E.T : the Extra-Terrestrial Film Review

fig 1.

The original charming story of boy meets sublime telekinetic alien starts here in this family favourite directed by Steven Spielberg. The story follows the life of a young boy and his experience of the mysterious entity as they attempt to initially hide him from his cynical family members, before situations arise making it more of a demanding task to contain, eventually leading to government intervention. 

fig 2.

The films made by this particular director have been generally regarded as family favourites, other such movies being 'Indiana Jones' and 'Jurassic Park'.  The familial elements are also present in this films, as is the director's signature. 

In this film in particular there seem to be an element of ambiguity to it, indicated by the prologue of the film where we see the residents of the egg shaped ship investigating Earth's environment, before humans find them out and they make a hasty retreat. But the viewpoints of the audience vary between the adult and child audiences. This is the sort of content an individual would expect to see from a film featuring outer space, but on the other hand, we immediately begin to question the nature of such imagery. Who are these extra-terrestrial beings so interested in our planet? And why are they here?

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There is an center of what makes up a film from the inside out in this case, namely in the conducting of the mise-en-scene. '..the notion of mise-en-scene is useful in that it allows us to talk about the way in which elements within a frame of film, or a shot composed of many consecutive frames, are placed, moved, and lit.' (Turner,1999) There could be a few different interpretations of this particular visual imagery to do with religious aspects. There is clear messianic imagery in E.T in a number of scenes which are clearly illustrated in artistic and biblical references.

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For example, the aliens chest in several scenes of the film glows in an otherworldly glow (several depictions of the 'Sacred Heart'), and his glowing finger miraculously heals wounds and other such afflictions as in the same way Jesus had the healing touch in several stories (notably in the Gospel of Mark) as well as tracing of Michelangelo's 'Hand of God and Adam' in some abstract illustrations of the scene where E.T heals the boy's cut.

But what kind of narratives does the story introduce in relation to this? The child in the story seems to serve as a mere Earthly guide for the alien, even acting as a sort of power source sometimes, especially in proof of some elements of the ending where their lives seem to be in sync. In Christianity there is a constant narrative of the normal person having the basic requirement of openness as if they were a little child, even in the vicinity of the ending of the film we begin to see adults with this same quality even though they are supposedly part of the antagonistic force. In practise the film strives towards a clear message of tolerance and peace even between worlds.

In all there are many parts that make up the film, the overall dominant aspect is definitely that of the alien themselves, the iconography is outstanding in proportion to the film itself. The merchandising, visual communications and phrasing were the perfect basis for memetic proliferation. It is particularly interesting, after drawing many parallels with religious imagery and teachings how the aliens seem to be in a sort of position of the sublime, having much of the same ability, and even travelling around in what looks like an egg shaped garden of Eden. 'E.T.'s message is peace, his mission to heal and to make things flourish.' (French, 1982) Clearly the underlying factor in what made E.T. the Extra Terrestrial such a success, is its appeal to both younger and older audiences of the time, even hinting towards a slightly more pacifist viewpoint of hippy culture.

Bibliography

French, Philip. "ET – The Extra Terrestrial - Review". the Guardian. The Guardian Newspaper, 1982. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/film/1982/dec/12/features.philipfrench

Turner, Graeme. Film As Social Practise. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 1999. Print.

Stephenson, Ralph and J.R. Debrix. The Cinema As Art. 1st ed. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1965. Print.

Figures

fig 1. Spielberg, S. (1982). E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. [poster] [16/03/2017]

fig 2. Spielberg, S. (1982). E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. [still] [16/03/2017]

fig 3. Spielberg, S. (1982). E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. [still] [16/03/2017]

fig 4. Spielberg, S. (1982). E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. [poser] [16/03/2017]