Tell Merrill To Swing Away

Throughout the movie the director breaks down the message in clever ways and makes the message very precise and clear. In the movie the director was attempting to teach the viewers a life lesson. In order to have peace of mind and continue to actually “live” it is important that you don’t hold grudges, believe, have faith, and no matter the situation don’t ignore signs due to your stubbornness or convincing yourself otherwise when you know the truth.

To elaborate on the thesis, one way the director delivers his message to the viewers is through the characters. The main character Graham lost his faith in God and resigned as a priest. He didn’t believe in God anymore and continued to ignore signs and live in disbelief. This was so because when

his wife was killed, being hit by a truck and pinned against a tree he, questioned Gods plan and was furious with God. He didn’t understand Gods purpose and felt that it was wrong and unfair of God to let this happen. He has only been faithful to God and lived right. He didn’t deserve it. Gradually as the movie continued the director showed the viewers that Graham would have to regain his faith and belief in God in order to survive. Later in the movie Graham had come to realization that God knows best and not to doubt him or his final say. Everything is already written and designed and as long as you stay faithful everything will work out for your own good. Of course there will be obstacles and tribulations on the journey but it’s only temporary. Staying true and consistent it will be easy to overcome.
Another way the director shows the viewers the message throughout the film signs is through conflicts. In the movie, the family is overwhelmed due to so many negative things and problems being thrown there way. With the attack of the aliens and the thought of the world coming to an end, the death of colleen, and the internal conflict between the dad and the son Morgan, causes the family to not have any piece of mind what so ever. It also creates chaos and havoc in their home. The director shows the message through these times by just simply testing their faith but specifically Graham. The director reveals to the readers that these predicaments are only a test. God wants to see if through thick and thin and them not knowing why will they continue to have faith and believe? Later in the movie this was very valuable in order for them to survive. God had been sending them signs and messages through their times of struggle and it was the families but Graham most importantly choice if they wanted to inherit these symbolic hints and trust God or not for their life to be spared.
Lastly, the final way the director cleverly unravels the message to the readers is the final scene where the home invasion takes place.

This was the ending of the film and where the director literally threw the moral of the film down the reader’s throats. God had given Graham a lifesaving sign through his wife Colleen at the scene where she died. Her exact words were to “Tell Morgan to play games, tell Bo to listen to her big brother Morgan, tell Merrill to swing away”, and she told” Graham to see”. In the finale of the film Graham would later find out that these were the signs that would save him and his family from the alien. When the family was notified that the aliens were defeated and returned home to wherever they lived, the family were extremely shocked and in disbelief. They had come from the basement and were relieved due to so much stress these aliens had caused and sort of put their guard down to early before they had searched the house or got to the bottom of the news they had heard. Suddenly, an alien had grabbed Morgan and the family were astonished and full with fear. Graham then reminisced on the crime scene and had a flashback where the signs God gave to him through his wife were brought back to his attention. He could have easily ignored the signs and continued with his stubborn ways in disbelief but at this moment of trouble he believed and regained his faith in the Lord. The signs that were the answer to this situation was Graham seeing and Merrill to swing away. The alien began to spray gas in Morgan’s nose and at that moment the viewers thought it was over. But due to Morgan having asthma the gas didn’t affect him and this was not by chance this was the way God had designed it. Throughout the movie Uncle Merrill had been the family’s heart beat and strong bone and he had prepared himself to defend his family at any moment, so when Graham took in the sign to see he noticed the bat that Merrill used to hit a ball 507 feet. Which was no

coincidence. This was designed by God for the bat to be by Uncle Merrill because of his sensational swing and him being the soldier of the family. It was only right for him to kill the alien and save the family. Graham told him to swing away where he noticed the bat above him secured it and began to hit the alien. Morgan was freed and Uncle Merrill had discovered while hitting the alien the answer to defeating the alien was water. Uncle Merrill started to hit the cups of water that had been planted by Bo since a baby which was no coincidence God designed it that way for her to do this for this moment. The alien was defeated after so many hits and cups of water being splashed on it and the family lived due to Graham believing, not ignoring signs, the heroic actions of Uncle Merrill, and the designs of Gods.
In conclusion the director showed the viewers the message in numerous ways and through specific scenes throughout the film. The ones that stood out in importance and value is the characters, the conflicts in the movie, and the home invasion that took place at the end. Those three examples were phenomenal ways to reveal the message of the story, which was to believe and maintain faith when things may be hard, not to ignore signs, and too lastly to believe that there is a supernatural being that has already designed the future. Sticking to these things and maintaining the message and morals that the director had sent was the leading force into saving the family. Everything had worked out for their good and the designs of God were what they wanted.