5. Signs of Demons
Let's get one thing out of the way quickly; M. Night Shyamalan definitely hasn't intended this particular theory. But it is one that if you consider it actually makes the film more tolerable. Signs is a fairly decent film but it was also the tipping point of Shyamalan's slow descent into terribleness. One of its weakest points was its so called 'twist'. Aliens that are allergic to water? Seriously? That makes the aliens from War of the Worlds look prepared. However, what if there was a subtle change in the script? A throwaway line just raising this very idea could have completely improved the film, due to it making this interpretation look deliberate. What if the aliens were not aliens but demons? The protagonist is a former priest who has lost his faith. So already the theme of religion has been introduced to us. As the 'aliens' begin to appear many of the characters try to offer reasonable explanations for the weird occurrences. Each one has a different interpretation as to what is going on. The Police officer thinks it is pranksters messing around. The Bookstore clerk sees them as a 'hoax to sell TV commercials'. The priest sees them as a test of faith. This coupled with the fact that we never see any fancy alien technology suggests that they may not in fact have been aliens at all. Instead what we could be seeing is a return of demons to our world. Indeed with this explanation it removes some of the more irritating elements of the film. Like a demon they are seem to be tricksters of a sort, not really doing much harm towards people throughout the film. They in fact are perplexed over simple mechanisms such as door latches. This fits in with images of demons in other media. We often see this kind of behaviour in ghost films. Also the only water that we see damage these strangers from another world belong in the priests house. The little girl has foresight that she should not be able to have, it is not a stretch to think that maybe she blessed the water before placing them around the house. Maybe the beings are harmed due to their satanic origins. Maybe.
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