The second heresy is movie being better than the book, or more like an enhancing experience against the usual corollary. “Standing over humans, Gods and Demons, subsuming caretakers and tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.” Book even ended with the suggestion of some intelligence that predates humanity, Elder ones style. The Machine and her first contact further felt like an optimistic take on some sorta portal to the other that exists with us. People were eager to brand her delusional for providing explanations for experiences they couldn’t fathom. I noticed few more similarities of the sort in the book, regarding the societal response to someone who has embraced this vastness of universe. To Lovecraft it was frightening, and to Sagan it was fascinating. To me, it translated well, and left this sense of being a nobody or nothing in the vast world we know very little about. Sure, it suggests too much in the definitive line of science, but the Machine and the unexplainable experience of cosmonauts all had the same fear of unknown. It builds up the unknown, suggests even a debatable unreliability in protagonist’s narrative and leaves the conclusion to readers. I admit it’s not Event Horizon, but Contact doesn’t reveal anything in specifics too. Though things were presented mildly and in a manner that could be considered cheerful in comparison, I found Sagan‘s cosmic existentialism similar to what I get to feel in Lovecraft‘s works. I have two heresies to make with this review.
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