Watch the movie Contact and answer the questions that follow: 1. What did you think of Ellie Arroway’s search for meaning? How would you describe her? What was the significance of the scene between Ellie and the local priest after her father died? Cite another scene that gives us a clue as to her ‘search’? How does Ellie’s journey parallel Emily Dickinson’s or Rainer Maria Rilke’s? (Please select only one parallel and thoroughly make the comparison.) Use judicious quotes as appropriate. Elaborate. 2. What did you think of Palmer Joss? What were his religious beliefs? What did you make of the dialogue between Joss and Ellie at the dinner party? How would you answer Palmer’s question: ”…are we happier as a human race? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home, we surf the web, but at the same time, we feel emptier, lonelier, and more cut off from each other than at any other time in history…. Maybe it’s because we’re looking for the meaning. Well, what is the meaning? We have mindless jobs. We take frantic vacations, deficit finance trips to the mall to buy more things that we feel are gonna fill these holes in our lives. Is it any wonder that we’ve lost our sense of direction?” Joss also said: “The one thing that people are most hungry for, meaning, is the one thing that science hasn’t been able to give them.” Do you agree or disagree? Explain your reasoning. Can you think of any parallels to Joss’ views in any of our readings (e.g., Unamuno or Pieper)? Use judicious quotes as appropriate. 3. At the end of the film Arroway says: “I had an experience I can’t prove, I can’t even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am, tells me that it was real. I was part of something wonderful, something that changed me forever; a vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny, and insignificant, and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something that is greater than ourselves. That we are not, that none of us are alone. I wish I could share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe, and humility, and the hope, but … that continues to be my wish.” What does this passage mean to you? What other type of person would talk like this? Would the Ellie Arroway at the beginning of the film have said something like this? How does this scene reflect Karl Rahner’s reflection on faith as a transcendental experience? Use judicious quotes as appropriate. Galileo said that “Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.” How does this statement apply to the issues about science and religion brought out by this film? Use this as the conclusion to your paper. Use your analyses of the individual elements as the body of your paper; then add an introductory paragraph, transitions, and a conclusion to shape the paper into a complete essay. The introductory paragraph should contain a clear thesis statement that identifies the film’s main themes.