Escaping a Superficial World (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)

       ET, the alien looks hideous and he sounds hideous, but why is it that most people find this alien lovable? Steven Spielberg shows us a kid’s movie about innocence and growing up. It's a coming of age story about a human character and his slow developing friendship with an unlikely friend, an extra-terrestrial. While watching clips from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on the big screen, in my Music and Film class, I tried to hold back my tears, despite already knowing what's happening in the end and watching it countless times. This movie is timeless and will always be remembered despite its age, its bland look, and its old looking special effects.

            When I was young, probably too young to remember which particular year that laid somewhere in the single digits, I had a video of this movie before the 2002 re-release. Watching it and being spell bound by it was all forgotten and the video was lost in a pile of junk in the attic. Several years later when I was finally a high school student, I found this video covered in dust. After giving this movie another go, I was spell bound once again. Typically, we outlive kids movies and find them immature or childish. This movie was entirely different. While watching, there was a huge rush of memories that came back. I remembered watching this movie as I did when I was watching as a kid. I remember the good old days when I didn't have to worry about money and stress. I also had simply forgotten how great this movie was and how it works differently when watched as a kid, and watching as an adult.

The character "Keys" represents adulthood and the loss of childhood.  

            I remembered those days when a part of me was in Elliot’s character. The adult character, “Keys,” represents the adult responsibilities, for each key in the person’s chain shows his tasks, his roles, and his duties in his adult world. In Elliot’s world, there is not much responsibility to hold, except for taking care of ET. I felt that "Keys" was the person that we would turn into one day. He represents the adults who had dreams of being a kid again and losing their childhood while Elliot represents the target audience; the kids who live a carefree life. If I should work in a boring job, or lead a dull life, then I would find solace in this movie because it will bring me back to the innocent days where I was free and adventurous as a kid. In general, this movie brings out the kid in me.

A huge bulk of this movie is told through the perspectives of the children.

Spielberg does a great job of not showing
any adult faces, except for the mother, until the third act.

There is a huge distinction between fantasy, as shown on top
where E.T has the ability to levitate objects, and reality,
where E.T grows sick and is in danger of dying.

            Elliot lives in a superficial world where we see almost everything through the eyes of a child. When we watch movies, we take away all of the outside world, our turmoil and problems, and try to be taken in by the movie’s gripping theme, message, and its story. Our outside world is tough, stressful, and cruel. For such reasons, we need to escape reality. We find comfort through watching movies, particularly fantasies, because they show a superficial world that’s void of the real world. This movie has the same premise with the statement above. We have Elliot, a kid going through a post-divorce family where his mother cannot properly raise the three kids, and Michael becomes a father figure. With the horrible reality exposition, Elliot finds an escape through ET, the alien. E.T. is the epitome of fantasy. He has telekinetic powers and the ability to levitate objects, he can heal wounds, and he has the ability to communicate to the humans. However, this movie is not entirely fantasy for there are real life issues that creep into the third act of the movie. When we get to the ending, the alien fantasy world intertwines with reality where we, for once, see adults.

The bike is a symbol of childhood, and the concept of
flying represents the dream of never growing up in a dull world.

            The most iconic scene in the movie was where Elliot was on a bike and ET was in the basket. Here, the bike goes off the cliff, but instead of falling, it flies and as Elliot is amazed by this newfound ability from ET, the bike flies over the moon, casting a silhouette of the bike. I love this scene because of its focal point is to bring out the dream of us flying and the way the music escalates into the main theme that we're all familiar with. In here, the bike also serves as the symbol of the child's life and when it takes to the sky, the child in us is brought out. Steven Spielberg didn't just make a kid's movie; he made a movie that shows how great it was to be a kid again. That particular image stayed in my head, epitomizing the greatness of Spielberg and the unlocking the power of one's imagination. To me, it hits me at a gut level to an extent where I could explain on how amazing the style and the substance is, but nothing can describe the emotional impact it had to me. This is the very definition of the power of movie magic. I first saw this on an old video as a young kid. It was memorable when watching this movie because as a kid, I wanted to be like Elliot. I wanted to find an escape from a mundane world, and be rebellious to the faceless authorities. I wanted to be on a bike that flies over the moon.

In the ending, the children escape the authorities with
their bikes, thus exercising their freedoms from adult oppression.

Note: the bike can go any terrain is not restricted
on the road, representing the freedoms of being a child.

            In the last fifteen minutes of the movie, the children face against the blind authorities and in the end, run away from them. The use of bicycles in the film is a symbols of what kids have that adult don’t have, which is basically the simple life. The ability of the bikes to go on any terrain shows that the bike is free from the road, which cars are restricted to. A car can travel faster, and because so, its responsibilities increases while the bike, on the other hand, has fewer responsibilities. The stark contrast between the cop cars and the bikes are the two opposing generations that are sought against each other. The kids and the adults are portrayed differently where one is carefree while the other is always worrying. In the end, the bikes prevail as they soar in the skies above. The particular chase scene in the end of the movie was what really touched me. During this time period, there was a change in subject where the movies have a rebellious character that’s against society. The movie better enhances this belief by having innocent children rebel against the police authority and the government agents. However, there is a genuine rebellious mentality where we see the government agents trying to use ET for their jobs while the kids want to respectively take ET home.

We become so into the story in that we don't
want to say goodbye to these characters either.

            The ending, of all endings in movie history, is by far, one of the best because we get so emotionally invested in these characters. When the movie characters all say their goodbyes, we have to say goodbye to them because they almost become your friends. At times, I didn't want the movie to end, but there has to be an ending to all stories. This one was one of the saddest endings, why, because we do care for the characters. In the movie, ET is sick and thus gets Elliot sick as they have a connective bond. The bond separates, thus having Elliot spared while ET dies. With that in mind, ET comes back to life, just as Tinker bell comes back to life when the audience claps their hands.

In this scene, the mom reads to Gertie the story of Peter Pan.
Both Peter Pan and E.T. shares a common thread
in which both deal with growing up and fantasies.

             The movie has many child-like moments that give the movie an innocent look. For a movie that won Best Visual Effects, Music, and Sound, the movie works wonderfully by how little it shows. It's a great science-fiction movie; however, the primary focus is not within the aliens or the technology behind the craft. The movie is really more about Elliot and his life in a post divorce life where his mom has to take care of him and Michael becomes a father figure. We don't really know much about ET, other than the fact that he wants to go home. The movie is more down to earth because it’s told through a child's point-of-view. The only adult we see before the third act was the mother. The use of having the children as the main characters is vital to the message. It was the children who show compassion to the alien and it was the adults who tried to take advantage of ET. It's because of these moments that Spielberg has developed this Frank Capra like whimsical moments that shows up in his other movies; such as Hook, and The Empire of the Sun.

Other movies that have the theme of child innocence and adventure.

            Movies that are shown through the perspectives of children intrigue me, as long as the kids can act. The Goonies, Stand by Me, and Super 8 are all examples of such. A director who can show a kid’s point-of-view is worthy to me. The childish moments in the movie can alienate some audience members; however, I find fascination in these scenes and it's impossible to take these scenes away. However, to some people, this movie is cheesy or too immature at times when showing the child like moments. Some people say that it's a bit outdated and it doesn't apply to this generation as opposed to the generations of the 80's and 90's. The movie is applauded by Critics, as shown by its 98% rating; however, on IMDB, the movie did not make the top 250 list. A lot of people cry foul at Spielberg's 2002 changes where he replaced the guns with walkie-talkies. In my personal opinion, this change is more justifiable for Spielberg second-thought the notion of putting guns in a kid's movie.

             The movie makes me dream of not having to grow up in a world that’s superficial and hollow ended. We only get one shot of child hood and remember the small snippets of it through our fragile memories. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial has been a part of that child hood memory that can be salvaged. Because of this movie, I took a huge interest in biking and tried to picture the rebellious mentality when I ride my bike. Even to this day, when I ride my bike, I am constantly reminded of the bike chase scene and would always hum the theme of the movie for motivational support. The bike is a huge contributing factor to my child hood, and because of this movie, I remembered this much of it. Many people will remember their first time riding a bike and many others will remember how they get use to it. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial serves like one of these memories.