Discussion 6

One of the famous movies of the history, or at least well remembered. The story of a boy (Elliot) interpreted by Henry Thomas that finds in the forest a strange creature. He is not an animal nor human. He is very afraid so Elliot bring it to home. Between the two will grow a supportive friendship that unite your mind and senses beyond the physical. But this will be fatal to Elliot when the little alien falls ill: he dies, far from home, and Elliot suffers with it. The only salvation for both would call for help to the stars. Unfortunately, there will be more problems. A violent group of researchers and members of state security have tracked the inhuman visitor and want to pin to force. Escape is now a matter of life and death. The film directed and produced in 1982 by Steven Spielberg; the most personal for him. “Spielberg, in short, is a suburban transcendentalist, the most successful Emersonian that America has yet spawned; the movie business could not have dreamed up a leader more naturally attuned to the instincts of its customers.”(Lane, 81). Written by Melissa Mathison, edited by Carol Littleton and the cinematography was made by Allen Daviau.

It has a great audience because of its plot. It is original and well done in all aspects. The lighting plays an important role. The whole atmosphere seems to be a mystery. It is not a coincidence that he choose the time around Halloween day. Spielberg create a high density, referring to shadows. It creates the sensation that something is hidden. It remarks the expressiveness of the characters. In one the scenes when Elliot is outside of the house waiting for ET. His eyes are highlighted with the light while the rest of his body is the shadows. It can be seen how he scare when ET appears. There is not a variety of color pallet choices. Cold colors are remarkable as well as darkness. Even inside of the house we can see opaque colors. It is hard to say when it is day or night. Every time that ET appears, he comes from the darkness and then part of his face or most of the time his brown hands are reveal by the light. Maybe that is why he wanted to emphasize ET’s finger when it light up or when his heart start shining a red color. It remains the audience in suspense. Showing it be should shown no what the viewer expects. As the case the faces of adults. Their faces are never shown, expect for Elliot’s mother.

Another aspect is the cast. It is not very big. The main character is Henry Thomas as Elliot. Elliot siblings are characterized by Robert MacNaughton as Michael, and Drew Barrymore as Gertie. Dee Wallace as Mary is their mother and Peter Coyote as "Keys", a government agent. However, the most important characters in the film were the kids and they were all very young. The character of Elliot stole the hearts of the audience. He had a realistic role, but sometimes he was funny. So, he did a good job for being a kid of just 10 years old and not having a lot of experience either. His expressions were sometime exaggerate but that give innocence as a kid. He just had participated in two other films before E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. Spielberg wanted to find someone would represent a regular “normal” boy and so he did. Along the movie Henry Thomas plays with his voice. When Elliot is dying, he use his voice to show that he is vulnerable as he couldn’t breathe. However, when ET is dying, he starts screaming an overreacting to show desperation.

Also, there are amazing sets created for this movie. For example, the spaceship has a different world inside of it. Plants that moves, smoke everywhere creating the

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