Monday, November 17, 2014

an owl in Roswell

Whoa, it's as light as a feather!
an owl seen in ROSWELL
The 1994 Showtime movie Roswell has a quick cameo of an owl, it shows up at the 16:33 time count. The very dark screen grabs above are from the Youtube video, posted below. Kyle MacLachlan plays Jesse Marcel Sr. and in this scene he is taken to the ranch of Mac Brazel (played by Dwight Yoakam) where they look at the odd wreckage stored in a barn. Spooky music plays as they enter the dimly lit barn.

MacLachlan lifts a large section of something crumpled and shiny, and exclaims, “Whoa, it’s as light as a feather.”

At that moment something flutters in the background and lands on a wooden railing behind the actors. Then there is a close up of a great horned owl. I don’t see any deep mystery here, it feels like this owl is used as nothing more than a spooky set piece. This is a movie about a UFO crash, unlike INTRUDERS (1992) with its owls and a focus on abductions.

What is of note is that the word feather was spoken the instant before the owl made its cameo. 

In the lore of the plains Indians, owl feathers are considered deceiver feathers, and these men are all part of a plot to deceive the public. The owl as a night totem represents darkness and mystery. When you fan someone with owl feathers, they are silent. In opposition, eagle feathers are warrior feathers related to the sun. This is similar to Zeus (or Jupiter), the sky god with his companion eagle.

Kyle MacLachlan was no stranger to the owl and UFO meme, having just finished his role as special agent Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks

Paul Davids was the executive producer of Roswell, and he’s a regular face at UFO conferences. He was in the audience when I gave my owl talk at the IUFOC in February of 2014. He came up afterwords and complimented me on the presentation. 


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I believe that the owl brings neither good nor evil, per se, but conveys the ability to "see in the dark," either for a short period or as a gift that will potentially last a lifetime. Seeing in the dark, however, also means seeing the dark, seeing what lurks in the shadows, seeing, knowing things that are usually a secret or not normally knowable. This can mean seeing the agents of destructive, deceitful, sinister forces. There are those, however, who work in the darkness for the light, so to speak. And not all that's unseen is hiding. Occult knowledge is certainly not all about doing anyone harm, of course. In this sense, then, the owl as a liminal, initiatory, bestower of power doesn't darken the light, but sheds light on the dark. This can involve us in dangerous situations but that isn't the intention, IMHO. Of course I claim no final authority on this, and I'm only speaking of what I feel is likely, from a near lifetime of experiences regarding the above. Whatever the case, may we all find what we're looking for.

Unknown said...

Forgive me if you have mentioned this elsewhere, but the recent movie Dark Skies uses an owl poster more than once as a subliminal image on a bedroom wall. I don't want to explain any more than that so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Mentioning the owl poster is a tiny detail and wouldn't affect the watching of the movie. Its presence though is obviously deliberate.