E.T. returns to the big screen

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, August 12th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mynra Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

A few weeks ago, arts and media editor Collin Garbarino took us back to the summer of 1982 to think about what some science fiction classics might still have to say.

BROWN: Well, today Collin returns to 1982 to discuss E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, the science fiction blockbuster that overshadowed every other film of that year. Here’s Collin Garbarino.

COLLIN GARBARINO: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial turned 40 years old this year, and to celebrate, the beloved classic is being rereleased in IMAX theaters across the country.

Elliott: Okay, we’re here. We are here. Where are you from?

E.T.: [grunts]

E.T. was a phenomenon the summer it first came out. It made $11 million in its opening weekend—which was a lot of money back in 1982—and it stayed at the top of the box office week after week. It spawned toys and video games and amusement park rides. E.T. was everywhere.

Elliott: Ouch. Ouch.

E.T.: Ouch.

Mom: I think I could get well again if children believed in faeries.

E.T. is the story of a young boy named Elliott who befriends an alien that Elliott dubs “E.T.” short for “Extra-Terrestrial.” The alien is stranded on Earth. Elliott, his friends, and his family pull together to help the alien get home. But E.T. isn’t the only one who needs saving. Elliott and his family are suffering from the fallout of his parents’ divorce.

Elliott: Dad’s shirt. Remember when he used to take us out to the ball games and take us to the movies and we’d have popcorn fights?

E.T.’s plight drives the plot of the movie, but it’s Elliott’s story that provides the film’s heart.

In an interview, director Steven Spielberg explained where he got the inspiration for the film.

SPIELBERG: E.T. was the gift that came from the heavens for me.

During the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark, he started pondering his earlier movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

SPIELBERG: And it just hit me out of the sky. I thought, “What if the alien had stayed behind on earth?” What if it was a kind of foriegn exchange? Dreyfuss goes away, and the alien stays, and suddenly this whole story hit me like a ton of bricks. And which was really a story about my mom and dad when they got divorced, and how I felt as a kid, wanting a friend like that to fill the void in my life. And all these things came pouring in and I actually put the story together in I think a couple of days.

So what made this story so compelling? Yes, the film features an ugly, yet adorable, alien. But E.T. proved to be both otherworldly and extremely relatable. Spielberg told the story of a boy who needed a friend during a time of turmoil.

SPIELBERG: This is a rescue movie. I always thought E.T. was a rescue movie about a double rescue. E.T. saves Elliott and Elliott saves E.T.

That desire to be rescued from turmoil resonated with parents who had just come through the tumultuous 1970s. And the movie shaped a generation of children. Kelsey Reed of God’s World News tells what the movie taught her.

Kelsey Reed: Watching E.T. as a little kid informed my compassion. I saw the distress of this little creature, and I was anxious to help alleviate it. It also defused my fear of the other, the alien, or the stranger in our midst, cultivating my curiosity, making me intrigued by the person I’d see across from me.

Spielberg wanted his alien to be childlike so it would seem innocent and in a way pure.

SPIELBERG: I don’t think aliens should be taller than people. You know, I like the idea that they’re like children and that was they were small. They were certainly small in Close Encounters and I in fact used little girls in costumes to play all the different E.T.s in Close Encounters. It’s easy for kids to relate to because it’s one of them.

Many Christians suggest part of the movie’s appeal lies in how closely it resembles the story of Jesus. Spielberg is Jewish, and he doesn’t seem to have been trying to create a Christian allegory, but elements of the greatest story ever told work their way into the narrative.

Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen this 40-year-old classic.

Elliott lives in brokenness. E.T. comes down from the heavens. E.T. works miracles of healing. E.T. dies. E.T. comes back to life. And then E.T. tells Elliott that he’ll always be with him before ascending back into the heavens. That sounds a lot like Jesus—though there are key differences.

E.T.: E.T. Home Phone.

Gertie: E.T. phone home.

Elliott: E.T. phone home. E.T. phone home!

Gertie: He wants to call somebody.

If you haven’t seen E.T. in a while and are thinking about watching it with your kids, keep in mind PG movies in the ’80s were rougher than they are now. There’s some drinking and smoking and a bit of bad language.

But now that this 40-year-old classic has made its way back to theaters it’s worth pondering how its message is just as fresh today as it was in 1982. It’s a heartwarming story about rescue. And we love stories about rescue, because deep down, we all know that we ourselves need rescuing.

E.T.: I’ll be right here.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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