Blog Entry #7: "I'll be right here"

I have been interested in film since I was very young. I used to go to the movies with my parents and wonder why the teenagers sitting in front of me would rather make out than take in the incredible medium that is film. To this day, I still prefer going to the movies to watch and analyze instead of fooling around with my date in the back row. Maybe this makes me weird. Some of my favorite movies include E.T., Psycho, 10 Things I Hate About You, Gattaca, and Brokeback Mountain, among many others. I especially enjoy the work of director Steven Spielberg. As I mentioned in class, E.T. was the first movie that I “really felt connected to.” The film was remarkable to me because it presented aliens in a different way than other sci-fi alien movies before it. Although E.T. can be classified as a science fiction film, it goes beyond that label by presenting deeper levels of meaning within the sci-fi element of extraterrestrials. I believe the film explores human emotions in a way that few sci-fi films successfully do.

By the end of the film, most people see E.T. as a cute and lovable friend, rather than a scary creature from another planet. Spielberg evokes emotions in his audience that allow them to feel for this alien, to cry for him, as if he were a human. Spielberg tries to show viewers that E.T. is really no different than a human child-they both possess the same emotions, goals, and fears. This alien-human connection is supported through the friendship between Elliot and E.T. The two need each other, they find comfort as their relationship develops throughout the film and they come to see how similar they really are.

I think E.T. was Spielberg’s best film because he used a lot of ideas from his own life, like the divorce of his parents, which helped add to his creative insight and provided personal reference.

I was just reminded that I need to get new batteries for my plastic talking E.T. doll! Yes, his finger and heart light up, he says things like, “I’ll be right here”, but he doesn’t eat Reese’s Pieces. Merchandise related to the film proves that E.T. was a phenomenon for many children. The stuffed E.T. doll I also own demonstrates Spielberg’s ability to portray E.T. in a snuggly, cuddly, and lovable way.

Some of my friends think that E.T. is scary, I don’t understand it.