To The Stars With The Stars: Hollywood’s Love Affair With (Outer) Space
Hollywood’s long love affair with all things Extraterrestrial continues into the present tense with two new films scheduled for release in the near future. Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones are heading Ad Astra (“To The Stars”) which will be on movie screens in a couple of weeks () while Natalie Portman will take her own “trip” to outer (and inner) space soon with her latest, Lucy In the Sky.
Seeing the promotions of these star powered new releases made me think of how many movies we have seen emerge from film studios intent on appealing to the public’s fascination with the subject.
Many of the leading cinematic productions of all-time have been related to ETs, space exploration and possible conflict with alien beings desiring to communicate and/or destroy Earth and its inhabitants.
The following is a brief survey in no particular order of some top Hollywood flicks with their “Stars” who have been sent To The Stars……on film:
The Martian (Matt Damon); Gravity (Sandra Bullock); Interstellar (Mathew McConaughey); Aliens (Sigourney Weaver); Blade Runner (Harrison Ford/Ryan Gosling); Elysium (Matt Damon); Star Wars; ET; Avatar; Star Trek; Solaris (George Clooney); Mars Attack; Men In Black (Will Smith); The X-Files; War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise); Aliens and Cowboys; Space Balls (Mel Brooks); Prometheus (Ridley Scott, Director); The Day The Earth Stood Still (Michael Rennie); Outland (Sean Connery); Signs (Mel Gibson); The Arrival (Amy Adams); Oblivion (Tom Cruise); Kubrick’s 2001; First Man; Apollo 13 (Tom Hanks); The Right Stuff; Hidden Figures; Sunshine (Danny Boyle Director.); Life (Ryan Reynolds); Captive Nation (John Goodman); High Life (Robert Pattison); and so many others.
One might include movies like the X-Men series by Marvel as space related as well as cartoons that have futuristic themes and characters from the Flintstones to Toy Story (Buzz Lightyear) and the Lego films.
How about sci-fi films like Ex Machina; Transcendence and The Passengers with Jennifer Lawrence or The Matrix and even Superman? I think they qualify, too.
Last year’s Best Film Oscar winner revisited the theme of reptilian (alien) creatures first addressed during the Cold War when The Creature from the Black Lagoon raised the same issues which were more dramatically portrayed in The Shape of Water.
The Russians have a few space classics of their own including the 1981, To The Stars By Hard Ways.
I do not own a TV so am missing all the great shows about Ancient Aliens; UFOs; and similar topics on The History Channel; GAIA TV; the new To The Stars Academy portrayal of The Unexplained; National Geographic’s discussion of these issues and everything else I read about or see snippets of on the internet.
The process of inculturating society to accept the ET presence via films, TV and other media has accelerated in recent months. The New York Times has given the topic the imprimatur of legitimacy with reporting about Navy Pilots seeing Tic-Tac craft and other UFOs.
A former high level intelligence official, Admiral Wilson, had his notes about a crashed spacecraft released and Bob Lazar has reemerged into the public eye with references to Area S4, alien craft and Element 115.
All this “soft disclosure” is occurring in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing on July 20th. Libraries are filled with books and lectures on space topics and teens being encouraged to “launch into space” as part of a summer reading program.
It appears a concerted effort is being made while President Trump promotes his Space Force project and his plan to be back on the Moon by 2004. He also talked about UFOs with George Stephanopoulos and Tucker Carlson on Mainstream News.
I doubt there is anything accidental about this process. Whatever the case, Hollywood is playing its part by using its biggest stars to promote a To the Stars agenda for us Earthlings. Ad Astra indeed!
Rich Scheck
Marysville, WA
July 13, 2019