The Land of Faery as Cosmic Cheat: A Lewisian Analysis of Robert Zemekis’ Contact

This essay explores Robert Zemekis’ film adaptation of Carl Sagan’s book Contact, through the lens of rhetorical constructs adapted from the critical writings of another science-fiction author, C.S. Lewis; specifically his concept of Sehnsucht, the rhetoric of technology, the persuasive use of misdirection in indoctrination, and the power of debunking to destroy someone’s sense of values. I argue that Zemekis’ film represents a “cosmic cheat” in that it promises filmgoers transcendence, but delivers only a warm materialistic nihilism. Ultimately, however, it may be that the resilience of the transcendence inherent in faery stories will overcome the sterility of technology.