# M Night Shyamalans Signs **URL:** \ **Category:** Analysis and Review\ **Created:** [September 19, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240 "2017-09-19T18:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/1 "2017-09-19T18:02:52Z")
I’m on an M. Night kick. 1. Does anyone remember an article that mentions Signs and Dramatica? Seems like it said something like “who cares about God when there are aliens right there?” Can’t remember if it was on NarrativeFirst or Storymind or where I saw it, but I can’t find it now for anything. 2. Anyone have thoughts on the Concerns for Signs? At first I was looking at the presence of aliens as a possible Universe/Situation, but that seemed to fall through pretty quick. Here’s where I’m at currently: MC-Graham Hess(Mel Gibson) Mind: lack of belief in God, Memory-the memory of a random coincidence the led to the death of his wife IC-some mixture of Graham’s wife and God Universe: the wife is dead for most of the film and is dying in flashbacks Past-an accident from the past has changed the way Graham sees the world OS-what’s going on? Who are the aliens and what do they want? Understanding-understanding why the aliens have shown up, understanding how to defeat them RS-not sure of a good gist-y way to say it, it would be something about how to look at seemingly random events Conceptualizing-graham and God are separated over an inability by Graham to see the bigger plan. When he realizes that things happen for a reason and there are no coincidences, they are reunited. ---
**Author:** ![mlucas](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/mlucas/32/275_2.png) [@mlucas](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/mlucas)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/2 "2017-09-19T22:03:29Z")
Cool! My guess would be that _Signs_ is more complete than _Unbreakable_ because I remember it a heck of a lot better. It’s been a long time since I saw it (i.e. in the theatre when it first came out), but I think your Concern quadrants may be on the money because in my memory the film feels heavy, like _Arrival_. Are you sure about the IC? How are those things pushing him to get over the death of his wife? They sort of sound like more illustrations of the MC throughline. Could the brother or kids (or a combination of them) represent the IC throughline somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/3 "2017-09-19T22:41:10Z")
No, I’m not sure about the IC. I don’t know why I didn’t go with Ray Reddy or whatever his name is. The guy that ran over the wife. I’m not sure hes getting over the death of his wife so much as make sense of the world again. Trying to see how “random” coincidences tie together. ---
**Author:** ![MiggsEye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/miggseye/32/113_2.png) [@MiggsEye](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/MiggsEye)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/4 "2017-09-20T22:49:40Z")
I would argue that the wife is the IC for these reasons: 1. Her death is the cause of his crisis of faith. 2. His constant recollection of her death keeps threading through the story. 3. His ultimate recollection of her saying to him (as she’s dying), “Tell Merrill to ‘Swing Away’” is an event that transcends space and time which provides the critical bit of advice they need in the final OS showdown with the alien. Perhaps her being on the edge of death seems to have offered her some connection to intelligence well beyond the limits of space and time. Perhaps this transcendence of events (i.e. How could she have known then what is needed now?) makes him believe in God again? Or at least some greater inteligence spanning across space and time? It’s been awhile since I saw the movie and I don’t recall if, in the end, his faith is restored or not. I seem to recall he was putting his collar on again at the end. Am i right? 4. So ultimately his wife, in the moments before her death, provides him the key information needed to influence both the outcome of the OS’s final conflict with the alien (“tell Merril to ‘Swing away’”) and the outcome of the MC’s crisis of faith (There must be some intelligence greater than we are and spanning space and time; Otherwise how do you explain how she knew what was needed in the OS final conflict, an even occuring long after she was dead?). To me that strongly suggests she is the Influence Character. ---
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/5 "2017-09-20T23:16:44Z")
Ah yes. Those are some of the reasons I said the wife! Really, though, the IC on this one perplexed me. Maybe some handoffs going on? I don’t know, ---
**Author:** ![MiggsEye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/miggseye/32/113_2.png) [@MiggsEye](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/MiggsEye)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/6 "2017-09-21T02:20:26Z")
Perhaps hand offs to the daugher and son? Perhaps the daughter’s irritating habit of leaving glasses of water all over the house, which also turns into a critical solution within the final showdown, along with the son’s severe asthma, which ends up protecting him from the Alien’s poisonous spray, are both examples of an “everything happens for a reason” or “there is a wisdom to everything that happens” outlook–this might offer Hess more evidence to regain his faith in a divine intelligence? ---
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/7 "2017-09-21T04:17:49Z")
I think the two biggest are the wife and the guy that ran over her. I don’t know why the IC in this one seems so difficult to pin down to me. I don’t feel like there’s anything missing in the story. It definitely feels like that perspective is covered. I’ll have to watch it again, I guess. But tonight is Sixth Sense night, so… ---
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/8 "2018-03-25T22:11:18Z")
So earlier today I was trying to think of what a problem of The Past would look like and suddenly, without me meaning to think it at all, a thought went through my head. “_Signs_ has an MC Concern of The Past”. It’s weird because I haven’t thought of this movie again since the last post on this thread. My first thought was “That’s right, it does have an MC Concern of the Past”. My second thought was, “Wait, didn’t I think before that the MC was in Mind?” So I thought about it for a few moments and the following Storyform came to me, seemed pretty obvious, in fact. It was pretty neat how it came to me, and i’m pretty confident in it so I decided to share. I was going to do a full analysis, but I think it’ll be a while before I get to that. Anyway, here’s the Storyform that came to me. * * * STORY ENGINE SETTINGS: “Signs” CHARACTER DYNAMICS: MC RESOLVE: Change MC GROWTH: Stop MC APPROACH: Do-er MC MENTAL SEX: Male OC RESOLVE: Steadfast PLOT DYNAMICS: DRIVER: Action LIMIT: Optionlock OUTCOME: Success JUDGMENT: Good MAIN CHARACTER (Graham Hess–Mel Gibson’s character) DOMAIN: Universe CONCERN: The Past ISSUE: Fate vs. Destiny PROBLEM: Chaos SOLUTION: Order FOCUS: Thought DIRECTION: Knowledge UNIQUE ABILITY: Prediction CRITICAL FLAW: Suspicion BENCHMARK: The Present SIGNPOST 1: Progress SIGNPOST 2: The Future SIGNPOST 3: The Present SIGNPOST 4: The Past SUBJECTIVE STORY (Seeing the big plan–“Everything happens for a reason”) DOMAIN: Psychology CONCERN: Conceptualizing ISSUE: Circumstances vs. Situation PROBLEM: Self Aware SOLUTION: Aware FOCUS: Inequity DIRECTION: Equity CATALYST: Situation INHIBITOR: Interpretation BENCHMARK: Conceiving SIGNPOST 1: Conceptualizing SIGNPOST 2: Being SIGNPOST 3: Becoming SIGNPOST 4: Conceiving OBJECTIVE STORY (Alien Invasion) DOMAIN: Physics CONCERN: Understanding ISSUE: Interpretation vs. Senses PROBLEM: Chaos SOLUTION: Order FOCUS: Inequity DIRECTION: Equity CATALYST: Senses INHIBITOR: Circumstances BENCHMARK: Learning SIGNPOST 1: Learning SIGNPOST 2: Doing SIGNPOST 3: Obtaining SIGNPOST 4: Understanding OBSTACLE CHARACTER (Colleen–Graham’s wife) DOMAIN: Mind CONCERN: Memory ISSUE: Truth vs. Falsehood PROBLEM: Speculation SOLUTION: Projection FOCUS: Inequity DIRECTION: Equity UNIQUE ABILITY: Evidence CRITICAL FLAW: Interdiction BENCHMARK: The Conscious SIGNPOST 1: Memory SIGNPOST 2: The Subconscious SIGNPOST 3: The Conscious SIGNPOST 4: The Preconscious ADDITIONAL APPRECIATIONS GOAL: Understanding CONSEQUENCE: Conceptualizing COST: Memory DIVIDEND: The Past REQUIREMENT: Learning PREREQUISITE: Conceiving PRECONDITION: The Conscious FOREWARNINGS: The Present ---
**Author:** ![Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Greg](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Greg)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/9 "2018-03-25T22:12:51Z")
And just because…here’s where I started the full analysis. CHARACTER DYNAMICS: MC RESOLVE: Change Graham looks for order in the idea that “everything happens for a reason” as he prays that his son is unharmed by the poison due to his asthma attack. MC GROWTH: Stop Graham needs to stop blaming God and focusing on the chaos and what has happened so that he can see the order and why it happened. MC APPROACH: Do-er Graham shuts off the television, takes his family to town, visits Ray Reddy, boards up the house, cooks everyone want they want for dinner. He is not good at cursing and prefers not to be in that way, but does so while chasing after the alien in the yard (he and Merrill believe it to be one of the Wolfington(?) Brothers” MC MENTAL SEX: Male He explains things linearly to Merrill. (Paraphrasing) “Some people will see those lights and think it’s just a coincidence, some will see them and think they mean something.” Merrill asks “Which type are you?” and Graham says “Are you comforted?” Merrill says “Yes,” so Graham says “Then it doesn’t matter.” The thinking is “I gave you an explanation to comfort you. If you are comforted, the goal is achieved.” He doesn’t try to balance life with the aliens, but looks at how to keep them out of the house—“they seem to have problems with pantries”, “I hear they don’t like water”—or defeat them. OC RESOLVE: Steadfast Graham is influenced by his dying wife’s words to speculate that telling Merrill to “swing away” actually meant something and can help defeat the alien. PLOT DYNAMICS: DRIVER: Action Graham’s wife is run over causing him to decide to abandon his faith. Graham and Merrill wake up to the kids screaming when they discover the crop circles in the field causing them to decide it must be Lionel Prichard and the Wolfing Bros. Graham sees the alien on the roof of the barn and he and Merrill decide to run after it to chase it away. Then they decide to call the cops. All the hysteria about crop circles and they decide to shut off the tv. I forget what, but I’m pretty sure something happens that causes Graham to decide to take the family to town. LIMIT: Spacelock Lock an alien in the pantry, board up the house, pour water on them, OUTCOME: Success The aliens are defeated and driven away from earth when the people understand that they can be defeated. JUDGMENT: Good Graham is happy that his family is safe and turns back to God. OBJECTIVE STORY (Alien Invasion) DOMAIN: Physics Being invaded by aliens causes fear and uncertainty, CONCERN: Understanding Understanding why the aliens are there leads to a realization that the aliens aren’t going to be friendly ISSUE: Interpretation vs. Senses text PROBLEM: Chaos Waking up to crop circles causes conflict, the dogs acting funny leads to Bo being attacked and one of the dogs killed, falling asleep while driving leads to Grahams wife being run over, swinging at everything leads to Merrill having the highest strikeout record and not being in the major leagues. SOLUTION: Order Using Merrill’s record-breaking bat and abilities along with Bo’s pattern of leaving water glasses on the table allows them to kill the alien. FOCUS: Inequity They look to the inequity of Graham’s wife being killed and yet Ray living. They see an imbalance in the appearance of the lights. Graham looks at how he believes God isn’t there for him and leaves the church. DIRECTION: Equity When the wife dies, Merrill moves in to help Graham. People keep referring to Graham as Father. Ray moves to the lake because he hears they don’t like water. CATALYST: Senses The alien being bothered by water leads to Merrill being able to hit the water glasses into it to kill it. INHIBITOR: Circumstances Thinking the nerds are cooking things up, or believing the lights are a coincidence and meaningless keeps anyone from moving toward understanding what’s going on. BENCHMARK: Learning Growth comes through learning about all the crop circles, learning there are aliens, and learning about the aliens and that they are probably hostile, and learning how to defeat them. SIGNPOST 1: Learning The Hess family learns about the crop circle in the field and that the dogs are acting funny. SIGNPOST 2: Doing The Hess family shut the television off and go to town. SIGNPOST 3: Obtaining The Hess family try to survive the night in the boarded up house, try not to be captured by the aliens. SIGNPOST 4: Understanding The Hess family has to understand how to kill the alien and that there’s a reason the son has asthma. MAIN CHARACTER (Graham Hess) DOMAIN: Universe Graham doesn’t see meaning in the universe. CONCERN: The Past When Graham’s wife died, he abandoned his faith and left the church. ---
**Author:** ![Wrightmoore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5ac83/32.png) [@Wrightmoore](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/Wrightmoore)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/m-night-shyamalans-signs/1240/10 "2026-09-29T13:12:30Z")
> [@Greg](#): > > Understanding-understanding why the aliens have shown up, understanding how to defeat them If this is the correct Concern, it’s probably about Understanding that all the random events are signs from God.