer Yvette Cendes (@whereisyvette) -- one of many women scientists whose career path was shaped by "Contact."
3/ And for extra fun, some of us here at the Complex Systems Summer School (hosted by @sfiscience) arranged for a screening tonight. More comments to come; but let me just say that 25 years later, I think #Contact holds up very well. 
4/ First of all, radio astronomy is front and center in this movie – rare indeed in a Hollywood blockbuster. We get to see both the Arecibo telescope and the Very Large Array – as I mention in the article, the VLA could be said to be Jodie Foster’s *real* co-star in the film.
5/ And while the final third of the film is fantasy, the first two-thirds are all too real – with Foster’s character (Ellie Arroway) having to beg for funding; and with a male colleague taking credit for her accomplishments. 😡
6a/ The New Mexico desert scene, following the public announcement that there’s been an intelligent signal from space, is the best (and most believable) scene in the whole movie...
6b/ I think it would play out exactly like that in real life, with every conceivable alien “enthusiast” descending on the VLA. (Watch from 1:13 onward.)
7/ What to say about Ellie and Palmer… I mean, did their relationship even have to happen? Also, he’s some sort of Christian philosopher-author… why does he turn up everywhere? Why does he get invited to the White House?
8a/ As Keay Davidson writes in his biography of Sagan, the filmmakers spent “a comical amount of time trying to figure out how to hitch up Ellie romantically to someone – anyone – no matter how badly he suited her.” 😐
8b/ Eventually Palmer Joss, the philosopher played by McConaughey, was shoehorned into the role. 🫤
9/ What do you think of the movie’s science-versus-faith theme? 🔭🔬🧬 ↔️ ✝️☪️✡️ Is it overwrought? Is it unnecessary? Once you decide to include it, I figure it sorta has to play out as depicted in the film (which is fairly faithful to the novel, in that regard, if I recall)…
10a/ For whatever reason, The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) despised the film. I only quote a brief snippet of their review in my story. But there’s more...
10b/ ...for example: “So leaden is its dramatic thrust that not even director Zemeckis, whose productions usually travel at the speed of light, can get this one moving faster than a mule train.” :/ 🦙🦙🦙
11/ Some things to nitpick: The person who goes in the machine wouldn’t be an astronomer. It just wouldn’t be. An Air Force pilot, perhaps. 🚀 But not an astronomer.
12/ And of course, astronomers these days don’t actually have to be at the observatory; the vast majority of work is done remotely. But then we wouldn’t have those terrific scenes at the VLA. Anyway, small potatoes. ("Don't Look Up" has this issue, too.)
13/ Contact is not a masterpiece. But it’s still one of the best (and certainly one of the more cerebral) alien-themed movies out there, from the past few decades, IMHO. Happy 25th, #Contact!
14/ Of course, I'm hardly the first to write about this way-cool, influential film. @shannonmstirone wrote about it back in 2018: onezero.medium.com/why-contact-is…
15/ As Shannon points out (in more detail than I do in my story), the #Contact struck a chord with many young women, and helped steer the career-path of many now-established women scientists.
16/ As @shannonmstirone wrote: "when the film was released, few space odysseys featured women in leading roles. Today, we have films like Interstellar and Gravity, but the depiction of women in popular culture as scientists, engineers, and leaders is sadly still quite scarce."
17/ Also check out @AlyssaRosenberg's 2017 piece from the Washington Post: washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/…
18/ On a side note, it was extra cool to watch the film in New Mexico -- like watching "Jaws" in Martha's Vineyard, I guess!
19/ And in the realm of trivia... #Contact is one of only two movies I can think of where we explicitly hear the phrase "Einstein-Rosen Bridge" (the other being the not-very-good 2006 film "Déjà Vu").
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