Close Encounters with Legend: The Ultimate Legend Trip

This essay was presented at the Missouri Folklore Conference in Jefferson City in Spring 2015. It has been reproduced here with supplemental materials.

Legend tripping and ostensive action are important ways in which people interact and transform legends, especially extraterrestrial experience legends. Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind engages these legends at every level of ostensive action, transforming itself into both the representative, and instigator, of the legend trip. Just as Linda Dégh’s holiday of Halloween “…is based on legends, communicates legends, and creates legends,” so too is Close Encounters of the Third Kind.¹ This film takes extraterrestrial experience, and its associated ostensive actions, and organizes them in a satisfying narrative that encourages the viewer to interact with the legend complex, even after leaving the theater. This takes the form of legend tripping, which unlike Bill Ellis’ brand of legend tripping ², is a type that is engaged more by adults than by adolescents. The film encourages legend tripping not only through onscreen representations of extraterrestrial experiences, but also by creating a narrative foundation that relies heavily on legend tripping to drive the plot. This is seen through its presentation of ‘a close encounter of the fifth kind’ as the longed for and final evolution of the legend trip. It also creates within Western popular culture a new location to visit in a real life legend trip. By incorporating the extraterrestrial experience legend complex into all levels of the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind creates and celebrates the ultimate legend trip.

The creation of an ultimate legend tripping film must be formed around the legends themselves. Close Encounters of the Third Kind achieves this be presenting a variety of extraterrestrial experiences on screen. In fact the title itself is a direct reference to the Hynek Classification System of extraterrestrial encounters, making the movie-going experience itself a sort of encounter with extraterrestrial legends. In this classification system there are two categories, one detailing UFO sightings, and another for classifying so-called ‘close encounters’. The film suggests that the culminating action of the film falls within Hynek’s close encounter of the third kind. However, Jacques Vallee, a prominent Ufologist, added a now commonly recognized fourth and fifth kind of close encounter to Hynek’s system, which are more applicable to the events in the film. Organizing the varieties of extraterrestrial experience shown in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind upon Hynek and Vallee’s categorization of close encounters sheds valuable light on the extent to which this movie informs and is informed by extraterrestrial folklore.³

The most common type of extraterrestrial experiences are UFO sightings. In fact, around 500 sightings are reported to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) every month. MUFON is one of the largest organizations currently compiling data on UFO sightings and their numbers reflect that UFO experiences are quite common. The reported number only reflects the sightings experienced by people who are aware of both MUFON and the UFO community in general, and it is likely that the population of those who have seen UFOs is even larger than reported. The narrative of Close Encounters of the Third Kind reflects the commonality of this type of experience. In fact, shots of the infamous mysterious lights in the night sky are presented throughout the entirety of the film, even when the encounters have escalated past that of mere sightings. The film also engages a prominent issue discussed in many variations of the legend of UFO sightings. During the press conference scene, the problem of photographic evidence of these lights or ‘flying saucers’ is brought up and addressed in a manner similar to how the issue of belief is negotiated in ‘real life’ legend dialogues. In the film, the spokesperson presents a photo of a ‘flying saucer’ and begins the discussion:

. . . to make a point that last year, Americans shot more than seven billion photographs at a record of 6.6 billion dollars for film, equipment and processing. Now with all those shutters clicking, where is the indisputable, photographic evidence? ⁴

This question underlies most, if not all, negotiations of belief in extraterrestrial experience legends. Most people do not dispute the existence of aliens, or even the possibility that they could contact us. Therefore, the issue of belief is discussed mainly in terms of evidence of extraterrestrial life currently interacting with Earth and its inhabitants.

The negotiation of belief in Close Encounters goes beyond government press conferences, and presents a more personal perspective of how belief is negotiated. This is emphasized through portrayals of the first and second type of close encounter as established by Hynek, “A UFO in close proximity (within approx. 500 feet) of the witness,” and, “A UFO that leaves markings on the ground, causes burns or paralysis to humans, frightens animals, interferes with car engines or TV and radio reception.” One of the most striking and well executed examples of a close encounter of the second kind in film history illustrates this legend experience beautifully. It captures the terror and awe expressed in many of the legends detailing close encounters of the second kind. While stopped at the train tracks, the father, Roy, experiences a classic example of this legend. His truck experiences magnetic and electrical disturbances, he himself is burned by the lights of the UFOs, and there is even a period of weightlessness.⁴

This, and other close encounters of the first and second kind in the film, change the lives of all those who experience them, transforming their relationships with family and society, as the flexibility of belief in the absence of proof is stretched to a breaking point. Now that these encounters have changed the course of the lives of the ‘contacted’, they are compelled to begin their own legend trips. This closely resembles that of real contactee narratives. Bill Ellis’ analysis of Whitley Strieber’s experience details these commonalities in extraterrestrial legends, especially how they drive the contactee to look for explanations for the experience, as well as the psychological toll that this experience has caused. This drive to name and explain, that is reported by numerous contactees, is what spurs them on their legend trips. These usually take the form of UFO hunting and traveling to sites of supposed extraterrestrial activity.²

Spielberg does justice to this side of extraterrestrial legends as well, presenting these experiences with tongue-in-cheek humor at times, or with all of the emotional strength that these legend trips can inspire. For example, Roy stumbles upon a group of UFO hunters sitting on a hill, where the mood is expectant. In fact, the UFOs are presented as reality during this scene and the UFO hunting legend trip is successful at the surface level: they have gathered at the hill to see UFOs and indeed they have seen UFOs. The experience is transformative for both Roy and the other spectators at the hill. The next night Roy purposefully joins in on the UFO hunting, as does a larger crowd. The air of this scene is more lighthearted, a sort of block party atmosphere with board games and children running everywhere. The UFOs seem to arrive again and an old man holds up the classic ‘we come in peace’ sign. But this time helicopters are the source of the lights, and the UFO hunters scatter. But this does not mean the legend trip has failed. Even though they haven’t found their UFOs, the legend is fed through government intervention and rumor. The differences in mood created by Spielberg provides important information about the varieties of extraterrestrial experience and it is closely tied to real narratives of UFO hunting. Just as Bill Ellis explains legends as naming the unnamed as a result of anxiety of unknown experiences when legend trips exist in a sort of limbo state between proven experience and the unknown, the emotions generated are awe and wonder. When the legend trip ends in easily explained events, this emotional power is diminished as is the credibility of the legend itself. Thus the legend trip is always on the tipping point, as Bill Ellis discusses in his book Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live. He states,

“First, there is no clearly marked distinction between players and spectators, since all are really spectators. Second, the stated purpose of such activities is not entertainment but a sincere effort to test and define boundaries of the “real” world, and even the most jaded participant in a legend-trip may be genuinely terrified by a sudden, unexplained happening.”²

Ellis’ interpretation of legend-tripping helps inform our reading of the film. If the legend trip breaks down, in this case by the introduction of helicopters, the spectators may indeed feel like victims of a prank, or an elaborate drama. But through the addition of government conspiracy legendry, this can be avoided and the believability of the legend can be retained. By faithfully recreating the emotions surrounding extraterrestrial experience, Spielberg is able to take us on an unfamiliar legend trip that still feels authentic. By staying conscious of this balance, he keeps the spectators from feeling like fools, and in this way he creates a close encounter of the fifth kind like nothing ever shown on film before.²

A close encounter of the fifth kind occurs when communication is established between an extraterrestrial lifeform and a human.³ It sounds like such a simple act, but Spielberg manages to give it the gravity it deserves while still presenting it as a profoundly individual experience. This is essential in creating a legend trip as both a film-going experience and a successful narrative. This final close encounter encapsulates the legend trip on multiple levels. On one level, Roy and Jillian take a literal cross-country trip to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, in hopes that this place will have the answers they seek. This is legend tripping at its most basic, visiting a site of reported legendry in the hopes of ‘seeing it for yourself’. However, Spielberg takes the ostensive act of legend tripping to the next level. Roy is able to bring the series of close encounters to fruition and willingly leaves with the extraterrestrials in a sort of ultimate legend trip. The legend has become real and in doing so Roy must venture past the point of the known again. In this way the film itself can become and create its own legend tripping experience.

Spielberg created a film that blurred the lines between reality and fiction because, as he says in the 30th Anniversary Collector’s Book,

“. . . I had a real deep-rooted belief that we had been visited, and in this century. I was a real sort of UFO devotee in the 1970s and was really into the whole UFO phenomenon from everything I was reading. So it was something for me that was science.”⁵

By engaging with the legend complex so closely, the film is able to become like a legend. Belief is negotiated at every turn, by the audience, the characters in the film, and even the director, just as belief is negotiated by the audience and narrator during a telling of a legend off screen. By seeing the movie itself, the audience engages with the legend, and by returning to watch the movie again, the audience hopes to experience this close encounter again, in a kind of pseudo-legend trip. The audience, and popular culture at large, has also taken hold of the film’s legend status and venture on real legend trips to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. The campground just outside of the National Monument boundary screens the movie every night in full view of the unusual landmark. Rest stops and souvenir shops sell alien memorabilia, on the road to Devil’s Tower. And now, as Close Encounters has aged out of being a relevant movie, these places have transformed from ‘movie induced tourism’ and into that of general legend. The extraterrestrial experiences connected to the landmark are no longer that of a film plot but has cemented itself into American legend. This can be seen in the alien memorabilia sold along the road to Devil’s Tower. It is more connected to the X-Files in appearance than to Close Encounters.⁶

Stephen Spielberg was able to make a film that engaged with the extraterrestrial experience legend complex on multiple levels, creating an ostensive piece of media that closely resembles Linda Dégh’s Halloween. Close Encounters is based on legends, long-lasting ones that continue to be spread to this day. The film also communicates legends, treating the real emotional impact of these experiences with care and skill. And finally Close Encounters creates legends, turning a national landmark into a new legend tripping destination. Through this multi-layered approach, Spielberg produced a film that engages with the legend complex in a complete and satisfying way. By existing as an ostensive action in and of itself, the narrative encourages the viewer to interact with the legend complex, even after leaving the theater. This is the true test of a legend, existing at the intersection of belief of audience and narrator, encouraging further debate, and inspiring ostensive action. In this way Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the ultimate legend trip. It takes the extraterrestrial experience legend complex, and instead of merely using it as window dressing, fully engages with it and becomes a part of it.

Works Cited