For people who don’t remember much about Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Roy Neary was the protagonist of said movie, which came out in 1977. In brief, he was an electrical lineman who had an encounter with a UFO so close that its light burned his face. However, the encounter did not discourage him but instead instilled in him a fascination with UFOs as a whole, so much so that he started to alienate his family through his choices. In the end, Roy Neary was presented with a chance to travel with the extraterrestrials on their UFO, which he accepted with minimal consideration for the rest of his family.
Why Is Roy Neary Such an Important Steven Spielberg Character?
Roy Neary is an important character because he represents a side of Steven Spielberg that most people don’t remember ever existed. After all, Spielberg is famous for a number of movies that stressed the importance of family, whereas Close Encounters of the Third Kind was much more indifferent to the concept. As a result, it can be said that Neary is a curious reminder of bygone times, which is rather appropriate because the movie came out four decades ago.
With that said, it is interesting to note that Spielberg has commented on the curious comparison between Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and his subsequent characters in subsequent movies. In brief, it is much what can be expected from him, which is to say, he acknowledged that the character was the result of a much different time for him on a personal level. Then, Spielberg had no children of his own, which made it difficult for him to understand the circumstances of the character. As a result, Neary was written as someone who felt trapped by his family and was presented with a chance at an escapist adventure, which explains his eagerness.
As a result of Spielberg’s evolving thoughts on the matter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind has seen some significant changes in the time since it was released in the movie theatres. For example, the version released in the movie theaters showed little about Neary’s interactions with his family, which can be blamed on Columbia Pictures’s choice to rush the production of the movie to save itself. When Spielberg released a Special Edition, more scenes were added that showed more of Neary’s interactions with his family, which are rather unpleasant. On the one hand, this made his choice to leave that much more understandable, but on the other hand, this made his choice that much more obvious as what it was, which is to say, the abandonment of his family for the promise of something more interesting to him. More editions have been created, but in the end, there can be no doubt about the fact that Neary was rather uncharacteristic for a Spielberg movie.
With that said, one cannot help but wonder whether the family-oriented message of Spielberg’s subsequent movies has been a response to Neary and the rest of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. For an excellent example that supports this line of speculation, look no further than War of the Worlds, which offered the exact opposite scenario to that of its predecessor. As a result, even though it is clear that the escapist adventure presented by Close Encounters of the Third Kind no longer appeals to the person who created it, one cannot help but wonder whether its influence can still be seen in Spielberg’s movies.
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