How My Next Door Neighbour Discovered Life on Mars

I did not know what to expect when I read the title of the ten and half minute film, How my next door neighbour discovered life on Mars. As it was a Campfire film, I expected a religious component, but there was none. Well, at least, I did not pick-up on one. However, there was some relevance in the idea concerning the imagination of a child. Religion and other concepts without evidence can take on a reality of their own, in young minds. I will mention this later on.

The story starts with the boy watching a television program about two astronauts who are on the planet Mars. They suggest that someday someone will be brave enough to find intelligent life on the Red Planet. This idea enthrals the boy. Watched on by an elderly male neighbour, the boy heads out to the backyard with an oversized telescope. The neighbour decides to enhance the fertile thoughts of the lad. After viewing the night sky with some enthusiasm, the boy attempts to make radio contact with extraterrestrials. No luck has him donning his interpretation of a space suite and launching a home made rocket into space. With his 3D goggles on, the boy is last seen heading for a red dot in his imagination, ‘way out there'.

The father finds the boy asleep and carries him to his room. Later there is a knock at the front door and the boy answers it. Yes; you guessed it, it is an alien. The alien is the neighbour in disguise, a fact unknown to the boy. A short conversation entails then the alien leaves but uses phraseology with which the child is familiar. "Live long and prosper" and "May the force be with you."

On retreating, the neighbour, possibly intentionally, drops a small object, which the boy immediately recovers as a prize from beyond. The final scene has the boy holding the object out of a window with a background of the immensity of space.

Many a child would have had similar fantasies and the producers/directors did a fine job in bringing them to the screen. I reverted slightly to the state of childhood as the boy gave a convincing performance. All-round the film achieved professionalism by using only the common objects a child might utilise to fulfil a fantasy. I enjoyed the whole performance.

The obvious lesson here is that children's minds are a hotbed of fantasy. They take on contemporary and historical ideas and notions and think them real. Their world contains a plethora of imaginary scenarios and personalities, from bogey men under the bed to being able to fly. The problem this can initiate is if children perceive that adults also believe in any of their imaginary companions, they have no option than to accept them as existing in reality.

The thought for today is: if those beings and places are gods, devils, heavens and hells, then the child is compelled to accept them as true. ‘Stuff' believed to be a correct interpretation of reality in childhood is most likely to last a lifetime. Other cultures produce adults with different religions and beliefs. Are we, in indoctrinating children with a particular religion, especially with eternal threats and promises, committing (mental) child abuse? This is the conclusion drawn by many Atheist commentators, including Richard Dawkins in his book, The God Delusion. Think about it.

[from the introduction] A cute wee story of a young child's imagination. Although the spiritual aspect may be less obvious than some of the other films, I rather liked the relationship between the boy and his neighbour. I saw this not just as a film about imagination but also about wanting to break down personal barriers, self betterment, and fundamentally about the support the boy received from the guardian who had been watching over him.