Close Encounters of the Third Kind For our first, extraordinary setting, I bring you to this 1977 American science fiction film, written and directed by Steven Spielberg.40 What is a close encounter of the THIRD KIND? The film’s categorisation of Close Encounters in fact references J. Allen Hynek’s book: The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry.41 The Hynek Scale is a classification of six levels for UFO sightings arranged according to increasing proximity. It is worth pointing out at this stage, that while Hynek’s definition of a Close encounter serves our purposes, the Hynek scale does not. This can be illustrated through the official trailer for the 40th Anniversary re-release of the film where the encounters are classified hierarchically placing sight first, then evidence, then contact: THE FIRST KIND: SIGHTING THE SECOND KIND: EVIDENCE THE THRID KIND: CONTACT42
Figure. 3
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Official Trailer
If we define contact as the state of physical touching, this hierarchical ordering of encounters, easily fits in line with traditional ideas where the higher, rational self seeks control over the lower bodily self. It concurs with the classical hierarchy of the five senses where Plato
40
41
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, dir. By Steven Spielberg (Columbia Pictures, 1977). Allen J. Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. (Boston: Da Capo Press,1998, 1972).
42
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Official Trailer, online video, YouTube, 25 July 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSpQ3G08k48 [accessed 29 March 2019].
Emma Marks
Sensual-encounters with Ordinary Things: A Speculation
14
