Within Friendly Aliens
How Close Encounters Made Contact Beautiful
Close Encounters made UFO contact feel like communication, awe and expanded imagination rather than conquest or panic.
On this page
- Fear before the final encounter
- Music and communication at Devil's Tower
- Hynek and the language of contact
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Introduction
By the late 1970s, one of the most influential changes in UFO-related science fiction was the move away from invasion and towards communication. Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind became the defining expression of that shift. Rather than treating unidentified flying objects as the beginning of a war, the film presented contact as a mysterious, transformative and ultimately beautiful experience. In doing so, it helped establish a new cinematic language of UFO wonder that would influence decades of later contact stories.
The film did not eliminate fear. Strange lights, unexplained experiences and government secrecy remain central to its plot. Yet these elements function less as signs of danger than as stages in a journey towards understanding. The result was a powerful reimagining of what an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence might feel like: not conquest, but connection. [Turner Classic Movies]tcm.comTurner Classic Movies The Big IdeaTurner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011…
Fear Before the Final Encounter
Earlier science-fiction cinema often linked alien arrival with invasion, paranoia or catastrophe. Close Encounters begins by drawing on some of those expectations. UFOs appear unexpectedly, electrical systems fail, and ordinary people find their lives disrupted by experiences they cannot explain. Roy Neary’s first encounter on a dark road is unsettling and overwhelming rather than comforting.
What makes the film distinctive is that it steadily redirects those emotions. The mystery grows larger, but the threat does not. As Roy and others become obsessed with the recurring vision of Devil’s Tower, the audience is encouraged to see the phenomenon as a call rather than an attack. The unknown remains frightening, yet curiosity increasingly replaces terror.
This narrative choice reflected a broader creative decision during the film’s development. Accounts of the production indicate that Spielberg and collaborators gradually moved away from conspiracy-centred UFO stories and towards the idea of a spiritual or transformative encounter with something larger than humanity. The aliens were conceived as visitors to be met rather than enemies to be defeated. [Turner Classic Movies]tcm.comTurner Classic Movies The Big IdeaTurner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011…
The emotional effect was significant. The climax does not ask whether humanity can survive alien contact. It asks whether humanity can understand it.
Music and Communication at Devil’s Tower
The film’s most famous innovation is its treatment of communication. Instead of military confrontation, the climax centres on an attempt to establish dialogue.
At the landing site near Devil’s Tower, scientists use a sequence of five musical notes and corresponding light patterns to communicate with the arriving craft. The exchange resembles a conversation. Messages are sent, responses are received, and the encounter becomes a process of mutual recognition rather than domination. [filmsite.org]filmsite.orgClose Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)…
Why music mattered
The choice of music was not merely a dramatic device. It solved a fundamental storytelling problem: how can two intelligent species communicate before sharing a language?
John Williams’s famous five-note motif became the answer. The sequence functions as a universal pattern rather than a human language. Numbers, tones and rhythms become a bridge between species. Williams reportedly created hundreds of variations before the final motif was selected, underlining how central the idea was to the film’s conception of contact. [astro-boy-productions.fandom.com]astro-boy-productions.fandom.comClose Encounters of the Third Kind | Astro Boy Productions Wiki | FandomClose Encounters of the Third Kind | Astro Boy Productions Wiki | Fandom
The scene also transforms the visual language of UFO cinema. Instead of weapons fire, audiences see coloured lights, musical exchanges and choreographed movement. The arriving craft appears majestic rather than monstrous. The encounter is staged almost like a concert, encouraging awe instead of panic. Contemporary commentary on the film’s finale has often highlighted how carefully Spielberg and his team worked to make this musical conversation feel convincing and emotionally engaging. [The Astromech]theastromech.comThe AstromechThe Diegetic Music in the Finale of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" | The AstromechMay 6, 2023…
Wonder replaces conflict
The final sequence is remarkable because almost nothing happens in the conventional action-film sense. There is no battle, no invasion and no last-minute military victory.
Instead, suspense comes from the possibility of successful communication. The audience is invited to share the scientists’ excitement as signals are exchanged and meanings slowly emerge. The payoff is emotional rather than martial. Humanity’s greatest achievement in the scene is not defeating the unknown but reaching it.
This approach helped redefine UFO contact stories in popular culture. Later films about benevolent or ambiguous extraterrestrial encounters would repeatedly return to the idea that the central challenge is communication rather than survival.
Hynek and the Language of Contact
The film’s connection to UFO culture was strengthened by the involvement of astronomer J. Allen Hynek. Hynek had served as a scientific consultant to the United States Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations and later became one of the most prominent researchers of UFO reports. He also developed the classification system that introduced the phrase “close encounter of the third kind”. [Turner Classic Movies]tcm.comTurner Classic Movies The Big IdeaTurner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011…
Spielberg’s use of Hynek’s terminology gave the film an unusual relationship with real-world UFO discourse. Rather than inventing a fictional vocabulary, the film borrowed language already familiar within UFO research circles. This helped blur the boundary between scientific investigation, public fascination and science-fiction storytelling.
More importantly, Hynek’s influence encouraged a framework centred on observation and encounter. His classification system treated UFO experiences as events to be described and studied rather than automatically dismissed as threats. While Hynek did not claim proof of extraterrestrial visitors, his willingness to take reports seriously created a language that emphasised contact and investigation. [Turner Classic Movies]tcm.comTurner Classic Movies The Big IdeaTurner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011…
The film reflects that perspective. Scientists, linguists and observers occupy the centre of the story. The crucial human response to the unknown is curiosity. Even the government’s secrecy serves mainly to protect the encounter rather than to prepare for war.
How Close Encounters Changed UFO Imagination
The lasting importance of Close Encounters of the Third Kind lies in its emotional reframing of alien contact. Earlier UFO narratives often asked, “What if they come?” Spielberg’s film asked a different question: “What if they come peacefully, and we can answer?”
That change helped make wonder a major component of UFO-related science fiction. The extraterrestrials remain mysterious, but mystery itself becomes something attractive rather than terrifying. The unknown is presented as an invitation to learn, communicate and expand humanity’s horizons.
Within the broader relationship between UFOs and science fiction, Close Encounters stands as a pivotal example of benevolent-contact storytelling. It transformed the flying saucer from a symbol of invasion into a symbol of possibility, creating one of cinema’s most enduring visions of first contact as an experience of awe. [Turner Classic Movies+2thelogbook.com]tcm.comTurner Classic Movies The Big IdeaTurner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011…
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Endnotes
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Source: filmsite.org
Link: https://www.filmsite.org/closeencounters.htmlSource snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)...
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Source: astro-boy-productions.fandom.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Astro Boy Productions Wiki | Fandom
Link: https://astro-boy-productions.fandom.com/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind -
Source: ultimatepopculture.fandom.com
Link: https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind -
Source: thelogbook.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (soundtrack) – the Log Book.com
Link: https://www.thelogbook.com/ce3k-soundtrack/ -
Source: tcm.com
Title: Turner Classic Movies The Big Idea
Link: https://www.tcm.com/articles/467312/the-big-idea-close-encounters-of-the-third-kindSource snippet
Turner Classic MoviesThe Big Idea - Close Encounters of the Third KindDecember 30, 2011...
Published: December 30, 2011
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Source: theastromech.com
Link: https://www.theastromech.com/2023/05/diegetic-music-in-finale-of-close-encounters-third-kind.htmlSource snippet
The AstromechThe Diegetic Music in the Finale of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" | The AstromechMay 6, 2023...
Published: May 6, 2023
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Source: researchgate.net
Title: www.researchgate.net Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349591841_Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_KindSource snippet
Encounters of the Third Kind...
Additional References
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwpmyNpZzMSource snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - The Ultimate First Contact Movie?...
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Source: morningtimes.uk
Title: Morning Times Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://morningtimes.uk/local/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind/Source snippet
Morning TimesClose Encounters of the Third Kind - Plot, Cast, Meaning Explained - Morning Times...
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Source: theotherjournal.com
Title: close encounters of the third kind spielberg 1977
Link: https://theotherjournal.com/2008/10/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-spielberg-1977/Source snippet
The Other JournalClose Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977) - The Other Journal...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Communicating with music
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkykqyMEarASource snippet
Steven Spielberg watches scene from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqS_haIiUxwSource snippet
Close Encounters: The Five-Note Conversation...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Close Encounters: The Five-Note Conversation
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcbNU7p63kUSource snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Communicating with music...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Steven Spielberg watches scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjlcRvcpINI
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