Okay, first things first, ET is hands down one of the scariest things on the planet and I have no clue why so many kids loved him so much. He looks creepy, he's all touchy feeling with kids, and you can see his heart. I first saw this movie when I was much younger than I am today. I believe I got the VHS copy for Easter and only played it once because like I said this glowing fingered alien scared the Hell out of me. It befuddles me to think that this film is the second highest grossing film OF ALL TIME! How did this happen!? Why did this happen!? How has Spielberg's wrinkly alien gotten more views than a Kubrick or Scorsese film? I just didn't get it, but after reading the reading and discussing in class I now know why, it's because of Jesus.
When I was younger I never ever had it cross my mind that this movie was a religious allegory for Jesus Christ. That is probably because I was 7 and didn't know what the word allegory meant, but that is besides the point. Even over the years watching clips, or parts of the film when flipping through channels, I never once picked up on the whole ET is Space Jesus, and now that I have it is blowing my mind! Of course a film that portrays the same ideals as the Bible does in 1980's Reagan America would gross so much because that is what was in in America at the time. Right-Winged, Conservative, Christian, America thanks to good old Ronald. People ate this up like it was cocaine laced chunky monkey ice cream. It appears that many Americans liked what Reagan was shoveling and I think Steven Spielberg knew his audience.
Yes, ET was written by Melissa Mathison who attend Catholic School, and yes this script heavily follows the Heroes Journey which very closely resembles the story Jesus, but I think a lot of the imagery (Why did the spaceship make a rainbow at the end? Does it run on love and unicorns?) and name choices ( I mean for crying out loud the Elliot's mother's name was Mary! He literally could have chosen any other name.) and set design chosen (The "Enter" sign on Elliot's door is like entering into the Kingdom of ET.) by Spielberg was just to play up to the time in which America was in. Spielberg was smart and made a movie about a space version of Jesus in a Reagan America and people ate the up and at the end of the day Spielberg made a bunch of cash.
Like author Frank T. Tomasulo wrote in The Gospel According to Spielberg in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, "(Holy Word and Hollywood Film) reinforce and reify, even create, an ideology at one with the prevailing political climate.... Steven Spielberg's simultaneously interacted and collaborated with their immediate sociopolitical circumstances, while also drawing on timeless, "Universal" images, characters, and themes in an effort to efface all contemporary ramifications to the New Right and Moral Majority." Spielberg was playing to a mass audience and it worked. The rest is like the say, in the books and Spielberg's wallet. Sometimes it seems just seems to easy to play with people's minds.
I'll leave you with this tid-bit to cool off your minds after realizing that Spielberg manipulated you into liking a creepy, touchy feely, wrinkly, drunk alien because you know the story of Jesus.
I am sooooooo glad I'm not the only one who thinks/thought E.T. is creepy! But when it comes to how the movie managed to make so much money, maybe kids in the 80's were just immune to creepy aliens..? I do agree that after reading Tomasulo's article, the concept about Jesus definitely boosted ratings, mainly for adults. Maybe adults really liked the message of the movie and forced their kids to watch it as a subtle way of forcing Reagan era beliefs upon them.
ReplyDeleteI obviously had heard of E.T. before but as this being my first viewing I can't believe it's described as a "kids" film. You said so yourself that E.T. is creepy and he is! What young kid besides Elliot is going to think E.T. is a cool pet to keep hidden in their closet? I thought parts of the film were very creepy. When E.T. and Elliot are "dying", that scene might be the most horrific. What kid thinks your house being taken over by creepy people in white astronaut suits isn't scary?!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I completely agree when you say Spielberg manipulated us as an audience because of all his underlying messages relating to the story of Jesus. I don't think the movie would have been as successful if it didn't have a Jesus figure to compare it to and like you said due to the time period. If a movie such as E.T. was made today, I don't think it would have had as much success as it did for an 80's film. There are not many alien movies made today, and movies that do involve "other life" are beloved superhero films mostly (Which we all love). The article helped me realize all of these things about Spielberg's film and made me understand the success behind it.
Yeah, E.T. resembles a brown mass of the feces variety. I don't really understand how kids weren't frightened of him even after it turns out he's "Jesus." But I guess we have to keep in mind the style of design back then. Just looking at the clothes from 80s movies shows that people maybe didn't mind looking at not so pretty things. :)
ReplyDeleteMmm, cocaine laced chunky monkey ice cream. I'm having me a big ole scoop now, WHEEEEE! Remember though, the AIDS crisis wasn't really happening quite yet at the time of this movie's release (though cocaine definitely was, though not as a topic of CIA hilarity until after the Iran-Contra affair. (Remind me to tell you the conspiracy theory of the CIA introducing crack into LA neighborhoods when we get to that part of the semester). Anyway, you did a terrific job synthesizing the reading, class discussion, and your own observations-though you could have outlined the hero's journey thing a bit more. Also, do you really buy Tomasulo's argument? Do you really think that Spielberg consciously helped engineer the widespread normalization and familiarization of the Christian right? What would have his motivation been, especially as a Jew? Or do you think it's more like he's the master of sentiment and schmaltz and knows exactly which way the popular wind is blowing, what the zeitgeist is, in order to make a buck? Or something else...?
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