Think back to four pivotal moments that we observed in today's session: how Ellie responded to the minister's suggestion that we should just accept certain things as God's will without asking why, how Ellie responded to Palmer's claim that he had experienced God, how Ellie responded to the prospect of losing her funding and of being ridiculed by the scientific establishment, and how she responded to the prospect of a genuine alien signal and answer the following questions:
1. What do these responses say about Ellie's character? How would you describe her?
2. Think about how Ellie and Palmer approach religious questions. What are the similarities? Differences?
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Ellie is too skeptical on the topic of religion. she does not accept the fact that sometimes things happen to everyone, and it is God's wish. she remarks "If i got the medicine earlier, the my dad wouldn't have died". She is hard headed in her beliefs, and needs science to back everything up. i think that she is like this because she feels isolated and always has her whole life, so she needs something to "trust", and science is something that she could have faith in. Ellie and Palmer are both skeptics that question everything in the world around them. Palmer however is a little bit religious. when they are both discussing religion, Ellie says that maybe the experience of the presence of God could have been Palmer trying to feel that emotion. as they both go on, Ellie does not accept that there is such thing as God.
ReplyDeleteI would say Ellie is the kind that finds something and sticks to it for the rest of their life. With her situation, This 'thing' was Astronomy and SETI. Ellie dedicates her life to this and she is also the kind that gets really mad if something goes wrong or she doesn't have it her way.
ReplyDeleteWith Palmer, you could say that he has almost the same personality and views as Ellie's dad who originally made an influence on Ellie Herself. For example: At the beginning of the movie Ellie's Dad Says the Quote "If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space." Later on Palmer says those exact same words when talking about SETI.
Ellie is a woman that care's but, does not like to show it. She does not like to show her feelings like in the scene when her father died, the priest asked her if she was ok, but responded with "If we kept medicine in the downstairs bathroom I coul have gotten it faster." Ellie however does care about how pople think about her. Ellie is a chaater that only sometimes show her true feeling's. I feel that her character is a woman that has been through rough times and just something in return. What I men by that is that when she was listening to the noise's from space, she was hoping so much that there was other life forms. The reason why that is, because she has went through her whole life without finding other life forms in space she wanted this to be them at this point. That was why she was so devasted when they lost the signal for a little. Ellie and Palmer's view on religion is different, but in some places is the same. THey both believe in science, but I feel that Palmer use to believe a lot more than he does now. Ellie has a lot of more faith than Palmer, because she puts all of hr faith into her job. Where as Palmer goes more on life by looking at facts and science.
ReplyDeleteEllie is a strong willed person who doesn't seem open about the topic of religion. Although she has faith, she doesn't have faith in religion. She has faith in science, and that she will someday come across alien signals. Between the two of them, Ellie and Palmer, they both have faith. But Palmer seems to repel science a little bit because he is writing about how technology affects third world countries. Palmer has more belief in god and religion because he expresses his experience with god. Elli is all about science and doesn't accept Palmer's claim that he has experienced god. Perhaps because both her parents died without warning or cause.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ellie's responses to the faith of others in God shows that she is a very critical thinker and refuses to let herself believe in God. Instead of accepting her father's death as an act of a higher power, she blames herself and an error of logic that she made. Instead of accepting what Palmer believed happened to him, she offered a more logical solution. This brings me to the next point; the similarities and differences between Ellie's and Palmer's approaches to religion. They are similar in the way that both of them are very set in their own ways and beliefs. Also, they both are very passionate about their individual beliefs. However, Palmer is more open to other beliefs and cultures, as demonstrated by his interest and research on technology's effect on other countries. Ellie, on the other hand, refuses to accept any doubt or criticism relating to what she believes to be true.
ReplyDeleteEllie is extremely passionate and relentless about what she does, yet still thinks in terms of rational science. For example, when she hear's the alien frequencies on the radio, she and her team first try to rule out any other causes of the noise, such as airplanes and satellites. I think that Ellie and Palmer differ greatly on their approaches of religion. Ellie seems to not believe in religion since there is no scientific backing or evidence while Palmer, on the other hand, believes in religion since he had an experience that to him, he interpreted as God. Both of these viewpoints are completely valid and, maybe as the movie progresses, we will hear more about Palmer's experience or maybe Ellie might consider religion to be something worth believing in.
ReplyDeleteEllie is determined. She refuses to let people tell her what her limits are and what she can and can't do. She has a strong belief in science and fact, but at the same time she has faith in her work. She remains skeptical, though. She won't let the excitement of a discovery jeopardize the validity of her research.
ReplyDeleteEllie and Palmer are quite different in how they approach religious questions. Ellie is reluctant to believe in anything religious and always remains skeptical. On the other hand, Palmer stands by his religious beliefs, but keeps an open mind. He isn't afraid to question what he knows and what he believes.
Ellie is a fighter, she never gives up even when things don't look so good. She refuses to just give up on account of what other people have to say to her. Like with religious beliefs she is also very firm on what she believes which is she does not believe any of it and has solid reasons why. Palmer however is also very firm on what he believes but what he believes is the opposite of that of Ellie's beliefs but does see why she believes what she does.
ReplyDeleteEllie is a dogmatic and extremely determined woman. She does not like it when people criticize what she believes in but she criticizes others. When people disagree with her or try to put her down, she attacks that person. I wouldn't say that shes rude; she's just firm in her beliefs.
ReplyDeleteEllie and Palmer are the definition of opposites attract. Both of them will never change their beliefs for anyone. But, they both believe in opposite things. Ellie is not religious whatsoever and Palmer is very religious.
Ellie is women that has lots of faith in her science. She thinks that it would be a waste of space if there wasn't anything else out there. She is willing to fight for her reasons to prove that she isn't (as they say) crackpot. Their few of ideas that Ellie and Plamer beliefs of religion are science and that we were created by accent because of her parents and why people didn't believe her in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ellie's father died, a priest suggested that she simply accept it as God's will. She rejected this proposal, as many people would, and posited her own.This incident, and many others, I expect, in all likelihood gave her a very low opinion of religion, as an excuse for not thinking. However, it is not true that all religion is illogical. Palmer is a perfect example of this. he is a firm beliver in God, but is also willing to question anything. In other words, his first instinct is to believe, but look for reasons to doubt. Ellie's, on the other hand, first reaction is to doubt, but look for reasons to belive. When she finds them she can become very passionate about them.
ReplyDeleteEllie does not want to accept that sometimes certain things happen for a reason that god makes. She thinks that if something does not turn out the way it should she blames it on her self and she keeps blaming her fathers death on her and putting more and more pressure on her will one day make her explode with a mixture of emotions. Ellie is one focused, hard headed women! Ellie and Palmer are two people that worry about everything and question things about the world. Palmer on the other hand I think is like a pinch more religious he thinks god is on another planet but Ellie does not believe or agree.
ReplyDeleteThese claims Ellie made show her "faith" in science and not religion. Ellie doesn't understand how people believe in God, when there is no proof in his existance. She also doesn't understand the concept of faith, When Christians believe in They haave Faith that he does exist. Palmer approches religious questions with an open mind, and gladly answers them to glorify god. Ellie on the other hand answers these questions with a biased mind, or doesn't anser them at all.
ReplyDeleteEllie is quite simply, a realist. someone who only will believe in what they see. She has faith, but only for things that are rational to her. Palmer is very spiritual, and believes that faith is a necessary part of life. Palmer has very strong faith that Ellie's is happy to question. Palmer is very open minded and accepting but Ellie is not afraid to shoot down obvious answers
ReplyDeleteFor the first question, I would say that Ellie's response that there is no rational reason to think so shows how she is largely a logic driven person, who does not take things based purely on faith. Ellie's general approach towards religious questions is similar towards Palmer's in that the two both genuinely consider all of the possibilities and are largely rational and logical people, but Palmer's approach involves more faith than Ellie's, whose approach relies purely on using logic and science, though undoubtedly based on some of her own biases as well.
ReplyDeleteBecause Ellie had no one to support her completely throughout her life, she decided to lean on science since shes known that best. She cannot rationalize with religion because it is a foreign affair to Ellie. Her stubbornness wont allow her to have faith in God. In Palmer's case, he has experienced something where his heart and mind lead him to have such a strong faith in a divine being.
ReplyDeleteEllie's insistence in the value of her pursuit is shown in her responses to Palmer and to Drumlin when he threatens to cut her funding. As to the childhood scene, that simply shows she refuses to let 'nonsense' like religion and other such fluffy concepts without logical backing cloud her perspective. She is a fiercely pragmatic person, very intensely focused on finding life somewhere else. When she discovers the alien transmission, she does first rule out all other possibilities ("prove me wrong!"), but in the immediately following scenes are the first of many instances of her having blind faith in the results of her actions.
ReplyDeletePalmer approaches religious questions with an open mind, being one who believes very firmly in God. Ellie is close-minded from the start, and very very sceptical. She seldom accepts a religious concept except subconsciously. However, both are logical people-- both will first try to exhaust all other solutions to a question before deciding that the answer really is God.