Paper Seven

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial is a film about a young boy that grows a relationship with a lost little alien and helps him find his way home. In many films, the director uses his skills to change the belief of their audience to accommodate the story. Many things taken out of context could be viewed as strange and wild, but with directing, your mind can be manipulated.

In one of the first scenes of the film, the alien space ship is shown landing but with branches and shrubbery blocking the lens. This gave the feeling that something out of the ordinary was happening, something strange. This type of camera work is shown even when the aliens are moving about. ET was then shown with a clear, long shot showing the vastness of the forest he was in. Without any previous scene to compare to , the landing scene was automatically considered strange, not just for the use of camera work, but for the fact that we don’t encounter aliens visiting earth too often. When the cut to ET happened, the director traded the audiences place with him. We were first looking at something out of the ordinary but now it was ET's turn as he has never been to our planet before.

Later on, it is shown that ET was left on our planet unintentionally. We understand this, so we feel a connection with ET making him feel more real and normal. When Eliot (Main Character) meats ET, he doesn’t take the encounter to lightly, and rightfully so. Eliot nor anybody else in the film has met an alien life form before. ET moving towards Eliot awkwardly and somewhat hostile really didn’t help. We were already set up with an emotion towards ET, so its assumed we know he means no harm. With this in mind, you could say the way ET confronted Eliot was kind of funny. Letting yourself be separated from your group on a distant planet could be considered dumb move. Its possible ET is only a child, hence acting strangely, outside of being an alien and all.

As the movie goes on, you notice ET's chillness more and more as he has such a great curiosity with small, unimportant things; he tried to eat a toy car! When Eliot was away, ET was rummaging through junk until he found an umbrella. He opened the umbrella, but to his surprise , it not only got bigger but it happened very quickly. He screamed and ran away flailing his arms like Kermit the Frog. Eliot, later returning to his room, found ET hiding in the stuff animals shaking in fear. The hilarity in these scene was very intentional.

After spending more time with each other, Eliot and ET grow a special bond, a bond that allows them to share feelings. In one scene when ET was alone as Eliot was away at school, he decided to roam the house and grab a bite to eat. Knowing that they share feelings, it was funny to see Elliot get drunk in school while ET was sipping down beers at home. Eliot was an 8 year old boy at school getting inebriated, burping and falling out of his seat. This is not a normal situation so I found it rather hilarious.

Elliot’s family is your average American family, overprotective mother, dweeb sister, and bully older brother. There is nothing out of the ordinary except the fact that the parents are separated. When both Gertie (Sister) and Michael (Brother) first meet ET, they were just as scared as Elliot first was. The way ET was presented was in less of a freakish way than the beginning, but the music and atmosphere of the scene showed and unnatural force was present. Like I stated before, nothing has changed in our opinion of ET as his character has already been thoroughly presented.

What I noticed about the film was the fact that it was entirely shot from a child's point of view. We see little if anything of the grown up world through grown up eyes. Most scenes are filmed from low angles, reflecting the point of view of the Eliot and ET. The beginning of the movie introduced the law men that were interested in ET and his friends. Throughout the movie these men are depicted in a negative way. In every scene that included them, there was never faces shown and the music had a ominous feel to it. I really feel that adults are depicted as the enemy, the kids are always trying to avoid them. When the mom first made contact with ET, she had the same initial reaction as the children but it then turned into fear. She grabbed Gertie and made Michael and Elliot leave as she was scared for their lives. As they approached the door, they were greeted by the law men. I feel this scene was important because both sides of the adults negativity was coming into play, further proving my point on the adults being evil.

When Micheal’s friends meet ET, they are more awestruck then filled with fear. During the beginning of the movie when Elliot heard a noise in the shed, Michael's friends were fearless in finding out what it was. I think his friends reaction makes sense for how they are depicted earlier in the movie. In one scene Michael is shown backing his mothers car out of the driveway, but doing a horrible job at it. In the ending scene he had to drive a van to meet with his friends. While in the back of the van Elliot screamed to Michael to go and he replied “I don’t know how to drive”. It was funny for the fact that the joke had been set up already, so we knew what he meant. When they met up with Michael's friends it was then there first time seeing him. In every seen showing the introduction to ET to other people, he is always presented with immense back light, almost showing him as a god.

I think the overall message presented in this movie is that family is important. Before ET's arrival, Elliot's family didn’t seem be very close. By the ending of the movie the bond between the family and ET shows that ET has been the catalyst to the ingredient missing in the family's household, a strong center capable of holding everyone together. It was no longer their human father, but a lost alien life form. The way the director portrays ET, you don’t find the love the family gives to ET strange. You can compare ET to a pet; non human but easily lovable. I really enjoyed E.T. and think its a classic among adventure movies. The connection between ET and Elliot will be forever remembered in film.