E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), although considered by many to be a children’s film, contains elements common in other Steven Spielberg movies: seemingly ordinary characters who excel under extraordinary situations; the suspicion toward government forces; the presentation of frightening and comic elements together; and the theme of reality versus fantasy. In addition, as Robert Ebert points out in his book, The Great Movies, this film is a triumph of cinematic perspective.

It begins with a shot of the stars, a place of wonder and amazement, and a spacecraft that descends to our planet, bringing those elevated elements down to earth. We see obscured night shots in the forest which add to the mystery of this visit, as alien fingers explore and experiment with the forest vegetation. The celestial visitors hear a sound and lights shine in their chests, possibly revealing an emotional response but which can also show how the beings connect with each other. E. T. is an agricultural worker and is curious and wanders off. He looks at a town’s lights from the height of a cliff, as if viewing its inhabitant from a more highly aware level. The shot is similar to ones in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, the camera following E. T. and the other aliens provides shots close to the ground to stress the perspective of the short E. T. since his race has the same view of life as do children, which cements the connection between the two groups.

Pickup trucks arrive to investigate the outer space arrival, and again the glaring lights of the vehicles and just the legs of the arriving men are shown from E. T.’s perspective. This view contributes a sense of danger because the men seem imposing in their height. We see that one man has keys attached to his belt, suggesting he is the one in charge, the man who keeps secrets locked away. E. T. is alarmed and tries to run away, his breathing labored, and he lets out screams. His fellow space travelers can’t wait for him to reach the spacecraft, so they take off as the men arrive. E. T. hides, his “heart light” glowing because of the loss of his connection to his companions.

Elliott (Henry Thomas) and his older brother Mike (Robert MacNaughton) along with his friends are at Elliott’s house in a suburban California neighborhood. One can see the influence here on the show Stranger Things, as almost the entire film centers on young children involved with beings from another world. They are playing a fantasy board game, not knowing at this point that fantasy will become reality for them. Elliott hears a noise outside as he picks up the pizza delivery and finds it is coming from a storage shed. As he approaches it, a ball rolls out to him. Even though this action seems harmless and somewhat playful, Elliott is startled and runs inside. Despite Elliott’s warning, the boys, given their age, innocently see the situation as a game as they head outside. They reproduce The Twilight Zone theme song to indulge their playful scary fun. They see footprints and Mike concludes it was a coyote.

Later, when everyone else is asleep, Elliott, still alert, and his dog hear noises again. He goes outside with a flashlight and enters some cornfields (why are so many eerie events in movies occur in these crops? Maybe because they are tall and can hide stuff). Again the camera films from Elliott’s height level, putting the audience in his shoes. The flashlight shines on E. T. and both he and Elliott frighten each other. E. T. runs off, and all we see are the swinging child’s gym set, overturned trash can, and swinging gate left in his wake, which adds a sense of the mysterious to the setting. Elliott looks upward, as if having an inclination that what he saw was otherworldly and he must alter his perspective to deal with this change in his life.

Elliot later goes into the woods and leaves Reese's Pieces (definitely not adult food) as a way to lure the creature he saw out into the open. He spies a man in the same area who looks like he is checking out the ground, looking for evidence. Elliott instinctively is wary of this unknown person as if realizing that human strangers can be scary, too. Elliott’s family, including Gertie (Drew Barrymore), his little sister, don’t believe him when he tells them what he saw. People often do not want to believe in anything so unusual, especially when a child is telling the story, as they attribute such stories to the lively imagination of the young.

The film introduces the effects of divorce on children as Elliott says that his dad would believe him, but can’t talk to him because he is in Mexico with the new woman in his life. Kids tend to shift their allegiance to the absent parent when the one who is present does not seem to be meeting the child’s needs. Mom, Mary (Dee Wallace), is in tears just thinking about the marital breakup. Elliott has insight into what scientists do when they discover something new. He says they’ll give this new specimen a “lobotomy” or something invasive, and Elliott is looking for someone to fill up the whole created by the absence of his father. Mike is then angry at Elliott for upsetting their mother, which adds to the family unhappiness.

Elliott sleeps outside, wanting to meet the creature he saw, but becomes afraid when E. T. shows up and approaches him. But, E. T. drops the candy Elliott left him on Elliott’s chair, as if saying he would like more. E. T. makes cute, almost purring sounds and waddles, which makes him likable. Elliott drops more candy and he follows the boy upstairs to his room. E. T. imitates Elliott’s hand gestures, as the two start to communicate in a playful way. E. T. seems to make a mental connection with Elliott as the alien gets sleepy when Elliott does.

The faceless men, including “Keys” (Peter Coyote), investigate the woods, and we view them again from a child’s vantage point, low to the ground, which makes the adults seem ominously towering. Keys finds E. T.’s footprints and a stash of Reese’s Pieces. Meanwhile, the next day, Elliott puts a thermometer near a light in his bedroom to fake a fever so he can stay home with E. T.  Elliott introduces E. T. to his world through his playthings. Spielberg gives a humorous nod here to his pal, George Lucas, by noting toy figures from Star Wars movies, and also to his own film, Jaws, when Elliott says fish eat their food, and sharks eat other fish, “but nobody eats a shark.” Elliott is talking quickly, dispensing information pertaining to the objects in his room, as he appears eager to make a connection with someone else. E. T. puts things in his mouth, as if the creature is like Elliott’s baby sibling. Elliott wonders if E. T. is hungry, and he says he himself is, which again points to their developing closeness. Poor E. T. is frightened by Elliott’s barking dog, Harvey, which stresses how vulnerable the space visitor feels, just like we would, if stranded in an alien environment. When E. T. is startled by the quick opening of an umbrella he handles, Elliott, in the kitchen, likewise is alarmed, and drops the food he is gathering from the refrigerator, which again shows the quickly growing link between the two. Elliott finds his new friend shaking among his stuffed toy animals, the image making it look like E. T. is one of Elliott’s toys, only much more interactive. Elliott, like most children, is very accepting of someone who is different because he brings no prejudices and fears with him. The relationship between the two shows humans are at their best when they embrace those that are different from each other. Elliott humorously asks E. T. if he wants a Coke, just as if this alien was already one of his friends.

When Mike comes home, Elliott wants to include him in his discovery, but makes him swear to go by his rules. After Mike sees E. T., Gertie also comes in and the screaming starts as Mike knocks down a bookcase accidentally, and Gertie and E. T. become hysterical at each other’s appearance. Mike keeps his promise about obeying his brother's wishes, and ensures that Gertie is quiet as they and E. T. hide from their mother upon her return. The camera shots from Elliot’s closet put us in the same place as Mike and Gertie, as we feel like we are included within their circle, and are hiding with them. After Mary leaves, Elliott immediately tells Mike that he is “keeping him,” like E. T. is his adopted pal. Gertie’s youthful curiosity kicks in as she asks about E. T. Elliott wants her not to tell their mother, and makes up a reason, saying E. T. is invisible to adults and only little kids can see him. Gertie shifts from innocent, inquisitive child to grown-up cynicism, and the contrast is humorous when she says, “Give me a break,” an improvised line by the already savvy Barrymore.

Keys and his comrades continue to probe the surrounding area with telephoto lens cameras and electronic detection devices. The children gather food and objects for E. T., including a potted flowering plant, that will gain significance later. Elliott shows E. T. a globe of the earth and points out their location in California. When he asks E. T. where he’s from, E. T. seems to understand and points upward to the sky through the window. Elliott shows a picture of the solar system and points to the earth and then to the globe, saying the planet is “home,” the word resonating with the alien visitor later. The children are astonished as E. T. then makes some fruit levitate, as if attempting to create a three-dimensional picture of orbiting planets. The kids now see that E. T. has some amazing abilities, which make an impact on their lives which were only exciting through imagination before. E. T. looks at a book about the alphabet as he tries to learn to communicate. The plant which looked like it was dying now sprouts to life as E. T. looks at it, showing his regenerative powers, and pointing to his Christ-figure, regenerative character. (There are other possible Christian references, although Spielberg insists that they are only coincidental).

On the way to the school bus, the kids seem like genuine characters as they trade youthful insults, goading Elliott about his goblin coming back. When Elliott blurts out that he’s a spaceman, one boy asks does he come from “Uranus,” but then qualifies his joke by saying, “your anus.” Young Elliott is funny when he tells the boy in an adult way that the youth is “immature.” Their other verbal attacks appear genuine as they derive from the pop culture that makes up their world. As Mary is getting Gertie ready to go to school, she hears some shuffling upstairs in the house. Mary goes to Elliott’s room and into the closet. In a very funny shot, she looks at the wall of stuffed creatures, and E. T. is smart enough to hide in plain sight, his face motionless as his head appears again like one of Elliott’s many toys. The joke here is that E. T. is one of Elliott’s playmates who comes to life, which puts E. T. in the company of Pinocchio and the characters in Toy Story, among other transformative characters.

In his biology class, Elliott is drawing a picture of E. T. (writing “E. T.” on the paper, thus naming his new friend, which reminds us that Elliott’s name begins with an “E” and ends with a “T,” further stressing their connection). The class is assigned to dissect frogs. Meanwhile, E. T. walks around the house in a robe looking like a suburbanite, checking out the refrigerator. E. T. drinks beer, just like an earthling, as he assimilates human ways. As he becomes intoxicated, so does Elliott, who burps due to the intake of the alcoholic beverage, and slips off his chair as E. T. falls down. E. T. plays with an electronic toy (which he will use later along with the umbrella) and the TV remote. He is engrossed by the sci-fi movie being shown, as he probably thinks it’s real, given how he came to earth. The use of the film clip also points to how human imagination through art can turn fantasy into reality in the viewer’s mind. The frogs in the class are not already dead and must be put to sleep in jars with chloroform, which allows the ensuing action to take place. The frog caught in Elliott’s jar is accompanied by the film’s theme music which reminds us of E. T. caught here on earth. This shot is followed by a cut to E. T.’s fingers, whose skin looks frog-like, cementing the connection between the two creatures for us and with Elliott. E. T. looks at a newspaper cartoon about aliens and the drawing shows a request for “Help.” E. T. then watches the television which has people talking on phones as he notices the house phone. E. T. will use these observations to devise a plan for his rescue. E. T’s thoughts translate to Elliott as the words “Save him,” which Elliott utters, and he proceeds to liberate all of the frogs in a variation on E. T’s plight. Ordinary Elliott is elevated to hero status, bringing freedom to the amphibians. E. T. watches a romantic scene in a movie where a man kisses a woman, and just like the man in the movie Elliott triumphantly kisses a girl from the class, showing E. T.’s emotional effect on him, and how cinema has an impact on an audience.

E. T. is assembling his tools when the mother comes home along with Gertie. Still a bit drunk, E. T. wanders around the house, but the adult Mary from her height doesn’t notice him, even knocking him over as she opens the refrigerator door, (and turning Elliott’s invented story about adults not being capable of seeing E. T. into a reality). Gertie tries to have her mother meet E. T., but she is not paying attention to her daughter as she is caught up in her activities. E. T. here represents the children that adults overlook as they are immersed in their more mature lives. Mary sees an empty beer can on the kitchen floor while at the same time she gets a call from school saying Elliott was intoxicated. As she goes to pick her son up, Gertie hears E. T. repeating letters that she is saying as she watches a children’s educational show on the television. He begins to repeat her words, including “phone.” She asks if he wants to call someone. Indeed he does.

When Elliott comes home he hears Gertie talking to E. T. upstairs. In a funny scene, Elliott sees she dressed E. T. up in girl’s clothes with a silly wig, as in her own way she joins Elliott in wanting to have fun and play with their new friend. E. T. is talking now. He calls Elliott by his name and looks at the sky, saying “home.” Then comes the famous line, “E. T phone home,” which he repeats. Mike arrives and is stunned that the alien is talking. Elliott realizes that if his new friend communicates with his people, “they will come.” E. T. says he wants to “come home,” which is what we all want, no matter who we are, because it makes us feel secure and happy.

There is an ominous black (the movie color representing potential danger) van monitoring the conversations in the neighborhood. The anonymous government people listen to Elliott and Mike talking about how they are looking for equipment for E. T. Mike notes that the alien is looking less healthy, and Elliott doesn’t want to hear that negativity, saying “we” are doing fine. Mike questions the plural pronoun, but the audience has seen how the two are linked together. As they go through garage items, Elliott becomes nostalgic about how they did things with their father, another indication about the feelings of loss among children of divorced parents.

Mary reads Peter Pan to Gertie as E. T. listens in hiding, again implying how for children the world of imagination feels real. Gertie claps her hands to show she believes in fairies and to demonstrate her childlike belief in magic. To drive home this point, Elliott hurts his finger bringing items from the garage. He says “ouch,” and E. T. lights up his own finger which heals the cut, which stresses E. T.’s redemptive power. But as he levitates his assembled objects to make his “phone,” the plant that was flowering now appears limp as it reflects E. T.’s failing health.

The children devise a plan to get E. T. out of the house on Halloween, an appropriate holiday for a story about an alien visitor. They cover E. T. in a ghost costume so as to pass him off as Gertie. The perspective again is upward as we see things from E. T.’s viewpoint so we can better empathize with his character. Mike has on makeup that looks like he has a knife through his head. E. T. takes fantasy for reality when he wants to heal the wound, repeating Elliott’s word, “ouch.” It’s a funny moment, but it emphasizes Spielberg’s interest that he explores in many of his films concerning the contrast between the real and fantastic realms.

We continue to see the camera peer through the eye holes cut out in the ghost sheet, looking up at what for E. T. are strange sights but as we know are pretend visions as a result of costumes. The audience members watch the invented image of E. T. and suspend their disbelief and submit to the illusion created by movies. One humorous shot connected to this theme occurs when a child in a Yoda outfit passes by and E. T. calls out “home, home,” as if he has recognized a fellow visitor from outer space. Elliott rides his bike to take E. T. to a site in the woods to send the signal. As they approach the edge of a cliff, E. T. uses his powers to make the bike fly. It is an exhilarating moment as John Williams’s score rises with the movement of the bike. We empathize as we are thrilled because what kid or adult doesn’t dream of flying? It seems silly that Elliott keeps pedaling since he is no longer on the ground, but it stresses how part of him is anchored to the earth since what is actually happening is something that was confined to dreams and imagination. The now iconic shot of the bike against the glowing moon shows how people can break the tether that restricts them to the mundane and soar above what confines them. In contrast, we see Elliott’s mother, dressed up in a costume, being a kid herself for the night, then looking at the clock as if, like Cinderella, her coach has turned back into a pumpkin. She snuffs out a candle, symbolically extinguishing her youthful playfulness for the evening.

E. T. deploys his makeshift transmitter, while Mary goes looking for the tardy Elliott. After she drives away, the mysterious government men get out of a car parked in front of the house and invade the sanctity of their private home. E. T. keeps saying “home,” and says, “ouch” as he points to himself to indicate that he is getting sick and doesn’t have much time. Elliott wants his new friend to stay so they could grow up together as buddies. Elliot falls asleep in the woods and realizes E. T. is missing when he wakes up. Elliott returns home but doesn’t look well. He asks Mike to find E. T. in the woods. His brother rides on his bike as the secret investigators try to follow him. Mike finds E. T. looking very pale in a shallow stream. Mike brings E. T. back home and they finally reveal their secret to their mother. Elliott says “we’re sick. I think we’re dying.” His empathic link to another suffering creature is a model for humans who all too often think only of themselves. Mary, not understanding the situation, instinctively wants to remove her children from E. T.’s presence to protect them. As she opens her door to leave the house a man in a spacesuit slowly enters the residence, exhibiting ominous breathing sounds similar to those of Darth Vader. He walks through a beaded curtain covering a doorway, looking like a ghost. Another suited person comes through a window. Who is scarier, the earth spacemen or the real alien, E. T.?

Now the government men show up in force. They cocoon Elliot’s house in plastic covering and set up a quarantined environment. But, as we know, living creatures break out of their cocoons. The family is questioned by doctors as their world is invaded not by aliens but by earthlings. Elliott says they are scaring E. T., and as Mike informs the government people, Elliott knows because he shares E. T.’s feelings. Elliott keeps saying he is the one to take care of E. T. since he chose Elliott. We now see Keys’ face and he turns out to be a sympathetic character who has retained his childlike wonder of the fantastic. He tells Elliot that E. T. came to him, too, in a way, probably because he has wanted to contact an extra-terrestrial since he was ten years old. He assures Elliott that he doesn’t want E. T. to die. Elliot says that to save E. T. the alien must go home and that is why he tried to contact his people. Keys says it is a “miracle” that E. T. is here. His words carry a religious implication. E. T.  performs miracles in the sense that he defies gravity and has healing powers. As Keys talks, Elliott is reflected in his visor, emphasizing the connection between Elliott and Keys. Keys says to Elliot that he was “glad he met you first,” which shows that Keys realizes that an innocent, imaginative, uncorrupted child was the best first contact that can be made by someone foreign.

Elliott tells E. T. as they lie next to each other in hospital beds that he wants them to stay together, and that “I’ll be right here” for E. T. As E. T.’s vital signs fail, the link between the two disconnects and Elliott’s health returns. There is a shot of the older Mike huddling with the stuffed toys as he, too, finds strength in a childlike setting. When Mike wakes up in the morning the plant dramatically wilts and dies, echoing E. T.’s demise. Elliott cries in his mother’s arms and the doctors call the time of E. T.’s death.  A tearful Gertie tells her mom that she wishes E. T. would come back, the way fairies can return in Peter Pan, by believing in them. She sounds as if she feels that magic can transcend the laws of our material world. To show how this belief can extend to the adult world, her mother says, “I wish, too.”

Keys lets Elliot spend some time alone with E. T. before they take him away. Elliott is unhappy because he knows that they will just dissect him, like the frogs. Elliott says he can’t feel anything anymore, as if this loss has emptied all his emotions except sadness. He says he loves E. T. which is the greatest gift one can give to another, no matter where they are from. Elliott closes the container that houses E. T., and the top seals like a coffin. But as Elliott walks out, he passes the flowerpot which begins to bloom again. Elliott goes to the container and E. T. has revived and is yapping about phoning home. His heart light is glowing, which makes Elliott realize that they were successful in getting in touch with E. T.’s comrades, and that restored connection helped bring him back to life. One can argue that E. T.’s resurrection emulates Jesus rising from the dead. Elliott muffles E. T.’s excited words and closes the container, crying over it to prevent others from hearing him.

Elliott and Mike hatch a plan to get E. T. to the site in the forest so he can be rescued. They hijack the van containing E. T. and with the help of Mike’s friends they try to stay ahead of the authorities. When E. T. is ready to exit the van, he appears elevated physically and symbolically in front of the youths, his heart glowing as he wears a white robe. This image could be interpreted as a god appearing before his disciples. Elliott tells them E. T. is from outer space and they have to take him to his spaceship. One of the boys taps into his Star Trek knowledge and asks why they just can’t “beam” him up. In one of the funniest lines in the film, Elliott dismisses the notion as ridiculous, saying, “This is reality, Greg.” Despite the unreal events that are occurring, Elliott’s line is comically incongruous, as if some things are just too outlandish. 

The boys racing on their bikes form an escort for E. T. as they are able to get around hills and other areas better than the cop cars for a while. But as they are about to get caught, E. T. makes the boys fly, again using his extraordinary powers to alter accepted reality. (In the updated edition of the movie, Spielberg felt it was inappropriate to have guns in the hands of the authorities so close to children so he removed them and substituted walkie-talkies as the boys rise into the sky). They arrive at the transmission site as the alien spaceship lands. Gertie knows where they are going and she joins the others with her mother to say goodbye to E. T. She gives him the flowering plant as a parting gift. E. T., acting like a parent, tells her to be good, because they have become so close. Keys, who is really a kid in adult disguise, also joins them. E. T. tells Elliott “come,” wanting him to board the spaceship with him. But, Elliott says, “Stay,” wanting E. T. to remain on earth. They realize that they must part in order to be with their respective families. The word “ouch” is repeated but it as an emotional wound because E. T. must leave. E. T. then repeats Elliott’s words as he lights up his finger, points to Elliott’s head, and says, “I’ll be right here,” knowing that he will remain in Elliott’s memories. He boards the spaceship, and the door closes like a circular camera dissolve, as Spielberg reminds us of the magical abilities of the movies.

There is a rainbow left behind as the spaceship flies off. It is a biblical symbol of the establishment of a covenant between God and his creations. E. T. may as well have been pointing to all our heads with his brilliant finger, imitating God touching Adam’s hand in the Sistine Chapel, since he will remain with us and generations to come.

The next film is Memento.