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"E.T. phone home!"
On this week's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Tracie revisits one of the classic movies of her Gen X childhood: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Director Steven Spielberg is at the top of his storytelling game with this sci fi film that introduces E.T., a gentle alien botanist who is accidentally stranded on Earth and taken in by 10-year-old Elliott, the middle child of divorced parents. Not only does Spielberg use every visual tool available to show his storytelling rather than drown the audience in exposition, but he also makes it clear that he truly understands the psychology of children.
The film doesn't condescend to children in its audience and it recognizes how kids see the world. And because Spielberg relies on visual storytelling rather than exposition, he ensured that baby Emily and Tracie, aged 3 and 6 when the film debuted, understood what was happening on screen. This movie deserves every bit of your nostalgia.
Beeee goooood, and listen to this episode!
Tags
deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, storytelling, classic movies, gen x childhood, film, movies, psychology, 80s and 90s movies, pop culture, movie reviews, women, sci fi, gen x nostalgia, nostalgia, film analysis, steven spielberg
This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls
We are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find.
We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com
We are on socials! Find us on Facebook at fb.com/dtasspodcast and on Insta at instagram.com/guygirlsmedia. You can also email us at guygirlsmedia at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you!
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
By showing us the government listening, juxtaposed
to these two brothersremembering different times, it
underscores the violation ofprivacy that the government is
engaged in, right?
Like the Spielberg doesn't showus them listening when they're
talking about E.T.
Mm-hmm.
He shows us the governmentlistening when they're
(00:21):
remembering their dad being inthe house.
Have you ever had something youlove dismissed because it's just
up culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come over think with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
(00:43):
I'm Tracy Guy Decker, and you'relistening to Deep Thoughts about
Stupid Shit, because pop cultureis still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
On today's episode, I will besharing my deep thoughts about
ET, the extraterrestrial, withmy sister, Emily Guy Birken, and
with you.
(01:04):
Before we dive in, listen, ifyou haven't yet, would you
please take a moment and gofollow the show on Apple
Podcasts or on Spotify?
On Apple, it's a plus sign, andon Spotify it's a button that
says follow.
It's free, but it will reallyhelp the show.
Thanks so much.
Okay, so now I'm gonna turn tomy sister.
(01:25):
I know you saw this because wesaw it together.
But tell me, what is in yourhead about E.T.?
So there's a couple of things.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Reese's pieces.
So I remember liking Reese'spieces as a very small child
because of ET.
And when I was a student teacherin 2006, one of the classes that
I taught was a film class.
And I wish I could recall thedetails, but there one of my the
(01:57):
projects that the kids weredoing was talking about what
were to them older films.
And I the kids were so charmedthat Ms.
Guy could remember likingReese's pieces because of E.T.
So I that's something Iassociate with it as well.
So I know I've seen the moviemultiple times.
I have not seen it probablysince I was in my earliest or
(02:20):
mid-ish teens.
So I remember very vividly theflying icicle, in part because
that's became the logo forAmblin, uh-huh.
Amblin Entertainment.
I remember E.T.
Phone Home.
I remember Elliot because thatall of that became famous.
But the reason why I know that Isaw it multiple times, and the
(02:40):
last time I was probably in myearlier mid-ish teens, is
because at some point, and Ithink it's before E.T.
is introduced, the children,like Elliot or Drew Barrymore,
who's his little sister.
And I can't remember if there'sa third child.
There's an older brother,Michael.
An older brother.
Okay.
(03:00):
So, and I imagine it's the olderbrother.
Someone calls someone else apenis breath.
SPEAKER_00 (03:04):
Elliot says that to Michael, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
Okay.
And I remember as a teen going,holy shit.
Because I had because it hadflown over my head, even if I
had known what the word penismeant, because I know I I know
no idea when I saw it the firsttime, because it's a 1983 movie.
Two.
1982.
So I suspect dad took us to seeit in the theater.
(03:29):
Because I remember being a verysmall child and being very
excited to see Reese's pieces inthe store as a tiny child
because of E.T.
So I suspect I saw it in thetheater.
I know I had no idea what apenis was at that point.
I am sure I saw it again andknew what that was because I can
(03:50):
remember details of the story.
I remember the government peoplecoming after E.T.
I can remember like the frogscoming back alive when they go
to dissect them.
SPEAKER_00 (04:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
I remember like little bits of that.
But that moment when I was ateenager going like, oh my
goodness.
That's funny.
So, but overall, it's I justhave a lot a lot of warm fuzzies
about it and a lot of I alsohave a sense that our dad really
loved it.
(04:23):
He loved well, he loved movies.
I felt like he really connectedwith Drew Barrymore as reminding
him of us.
Yeah.
Even though she was a littleblonde girl.
Yeah.
I think that Barrymore is Ithink she's my age.
Your age.
Although she might be in betweenus.
SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
It was 1982.
SPEAKER_01 (04:46):
She can't be your age.
Yeah, she would have I think shemust be a year or two older than
me.
Oh, she's one year older than Iam.
Okay.
Okay.
So, but I feel like DrewBarrymore reminded him of his
daughters.
Yeah.
And I because I also dad hadvery strong opinions about child
actors.
SPEAKER_02 (05:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
And Drew Barrymore was one of the children for whom
he felt protective.
SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Because of how horrible childhood was.
Yeah.
And so, and I feel like this isone of the movies that made him
feel like she was done wrong,even though I don't think this
movie Yeah, I don't think thismovie did, but her career after
the her career.
And it wasn't being in film, itwas her family.
Right.
unknown (05:32):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:32):
And she seems to have come out of it okay.
She's amazing.
Yeah.
Yes.
So, in any case, those are thethings that I associate with
this film.
But tell me, why are we talkingabout it today?
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
Well, it was on the list because it was one of those
films that was like pivotal toour like we saw it in the
theater, we saw it many timesafter.
Our dad loved it.
Our cousin Chris, our firstcousin Chris, who sometimes
comes up on the show, who's nolonger with us.
We all, the three of us allwatched it together.
I can remember being atgrandma's house and watching it
with Chris.
And like he loved Reese'sbecause of it, you know, and
(06:05):
talked about like the flyingbike and stuff.
And so, like you, I had fondmemories of it.
And so that's why it was on thelist.
I don't have a good reason forwhy now, except that it felt
like a departure from ourrecent, you know, we did some
more like action and adventureand like grown-up themes in
recent weeks.
And so this one felt like just alittle bit of a variety.
(06:28):
So that's the only reason now.
But there was a lot at stake forme because this was a really
important movie to us growingup, and it reminds me of dad and
it reminds me of Chris.
So that's why that's sort ofwhat's at stake.
And I'm pleased to say that E.T.
really holds up.
I won't say it's a perfect film,but it is close.
It's so good.
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
And that goes with my crush on Steven Spielberg as
director.
SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
Yeah.
So let me give you somepostcards from the destination,
and then I'll remind you whathappens in the film.
So I'm gonna talk a lot aboutstorytelling and Spielberg as
like a master storyteller and amaster filmmaker, like
specifically film to tell astory, because he uses all of
the tools in the toolkit.
Like the score is important, thelighting is important, the
(07:14):
actors are important, like it'sall works together.
Even the camera work, like it isit's masterfully done in terms
of storytelling.
I want to talk about two sort ofthe core lessons in this film,
which I think are aboutrelationship and connection and
the need for connection.
And we see that through thewriting and the storytelling I
(07:36):
just named, but there's also alot of like visual metaphor
using ET that gives us theselessons about connection that I
want to kind of unpack a littlebit.
I want to talk about the factthat Elliot's family is reeling
from a recent divorce.
And what does that say aboutlike the fact that E.T.
(08:01):
kind of ends up in thisquote-unquote broken home?
And I think the lessons areabout connection.
Like, I want to unpack that alittle bit about what Spielberg
and the script writer Mathesonwere kind of getting at by
placing this story in thissetting of this recently
divorced family.
I want to talk about what kidscan handle.
(08:24):
This film does not condescend toits youngest viewers.
And I think that's reallybeautiful.
We don't see that today in mediadesigned for kids.
And this was not, I don't thinkSpielberg was trying to make a
movie for children.
I think he was trying to make amovie for everyone that didn't
leave children out.
And I think he succeeded.
So I want to talk about some ofthat in terms of like what can
(08:46):
kids handle?
And we'll briefly talk aboutgender because that's one thing
that I that I would say is notperfect about this movie is
gender and representation.
And then lastly, I want to talkabout E.T.
as a Christ figure, which Idon't I'm gonna need to unpack
with you because like I'm ascholar of religion, or I was,
(09:08):
and unpack literature all thetime.
And so of course I can sort ofsee Christ figures, but like
also I'm Jewish, and so it's notthe first thing I think.
So I actually didn't, like, assoon as I read a commentator who
was like, E.T.
dies and comes back, obviouslyhe's a Christ figure, I was
like, oh, right.
Yes, yes, yes, I see it now.
So we'll unpack that together alittle bit.
(09:30):
And that's where we're going.
So let me give you the as briefas I can, and then I'll as I'm
explaining some of the otherthings, I may like give more
details later.
The short version is this alienship visits Earth, and they are
botanists.
(09:52):
They're collecting plants.
And they, the government, USgovernment, this is happening in
California, we learn later, butit's sort of like in the
California forest, they'recollecting plants, and like
pickup trucks and like suburbansstart to arrive, and there's
like flashlights and headlightsand things, and humans, these
(10:13):
human men are like descending onthe ship.
And so they all, all the alienslike race to get back in the
ship to escape the people whoare descending upon them.
And one gets left behind.
He just doesn't get to the shipin time.
And he ends up in the backyardof a suburban home, it's
suburban LA, and ends up kind ofconnecting with this middle
(10:35):
child, Elliot, of this family.
It's a mom and three kids.
So Michael, Elliot, and Gert areGertie.
And Elliot is 11, somewhere inthat range.
And Michael is like 15 or 16.
Gert is seven.
(10:56):
So, and we learn that dadrecently left and has a new
girlfriend.
Nobody believes Elliot.
We see them, he and E.T.
meet, and when they firstactually like are face to face,
like they both yell and run awayfrom one another.
And so he's seen it and no onebelieves him.
(11:19):
And he decides he's gonnaactually like he he wants to see
him again.
He wants to see E.T.
again, and he ends up actuallymanaging to he draws him in with
the Reese's pieces.
He draws him in, right?
And so he brings him into thehouse and he's keeping him a
secret from his siblings and hismom.
Eventually he brings both of hissiblings into his confidence.
(11:42):
Mom doesn't know he's there, andthen E.T.
and Elliot develop an empathicconnection where they feel each
other's feelings and sort ofsomehow have access to one
another's thoughts.
And Gert, the seven-year-old,actually ends up sort of almost
teaching him how to talk.
Or like she's there when hestarts to learn how to talk.
(12:02):
Doesn't she have like a teaparty with E.T.
or something?
Or sort of like she she puts awig and she dresses him up in
like goofy clothes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they're trying to figure outwhere he's from, and they show
him like a map, and then theyshow him a globe, and they say,
We're here, pointing toCalifornia on the globe.
Where are you from?
And he like points to the sky.
(12:23):
And he builds with stuff fromthe around the house, he builds
a communication device tocontact his people, ET phone
home.
And it works.
Meanwhile, the government hasbeen like, they know there's a
creature here, and they've beenlike listening in the whole
neighborhood, like with a truckand a microphone.
(12:45):
And they so they know thegovernment knows, and it all
culminates kind of on Halloween.
So they're like they're able toget E.T.
out because mom thinks it's GERTunderneath a ghost sheet.
And that's when the bicycleflying happens.
Elliot is taking him to theforest to set up the machine.
(13:06):
It works, but the government hasclosed in.
E.T.
is very sick, and thereforeElliot is very sick.
He's dying.
E.T.
is dying, and the governmentcomes in and they like tent the
whole house and set up this likemedical lab.
And they're trying to save E.T.
(13:26):
Like they have him hooked up andthey're like checking his blood
pressure and is like they givehim like medicine and stuff, but
he dies after he and Elliot havelike E.T.
disconnects their directconnection.
E.T.
dies.
We meet one of the governmentguys whose name in the credits
is only Keys, and I'll explainwhy when I do a little bit of
(13:47):
analysis of the storytelling,who turns out to like be as kind
as he can, because he's sort ofwho Elliot might turn into if
Elliot lost his idealism, right?
And gives Elliot some time withthe body.
And then E.T.
wakes up and he's super excitedbecause he wakes up because he
(14:11):
can sense his people are closer.
So with the help of his brotherand some other neighborhood
boys, Elliot gets E.T.
to the spot where the ship iscoming, and E.T.
is reunited with his people andescapes the planet Earth.
(14:31):
There's a lot that happens inbetween.
There's a tearful goodbye scene,but that's the sort of what
happens.
So let me get into thestorytelling because I that was
like my biggest takeaway,honestly.
Like I was just watching thisand just struck by how all the
(14:51):
things I knew about E.T.
and about this family with zeroexposition.
Like in creative writingclasses, it is a mantra that is
so hard to learn to actually do,to show, not tell.
And Spielberg is a master atthat in this film.
So he is a master just ingeneral.
(15:14):
Well, just yeah.
But I'm just looking at thisfilm.
But yes, like he really heardand like has integrated and
models show, don't tell.
So there's zero dialogue in thefirst maybe 10 minutes of this
movie.
We know that E.T.'s people arenot a threat to us because
they're botanists, right?
(15:34):
Like we see them like touchingplants and very like gingerly
taking plants with their roots.
And then we see inside theirship, and there are these like
crazy looking plants, like, youknow, it sort of looks like
Willy Wonka with like weirdmushrooms and weird things, but
like we see that they are not athreat.
And then even further, that theyare not a threat, there's like a
stick breaks.
It's like a rabbit.
(15:55):
And like the whole, there's abunch of them, maybe a dozen of
them, and they all stop suddenlyand their heart lights light up,
all at exactly the same time.
And so by that one moment, like10 seconds of film, I now know
that they're all connectedbecause their hearts all lit up
at the same time.
I know that they're more used tobeing sort of prey than predator
(16:17):
because it was a startleresponse to that sound.
And just from that 10 seconds offilm, right?
I'm watching this, I'm going,wow, wow, you know, and that
show don't tell goes on likeover and over and over again.
So I mentioned that Elliot andE.T.
have this empathic connection.
(16:39):
I wasn't told that.
Spielberg showed me that.
There's a the scene that youremember with the frogs where
Elliot's at school and E.T.
is at home alone in the house.
E.T.
discovers beer and he drinks abeer and gets drunk.
And Elliot gets drunk while he'sin school.
(17:00):
And E.T.
is like watching something orsees something.
He's like agitated, and Elliotgoes, I have to free him.
I have to free him.
And the frogs don't come aliveagain.
They were already alive.
They were going to be dissectedwhile alive.
Yeah, it's really gross.
So we see the teacher come upthe aisle of the like science
(17:23):
tables, dropping.
He explains to us, these arechloroform cotton balls, and
he's dropping them.
Each of the frogs is in like ajar, and he drops a cotton ball
in each, and the kids aresupposed to put the lid on, and
it will like the frogs won'tfeel anything, and the scalpels
are very sharp.
Hearing all of that, Elliotreleases all the he opens all
the jars.
So there are frogs everywhere.
(17:44):
It's pandemonium.
Meanwhile, eats he's watchingtelevision, and the John Wayne
movie The Quiet Man is on, andthere's this famous scene where
the leading lady like sort ofwalks out the door and he pulls
her back and like kisses her.
Dancing or something.
Oh, okay, yeah.
It's not dancing.
It's like she's like walkingaway from him in the Quiet Man,
(18:05):
and he kind of grabs her wristand pulls her back and like
dramatically kisses her.
Okay.
Into like it's like a spin intohim, right?
Sort of.
He pulls her back and she sortof spins away and then yes.
Okay, okay.
And so we watch Elliot make asimilar sort of move, but he's
shorter than his crush.
So like he makes another kid liedown and he stands on the guy's
(18:29):
back so that he can do the sameJohn Wayne move.
And to Spielberg's credit, thisis interesting.
He has shown us that this girlis interested in Elliot.
Earlier, they were all at thebus stop and she was like, Hi,
Elliot.
Hi, Elliot.
Like she like, she's interested.
We see her like furtivelylooking at him.
So the kiss, it takes away someof like the lack of consent
(18:53):
problem.
And then we see her as Elliotthen like runs away.
We just see her feet, but likeone foot kind of like turns a
little bit, like oh my goodness.
After people micro, which likevisually shows us that she
actually sort of enjoyed whatshe enjoyed what happened, not
sort of she did.
Yeah.
So anyway, that's how like weknow they feel what it the other
(19:15):
one feels, they think what theother one thinks because we were
shown.
Like we're never told later.
The grown-ups say their brainwaves are synced, like when the
government has taken over.
But we already knew that.
Like, as viewers, we alreadyknew that.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
So that means like me as a tiny child watching, I
would not have understood theirbrainwaves were synced.
Exactly.
But I understood what I waswatching.
SPEAKER_00 (19:40):
Right, right.
The other, so the show don'ttell.
He's the master of that.
Part of that in a movie, too,like he uses all of the tools.
The score is incredible.
I think it's I think it's JohnWilliams.
It won an Academy Award.
Like this movie was nominatedfor a million Academy Awards.
(20:00):
I think it won four.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
And score was one of them.
And so that's also part of howwe know in the beginning, we
know that the ET peoples are nota threat to us, is from the
score.
The government people, like thehumans, get sort of the scary
music.
But the aliens in the forest,it's not scary music.
(20:23):
He also uses lighting, right?
The first, I don't know, half ofthe movie is very dark.
Like things are in shadow.
The forest is very dark, andthen the sort of the flashlights
like become sort of thesevectors through the dark that
are threatening.
But even the home, even thetailor's home, is sort of in
(20:46):
shadow, which I think also helpsto like flavor the fact that
it's a broken home, which againwe learn through show don't tell
when Elliot is feeling put outthat no one believes him.
He says, Dad would believe me.
And mom says, Well, you know,you could call him and tell him.
And Elliot says, I can't.
(21:07):
He's in Mexico with Sally, whichmom hadn't known.
So she sort of excuses herselffrom the table and she's like at
the sink.
We just see her back.
She turns around and there'stears on her face, and she says,
He hates Mexico.
So the recency of it, like whathappens, like show don't tell.
(21:29):
Like, oh my God, that is sogood.
I know, I know.
And meanwhile, Michael, theolder brother, who had been like
needling and like just a jerk ofan older brother, like to the
point that Elliot called him apenis breath.
When Elliot says that and momgets up from the table, he goes,
You're so stupid.
Why did you do that?
Michael's like protective ofmom.
(21:51):
Yeah.
All of these layers of therelationships between these
families.
And later, after Michael is inElliot's confidence and they
want to have Help E.T.
build the machine that hebuilds.
They're in the garage lookingfor stuff, like for raw
materials for this machine.
And they're sitting and they'retalking and they find dad's
(22:12):
shirt that dad forgot.
And Elliot like sort of smellsit.
And so Michael wants to smellit.
And he says, old spice.
And then they like remember atime dad took him, took them, I
don't remember, fishing orsomething.
And like, so they sit andreminisce.
So they're like rememberingbefore the separation.
Meanwhile, the government isoutside the house with this like
(22:33):
long-range microphone listening.
And so there's this interestingjuxtaposition of like by showing
us the government listening,juxtaposed to these two brothers
remembering different times, itunderscores the violation of
privacy that the government isengaged in, right?
Like the Spielberg doesn't showus them listening when they're
(22:56):
talking about ET.
He shows us the governmentlistening when they're
remembering their dad being inthe house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As a, I think a very clear, thisis a violation.
And later we have, like afterthe government has taken over
and like tented the whole houseand like pushing folks out of
the way, mom says, This is myhome.
(23:19):
Right.
But we already felt that.
Yeah, we already know thatthey're again like once it's
said, it's just a validation ofwhat we've already been shown.
And the lighting, again, the thelighting kind of starts to
change as the relationship withE.T.
(23:40):
develops, right?
So the darkness becomes brighterwith his introduction into the
sort of family.
So I just was in awe of thestorytelling, which on the one
hand, if I'm sort of thinkingabout it, maybe it's not as
good.
Like I think there are those, Ithink there are those who would
say it was manipulative becauseI was sort of seeing it.
(24:02):
I didn't experience it that way.
I just experienced it as wow.
I yeah, wow.
That's the way I experienced it.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
So I think I've talked about this before,
possibly on the podcast, but theway I think of it is when you
know what you are an expert in,you know what to look for.
Yeah.
And the the where I the metaphorthat I came up with this was
from our uncle, whose family wasin the garment industry.
Right.
(24:32):
And he took me once to one ofthose very discounts, like Ross
or Marshall's or something.
Yeah, no, even more than that.
And I was in college, he waslike, pick out what you're
interested in.
And then once I had like severalthings, he's like, no, no, no,
no.
Because he was looking at theseams.
And then the one sweatshirt, Ithink it was a hoodie, he's
(24:54):
like, this one.
You can buy this one.
It's like uh discount factory,like one of those coat
Burlington Coat Factory.
That's where it was.
It was Burlington Coat Factory,and impressed the hell out of
me.
And ever since then, that's mymetaphor for like with
storytelling, you and I, we knowwhere to look for the seams.
(25:16):
Right, right.
And these seams are flawless.
Yes.
They really are.
They are perfect.
And just because we know to lookfor them, we know where the
seams are, doesn't make theseseams any less flawless.
Right.
It just means that we know whereto look for them.
(25:37):
Right.
Whereas someone who doesn'tspend time thinking about
storytelling just doesn't justknow, like, damn, that felt
good.
SPEAKER_00 (25:44):
Yeah, how it makes them feel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the last thing I want tomention, maybe I think the last,
on this sort of masterstoryteller, master filmmaker
thing is actually the camerawork and the point of view.
So we do not see an adult's facebesides mom for the first
two-thirds of the movie.
Really?
(26:04):
Everything is shot from sort ofkids' eye level or E.T.'s eye
level.
And so I do remember, like, wesee through yes, on Halloween,
we see through the eye holes.
But before that, that's near theend of the movie.
Before that, like the scene withthe science teacher, you only
see him from sort of just belowthe sternum down as he walks up
(26:25):
the aisle.
And the government folks, like,we never see their faces.
And in fact, that piece,Spielberg does this in a lot of
his films, but he did it in thisfilm too.
We there is a focus on the man'skeys hanging from a belt loop,
like on a carabiner orsomething, like a little clip.
(26:47):
From the very beginning, fromthat first scene when the
suburbans arrive and they're theE.T.
people get nervous and fly away.
There's this one dude, we seehis keys repeatedly.
And then there's a couple ofmoments throughout the movie
where, like, with thesurveillance or other things
where we see the keys.
So we know this dude.
He's the one who I said would beElliot if he lost his idealism.
(27:12):
Like he says to Elliot, whenElliot's like dying because E.T.
is dying, he's a miracle.
It's a miracle that he's here.
And I'm so glad he met youfirst.
And I want to do what I can tokeep him alive.
Like, how do we do?
Like, what can we do?
And he still, like grown-upsoften do, unintentionally, is
like causing the problem, right?
(27:33):
Like he's not listening.
Like Elliot's like, leave himalone.
You're killing him.
And they keep, you know, theykeep going.
So we keys, that's all he'scalled in the credits.
We don't know his actual name.
His is the first grown-up thatwe see, face that we see besides
the others, when he sort ofpulls off the like they're
wearing when they show up at thehouse to like tent it, they're
(27:56):
wearing like spacesuits, likeastronauts with the like mirror
dome.
Um but the the other, then theyshow up in like sort of hazmats,
and Keys is wearing like sort ofa hazmat, and he we can see his
face through it, and then hedoes end up pulling it off.
And then the other doctors andstuff do, too.
But the first two-thirds of themovie, we see no adult's face
(28:16):
except for mom.
And that too, I think, like Inoticed it.
I think it was me recognizing aseam, the way that you just
described.
But sort of the effect is like,I think for kids, is that like a
truthiness, like a veracity,because the camera work was done
(28:38):
at kids' eye level or low to theground at ET's eye level.
We see several points like POVwhere he's like moving through
the tall grass and stuff, whichis again show don't tell.
So that's the last I'll say, Ithink, about the storytelling
piece of it and like using allof the different tools of
(28:59):
cinema.
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
So, you know, I just want to say that also shows that
Spielberg, you're gonna get toit, but it's about about what
kids can handle.
But that also shows thatSpielberg understands kids.
Like he listens to kids.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Because he he's showing the movie from their
perspective and understands thatfor kids, like kind of the only
real adult in their life istheir mom.
SPEAKER_00 (29:29):
Yeah.
I mean, I think dad is too, buthe's he is absent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:32):
He's absent.
And teacher who's not gonna makethem dissect a live frog might
be real.
But the teacher who's makingthem dissect a live frog, you
don't see his face.
SPEAKER_00 (29:42):
Yeah.
So now I want to talk about thecore kind of moral of the story,
what I think is the moral of thestory, which is the which is
lessons about connection, whichwe get in multiple ways, right?
And in multiple ways and in waysthat are in some ways
subversive, I think, or maybethat's the wrong word, but like
(30:05):
Elliot is the middle child, andhe becomes the star.
And I think that that'ssignificant, not just the star,
but like the hero, the core, thecenter.
And that's middle and center arenot the same, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And I don't think I'm speakingout of turn.
Middle kids, if you're listeningand you think I'm wrong, like
(30:27):
please, please raise your handand tell me.
But I don't think I'm talkingout of turn to sort of say that
like middle kids almost neverfeel like the center, right?
Because just the nature of likethe one who came before and sort
of broke the parents down, andthe one who came after and now
has like all of the parents'attention as the baby.
And the middle kids often getforgotten.
(30:49):
And Elliot is hungry forsomething.
Like he's missing dad.
He has a big sign on his roomthat says enter, right?
Like, I don't think that's amistake.
That's not a coincidence.
Like he's hungry.
The very first scene that wesee, not the E.T., like in the
Taylor family home.
Michael, the older brother, islike in a DD session with a
(31:11):
bunch of his friends, and Elliotwants to participate, but he's
like the annoying youngerbrother that they kind of don't
want to let participate.
You know, so he's hungry forsomething.
And then E.T.
kind of fills that space.
And the lessons aboutconnection, like, so Elliot says
to E.T., because E.T.'s likestill kind of scared when he
(31:32):
first gets there, they finallykind of meet in the room, and
everything's like, they realizethey don't mean harm to each
other.
And Elliot almost immediatelylike sits down and falls asleep,
as does E.T., right?
Like there's this like reliefonce they're together.
And then the literal connectionthat we see between their
(31:54):
thoughts and feelings, and theway that protecting him and
helping him brings the familytogether, including mom by the
end.
And then there's the heart lightvisual metaphor of E.T., which
(32:15):
we see in the very beginningwith the other E.T.s.
And then after he has died, theway he comes back to life is it
glows, and he wakes up and he'sgoing, E.T.
phone home, E.T.
phone home.
Like he's really excited.
When they are in proximity, likethat's what he needed.
That's why he was dying, wasbecause he was away from his
(32:38):
family or people or what Idon't, you know, he was away
from his community.
That's actually what was killingE.T.
It wasn't like a virus, itwasn't a heart attack, it was
disconnection.
They were too far away.
And then what brings him back isthem in proximity.
And we know that they have thatempathic connection because we
(32:59):
were shown in the very beginningwhen all of their hearts lit up
at the same time, when they werefrightened, when it was time to
come back to the ship, and E.T.
was our E.T.
was like running trying to getthere.
And I started to say, E.T.
is a little nervous, or Elliotthinks he's nervous, and he
says, I'll be right here.
I'll be right here.
Elliot says that to E.T.
(33:20):
several times.
When E.T.
is about to walk up thegangplank onto his ship, and
Elliot is crying and says, I'llnever forget you, and is like
this tearful goodbye.
E.T.
points to Elliot's head andsays, I'll be right here.
And so the lessons aboutconnection, even like the
smelling of dad's shirt, thereare all these layers about
(33:43):
relationship and connection andthe connection that lasts even
in absence.
He doesn't shy away from thegrief of the absence or the
literal pain.
Like E.T.
dies as a result of absence.
And so he doesn't shy away fromthat.
And yet, for me at least as aviewer, I was left with
(34:06):
something really hopeful.
Hopefully, and like I have awistfulness almost for the
vision of connection andrelationship that this movie
wants to give us.
I mean, even Keys, who like inthe beginning, we think he's a
villain, right?
But by the end, he actually endsup at the site because mom and
(34:30):
Gertie are leaving.
Gertie knows that the where theboys went.
She was supposed to, he says,Did the boys leave yet?
And mom says, The boys leave?
What?
And Gertie says, I was supposedto give you this note after they
leave.
And mom says, Give it to me now,Gert.
SPEAKER_01 (34:46):
So they're in the call.
See why dad that reminded Dad ofus.
SPEAKER_00 (34:51):
Drew Barrymore was a natural at seven years old.
Like she's amazing.
Anyway.
Um and so adorable.
Yeah.
So mom and Gertie are in thecar, like driving away from the
tented house.
And Keys says, Where are yougoing?
And mom's gonna head, but Gertiegoes, We're going to see the
(35:12):
spaceship.
So Keys goes with them orfollows them in his own car.
I don't remember.
But so he's there at the site.
And but he doesn't try tointervene.
He doesn't try to stop.
He just wants to witness it.
And in fact, when sort of mom ismoved by this, what's happening
(35:33):
between her son and E.T., andKeys kind of gently puts his
hand on her shoulder.
So there are all these likesubtle and not so subtle
reminders of the web ofconnection that's there if we
allow it.
So that was something that likeI found, yeah, just really
beautiful about this movie.
(35:55):
And it is conveyed in so manyways.
Again, just like this, like whatI spent all that time talking
about the storytelling.
Like it's conveyed through thewriting.
Like it is a well-writtenscreenplay, like with the I'll
be right, I'll be right there,right here.
It's conveyed through theacting.
Like Henry Thomas, who playsElliot, had no right to be as
good an actor as he was at 11years old or whatever.
(36:16):
Like, I mean, incredible.
Like this movie would not workif I didn't believe the emotion
from Elliot.
And it works.
He just nailed it.
So the writing, the acting, theactual, like the way it's
filmed, the visual metaphor ofthe heart lighting up.
(36:36):
It just chef's kiss.
And it gave me this lesson aboutconnection and relationship that
I just really I guess I reallyneeded it right now.
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
In in our current time frame where we don't yeah.
It doesn't we feel like we don'thave connections.
And especially with someone whostarts off as a villain.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
Yeah.
I think that leads into my sortof questioning about the
placement of this story in thisso-called broken home.
Right.
Where with the darkness in theirhome in the beginning, you know,
and the and the sort of Elliotwanting to be a part of with the
big kids and all of the kind offriction that's happening in
(37:24):
this home that has recentlyexperienced this upheaval of the
separation.
And I think maybe that's part ofwhy the lesson about connection
works here and feels soresonant.
It's not a mistake.
It's not a coincidence that thisstory was told with this family
(37:48):
at the center being one who hadrecently experienced rupture.
And not rupture of a death, butof this rejection and sort of
breaking of connection.
SPEAKER_01 (38:01):
Well, and that gets to, we've talked before about
how in the 80s there was a lotof kind of just societal
mishigas, societal anxiety aboutdivorce.
So I think you're right thatthis story about connection,
it's not a coincidence that E.T.
comes to this child of a familyof recent rupture from divorce.
(38:26):
But I also think that it's not acoincidence that this story came
about during the decade whenthere was so much societal
hand-wringing about what are wegoing to do about these kids?
What are we going to do aboutthese latchkey kids?
What are we going to do aboutthese kids, these children of
divorce, that overweening,overwhelming concern that people
(38:46):
had because divorce, you know,no-fault divorce had become
common across the nation.
And so divorce had become muchmore common.
And so there were many, manymore children of divorce.
And so this story that is aboutconnection and relationship,
about building connections, evenwith people who are absent, not
(39:09):
through death, but throughseparation.
And that I will be right there.
Someone who loves you, who isconnected to you through this
heart light, but can't be therebecause they need to be with
their other people, is a moviethat was a phenomenon at the
(39:31):
early part of the 80s.
I don't think that's acoincidence.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:39):
So let's talk about what kids can handle.
This movie does not condescendto its viewers, right?
There's not sort of the likethere's no watering down, I
don't think.
And I say that I think I'll getinto this more maybe in the shit
we forgot to say that will befor patrons only, but I'll just
(40:00):
mention that there was a 20thanniversary release special
edition of this movie wherethings were changed.
And one of the things that waschanged was there's a chase
scene when the neighborhood boysare all on bikes with Michael
and Elliot also on bikes withE.T.
in a milk crate on the front ofElliot's bike, and all of the
(40:23):
bikes fly at that point.
And the government agents arechasing them in like cop cars
and stuff.
And they sort of set up ablockade to stop them.
And the government agents arecarrying shotguns.
And in the special edition, oneof the things that was changed
was that instead of holdingguns, they're holding
(40:44):
walkie-talkies.
And so that would have been in02, because it was it was 20
years.
And Spielberg apparentlyimmediately regretted this
special edition.
And like it's very hard to findnow.
When he released it on DVD, botheditions were there.
And now, like I streamed this towatch it on like Amazon Prime or
(41:04):
whatever.
I didn't even know that thespecial edition was an option.
Like it's not easy to find thechanges because Spielberg
immediately recognized that thiswas a mistake, unlike his friend
George Lucas.
Don't get me started.
Yeah.
But I think part of likeblunting that, like, there was
(41:25):
real danger to these kids.
And also like real judgment fromthe viewers of these government
agents who would brandish a gunagainst kids on bikes.
That I think by by removing thatdanger sort of takes away some
of the power.
It takes away some of the Chef'sKiss storytelling.
(41:47):
And part of, I think, the thingthat like Spielberg trusting
kids, it's kind of like I'mgonna hearken back to our
episode about Mr.
Rogers' neighborhood, right?
Like Mr.
Rogers said everything that'smentionable is manageable and
everything is mentionable.
And I think Spielberg actuallyis modeling that in this film.
(42:09):
He talks about divorce.
He talks about or he shows uslike what happens in this
so-called broken home.
I hate that phrase, but thispost-divorce home.
He shows us sibling friction andrivalry and also sibling love.
He shows us like kids face realdanger in this world.
(42:31):
They do.
And pretending they don'tdoesn't take the danger away.
SPEAKER_01 (42:37):
Even the thing, the penis breath.
There's something I rememberreading that Stephen King said
where about writing children, hehates it when people refuse to
have children say bad wordsbecause children curse.
Right.
And so, like, as like as I was,it was because it was more
(42:59):
because I didn't know what wasbeing said, not because it was
said.
Because that is what an11-year-old boy would say to his
15-year-old brother.
SPEAKER_00 (43:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (43:08):
In 1982.
SPEAKER_00 (43:10):
And in the moment, mom sort of shock laughs and is
like, elegant, but she's likelaughing because which is also
really real.
So I think that when you add tothat, the fact that we had the
kids' point of view in thecamera, the use of the camera,
there is a trusting of childrenthat I think is really powerful
(43:36):
and often missing from mediatoday.
So I I wanted to really likejust name that out loud because
that was also something that I Ididn't appreciate fully as I was
rewatching it.
It was like as I was readingother commentators and reading
about what got changed in thisspecial edition that I was like,
oh yeah, yeah, that walkietalkies like takes away.
(44:00):
Away some of the power becauseand and it also is like lying in
a certain sense.
Like, I think one of the thingsthat I think Spielberg really
wanted from this movie was thatit be believable that it could
actually happen in 1982California.
And unfortunately, the guns werereal.
(44:21):
Like that is the way thegovernment would.
I mean, if anything, thegovernment is less violent than
it would actually have been in1982 California.
So that was just that wassomething that like felt
important to me to name in termsof what Spielberg got right.
Briefly, I will talk aboutgender and I'll save ETS Christ
(44:43):
for the last thing in thisepisode.
So the one big quibble I wouldhave with this movie is
representation and gender.
We have it does not pass, itdoes pass backdell.
Does it pass backdel?
Well, do Gertie and the mom talkabout Gurdy and mom reads from
Peter Pan to Gertie.
So I think that probably counts.
And we know mom's name is Mary.
(45:04):
That's actually another piece oflike the beautiful storytelling
in terms of the connection,because they read the bit where
you have to clap and reallybelieve in Tinkerbell to save
her.
And so there is this sort ofundercurrent idea that like
Elliot's belief and even Keyes'belief in E.T.
is part of what saves him.
And I mean everyone, but yeah,you know, like by having that
(45:26):
moment from the Barry where it'sthe other people's belief in
Tinkerbell that saves her, andthe clapping that like is kind
of like planted seed.
But so it passes Backdell, butit's just the two of them.
Like there are no other, well,there's the crush whose name we
(45:48):
don't know.
And there are other like femalestudents that were women, um,
well, girls in Elliot's class.
But that's it.
And even like when we meet E.T.
when Elliot introduces E.T.
to his siblings, they're like,is it a boy or a girl?
And Elliot's like, it's a boy.
And like, how does he, you know,he I mean, he has a connection,
(46:12):
but like, do the E.T.
really like, do they even havegender?
SPEAKER_01 (46:16):
They have gender, yeah.
You know, is it an enemy mindsituation?
SPEAKER_00 (46:19):
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
And so if it were made today,which it wouldn't be because but
if it were made today, I like Iwould hope there would be sort
of more representation of womenand girls than we have in the
existing movie.
That's my only quibble, though.
Like it's really and it's not,it's women aren't represented
(46:42):
poorly.
Like, I think Mary's of for whatlittle bit that we get of her as
mom, because moms are not fullyformed human beings for their
own children.
Yes.
Yeah.
I think she is as fully formedas she can or should be.
You know, and GERT is absolutelydelightful, Drew Barrymore's
GERT.
So, but that is like one smallquibble.
(47:04):
I'm running out of time.
So, but I do want to mention,like, I didn't see it, but I
read another commentator who waslike, Yeah, E.T.
dies and comes back to life.
Obviously it's Christ.
I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, that'sa thing that Christ does.
So, and the fact that I likenamed the relationship and the
need for connection andrelationship in this family,
like there, I don't think that'sa an overblown or overthinking
(47:26):
interpretation of E.T.
Yeah.
And I don't know what to do withit.
Like Spielberg says, if youknow, it's unintentional because
he like he goes on in his careerfrom this moment to like be very
Jewish in what he to really likeexpress his Jewishness through
some of his filmmaking.
And to be fair, he didn't writeit.
(47:47):
Right.
That's true.
That's true.
But E.T.
performs miracles.
And he's actually refers to himas a miracle.
And then he dies and isresurrected, and sort of his
presence heals this family tosome extent.
I don't think it's anoverthinking interpretation.
(48:09):
No.
I don't know what to do with itbeyond that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:12):
Well, and the the idea that his illness is
separation from his progenitor.
So like his illness isseparation from God, which is
what hell is according to someChristians.
Some Christians.
I mean, some Jews too, actually.
Some Jews, yeah.
Yeah, that's kind of a toughone.
(48:32):
But E.T.
is one of many.
He's not right.
But Christ is one of three, ifif you go by go by Catholicism.
Yeah.
So I yeah, that's interesting.
I would not have a quibble withanyone who sees this as a Christ
metaphor.
But the connection to Elliot,though, would that be, I don't
(48:55):
know, like John the Baptist,like one of his disciples?
SPEAKER_00 (48:57):
Oh no, I don't think it's that literal.
I would think it would be, Imean, I would think it would be
more like an individualbeliever's access to.
I see.
That's more the way I wouldinterpret it.
Gotcha.
Probably.
But you know, I think it's asecular tale that like leans on
some religious themes.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and I I don't knowthat it that I need to go any
(49:18):
deeper than that, but I I just Iwanted to name it because for
those for whom that's a thing,like it's very obvious, you
know.
SPEAKER_01 (49:27):
Yeah, yeah.
So it's also important toremember, JC was one of ours.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (49:32):
Well, he was a rabbi.
Right, right.
I mean, there's also he's abotanist, and there's this
flower that is dying.
I think it's even a sunflower,maybe.
Or no, I think it's like acarnation.
It potted plant that is likewilted that he brings back to
life.
And as he's dying, it starts towilt.
And so part of the way that likeMichael realizes that he's
(49:54):
better is that the flower getsbetter again.
So that the flower becomes alsosort of a symbol for E.T.
There's I bring that up whentalking about the Christ thing
because for the visualmetaphors, there's a sense that
when E.T.
dies, the miracles he performedalso sort of fade, which I don't
(50:14):
think aligns with a Christfigure.
Although the cut finger that hehealed, ouch.
That's that doesn't reopen.
So anyway, I guess what I willsay is that, like so many sort
of tropes or themes, that thisis a that there is a Christ
figure in here, maybe no morethan like that has become a
(50:37):
satisfying theme to Westernconsumers of media.
So I'm running out of time.
So let me see if I can reflectback the things that we talked
about.
And then in our shit we forgotto say, which is a patron only
exclusive.
Listeners head on over to ourPatreon to check it out.
We will go into a little moredepth about a few more things
(50:59):
about ET.
So I spent quite a bit of timetalking about the well-crafted
storytelling, specifically inthe medium of film.
The writing is beautiful, likeit's just neat and like
comprehensive with all of thelittle details, like the fact
that mom is reading from PeterPan, like those little moments
(51:22):
that then all like layertogether for this one story.
I talked about using the toolsof cinema to tell the story, the
lighting, the score, which isincredible, the acting, the
writing, like all of it workstogether.
I talked about the core sort ofthe moral of the story, about
relationship, about connection,which again we get through all
(51:46):
of those different tools offilmmaking.
And what I found deeply hopefulabout this film is the lessons
about connection, even throughabsence, about the I'll be right
here in Elliot's head, even whenE.T.
is absent, which was underscoredthrough, you know, this story
(52:08):
about this home with our recentseparation that right now in
particular, all these yearslater, feels so important for us
to remember the power of likeour heart lights lighting up
simultaneous with otherpeople's, even if we're sort of
not directly in connection.
I talked about the broken home,the so-called broken home, as
(52:32):
this divorced family, as likeripe for this particular
intervention.
They needed E.T.
That was not a coincidence.
It added to the power of thestorytelling.
The fact that Elliot was themiddle kid in this home of
recent divorce.
He needed E.T., he was hungryfor connection.
He was feeling likedisconnected.
(52:54):
I talked about as one of thetools of storytelling is like
the camera work and the point ofview, the fact that we don't see
an adult's face besides mom forthe first two-thirds of the
movie.
And that's part and parcel withSpielberg taking kids seriously
and listening to kids and nottalking down to them.
And like knowing that toparaphrase Mr.
(53:16):
Rogers, what is mentionable ismanageable, and like trusting
kids to handle truth, whichlater he was sort of maybe
pressured to pull back on andimmediately regretted,
apparently.
I talked briefly about gender.
I wish there were more women andmore fully formed women and
girls in this film.
(53:36):
That is my one sort of actualquibble about this film.
And then I spent some timetalking about E.T.
as a Christ figure and sort ofdying and then being
resurrected.
Oh, I'm totally out of time.
And then you pointed out, I lovethe metaphor of like recognizing
the seams.
So thank you for that.
Finally, what are you bringingme next week?
SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
I'm bringing my deep thoughts on He-Man.
Oh my god, I have the power! Thepower of Grace Gull.
SPEAKER_00 (54:04):
I cannot wait.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
(54:24):
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompotech.com.
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
Until next time, remember popculture is still culture.
(54:47):
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
By showing us the government listening, juxtaposed
to these two brothersremembering different times, it
underscores the violation ofprivacy that the government is
engaged in, right?
Like the Spielberg doesn't showus them listening when they're
talking about E.T.
Mm-hmm.
He shows us the governmentlistening when they're
(00:21):
remembering their dad being inthe house.
Have you ever had something youlove dismissed because it's just
up culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come over think with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
(00:43):
I'm Tracy Guy Decker, and you'relistening to Deep Thoughts about
Stupid Shit, because pop cultureis still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
On today's episode, I will besharing my deep thoughts about
ET, the extraterrestrial, withmy sister, Emily Guy Birken, and
with you.
(01:04):
Before we dive in, listen, ifyou haven't yet, would you
please take a moment and gofollow the show on Apple
Podcasts or on Spotify?
On Apple, it's a plus sign, andon Spotify it's a button that
says follow.
It's free, but it will reallyhelp the show.
Thanks so much.
Okay, so now I'm gonna turn tomy sister.
(01:25):
I know you saw this because wesaw it together.
But tell me, what is in yourhead about E.T.?
So there's a couple of things.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Reese's pieces.
So I remember liking Reese'spieces as a very small child
because of ET.
And when I was a student teacherin 2006, one of the classes that
I taught was a film class.
And I wish I could recall thedetails, but there one of my the
(01:57):
projects that the kids weredoing was talking about what
were to them older films.
And I the kids were so charmedthat Ms.
Guy could remember likingReese's pieces because of E.T.
So I that's something Iassociate with it as well.
So I know I've seen the moviemultiple times.
I have not seen it probablysince I was in my earliest or
(02:20):
mid-ish teens.
So I remember very vividly theflying icicle, in part because
that's became the logo forAmblin, uh-huh.
Amblin Entertainment.
I remember E.T.
Phone Home.
I remember Elliot because thatall of that became famous.
But the reason why I know that Isaw it multiple times, and the
(02:40):
last time I was probably in myearlier mid-ish teens, is
because at some point, and Ithink it's before E.T.
is introduced, the children,like Elliot or Drew Barrymore,
who's his little sister.
And I can't remember if there'sa third child.
There's an older brother,Michael.
An older brother.
Okay.
(03:00):
So, and I imagine it's the olderbrother.
Someone calls someone else apenis breath.
SPEAKER_00 (03:04):
Elliot says that to Michael, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
Okay.
And I remember as a teen going,holy shit.
Because I had because it hadflown over my head, even if I
had known what the word penismeant, because I know I I know
no idea when I saw it the firsttime, because it's a 1983 movie.
Two.
1982.
So I suspect dad took us to seeit in the theater.
(03:29):
Because I remember being a verysmall child and being very
excited to see Reese's pieces inthe store as a tiny child
because of E.T.
So I suspect I saw it in thetheater.
I know I had no idea what apenis was at that point.
I am sure I saw it again andknew what that was because I can
(03:50):
remember details of the story.
I remember the government peoplecoming after E.T.
I can remember like the frogscoming back alive when they go
to dissect them.
SPEAKER_00 (04:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
I remember like little bits of that.
But that moment when I was ateenager going like, oh my
goodness.
That's funny.
So, but overall, it's I justhave a lot a lot of warm fuzzies
about it and a lot of I alsohave a sense that our dad really
loved it.
(04:23):
He loved well, he loved movies.
I felt like he really connectedwith Drew Barrymore as reminding
him of us.
Yeah.
Even though she was a littleblonde girl.
Yeah.
I think that Barrymore is Ithink she's my age.
Your age.
Although she might be in betweenus.
SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
It was 1982.
SPEAKER_01 (04:46):
She can't be your age.
Yeah, she would have I think shemust be a year or two older than
me.
Oh, she's one year older than Iam.
Okay.
Okay.
So, but I feel like DrewBarrymore reminded him of his
daughters.
Yeah.
And I because I also dad hadvery strong opinions about child
actors.
SPEAKER_02 (05:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
And Drew Barrymore was one of the children for whom
he felt protective.
SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Because of how horrible childhood was.
Yeah.
And so, and I feel like this isone of the movies that made him
feel like she was done wrong,even though I don't think this
movie Yeah, I don't think thismovie did, but her career after
the her career.
And it wasn't being in film, itwas her family.
Right.
unknown (05:32):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:32):
And she seems to have come out of it okay.
She's amazing.
Yeah.
Yes.
So, in any case, those are thethings that I associate with
this film.
But tell me, why are we talkingabout it today?
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
Well, it was on the list because it was one of those
films that was like pivotal toour like we saw it in the
theater, we saw it many timesafter.
Our dad loved it.
Our cousin Chris, our firstcousin Chris, who sometimes
comes up on the show, who's nolonger with us.
We all, the three of us allwatched it together.
I can remember being atgrandma's house and watching it
with Chris.
And like he loved Reese'sbecause of it, you know, and
(06:05):
talked about like the flyingbike and stuff.
And so, like you, I had fondmemories of it.
And so that's why it was on thelist.
I don't have a good reason forwhy now, except that it felt
like a departure from ourrecent, you know, we did some
more like action and adventureand like grown-up themes in
recent weeks.
And so this one felt like just alittle bit of a variety.
(06:28):
So that's the only reason now.
But there was a lot at stake forme because this was a really
important movie to us growingup, and it reminds me of dad and
it reminds me of Chris.
So that's why that's sort ofwhat's at stake.
And I'm pleased to say that E.T.
really holds up.
I won't say it's a perfect film,but it is close.
It's so good.
That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
And that goes with my crush on Steven Spielberg as
director.
SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
Yeah.
So let me give you somepostcards from the destination,
and then I'll remind you whathappens in the film.
So I'm gonna talk a lot aboutstorytelling and Spielberg as
like a master storyteller and amaster filmmaker, like
specifically film to tell astory, because he uses all of
the tools in the toolkit.
Like the score is important, thelighting is important, the
(07:14):
actors are important, like it'sall works together.
Even the camera work, like it isit's masterfully done in terms
of storytelling.
I want to talk about two sort ofthe core lessons in this film,
which I think are aboutrelationship and connection and
the need for connection.
And we see that through thewriting and the storytelling I
(07:36):
just named, but there's also alot of like visual metaphor
using ET that gives us theselessons about connection that I
want to kind of unpack a littlebit.
I want to talk about the factthat Elliot's family is reeling
from a recent divorce.
And what does that say aboutlike the fact that E.T.
(08:01):
kind of ends up in thisquote-unquote broken home?
And I think the lessons areabout connection.
Like, I want to unpack that alittle bit about what Spielberg
and the script writer Mathesonwere kind of getting at by
placing this story in thissetting of this recently
divorced family.
I want to talk about what kidscan handle.
(08:24):
This film does not condescend toits youngest viewers.
And I think that's reallybeautiful.
We don't see that today in mediadesigned for kids.
And this was not, I don't thinkSpielberg was trying to make a
movie for children.
I think he was trying to make amovie for everyone that didn't
leave children out.
And I think he succeeded.
So I want to talk about some ofthat in terms of like what can
(08:46):
kids handle?
And we'll briefly talk aboutgender because that's one thing
that I that I would say is notperfect about this movie is
gender and representation.
And then lastly, I want to talkabout E.T.
as a Christ figure, which Idon't I'm gonna need to unpack
with you because like I'm ascholar of religion, or I was,
(09:08):
and unpack literature all thetime.
And so of course I can sort ofsee Christ figures, but like
also I'm Jewish, and so it's notthe first thing I think.
So I actually didn't, like, assoon as I read a commentator who
was like, E.T.
dies and comes back, obviouslyhe's a Christ figure, I was
like, oh, right.
Yes, yes, yes, I see it now.
So we'll unpack that together alittle bit.
(09:30):
And that's where we're going.
So let me give you the as briefas I can, and then I'll as I'm
explaining some of the otherthings, I may like give more
details later.
The short version is this alienship visits Earth, and they are
botanists.
(09:52):
They're collecting plants.
And they, the government, USgovernment, this is happening in
California, we learn later, butit's sort of like in the
California forest, they'recollecting plants, and like
pickup trucks and like suburbansstart to arrive, and there's
like flashlights and headlightsand things, and humans, these
(10:13):
human men are like descending onthe ship.
And so they all, all the alienslike race to get back in the
ship to escape the people whoare descending upon them.
And one gets left behind.
He just doesn't get to the shipin time.
And he ends up in the backyardof a suburban home, it's
suburban LA, and ends up kind ofconnecting with this middle
(10:35):
child, Elliot, of this family.
It's a mom and three kids.
So Michael, Elliot, and Gert areGertie.
And Elliot is 11, somewhere inthat range.
And Michael is like 15 or 16.
Gert is seven.
(10:56):
So, and we learn that dadrecently left and has a new
girlfriend.
Nobody believes Elliot.
We see them, he and E.T.
meet, and when they firstactually like are face to face,
like they both yell and run awayfrom one another.
And so he's seen it and no onebelieves him.
(11:19):
And he decides he's gonnaactually like he he wants to see
him again.
He wants to see E.T.
again, and he ends up actuallymanaging to he draws him in with
the Reese's pieces.
He draws him in, right?
And so he brings him into thehouse and he's keeping him a
secret from his siblings and hismom.
Eventually he brings both of hissiblings into his confidence.
(11:42):
Mom doesn't know he's there, andthen E.T.
and Elliot develop an empathicconnection where they feel each
other's feelings and sort ofsomehow have access to one
another's thoughts.
And Gert, the seven-year-old,actually ends up sort of almost
teaching him how to talk.
Or like she's there when hestarts to learn how to talk.
(12:02):
Doesn't she have like a teaparty with E.T.
or something?
Or sort of like she she puts awig and she dresses him up in
like goofy clothes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they're trying to figure outwhere he's from, and they show
him like a map, and then theyshow him a globe, and they say,
We're here, pointing toCalifornia on the globe.
Where are you from?
And he like points to the sky.
(12:23):
And he builds with stuff fromthe around the house, he builds
a communication device tocontact his people, ET phone
home.
And it works.
Meanwhile, the government hasbeen like, they know there's a
creature here, and they've beenlike listening in the whole
neighborhood, like with a truckand a microphone.
(12:45):
And they so they know thegovernment knows, and it all
culminates kind of on Halloween.
So they're like they're able toget E.T.
out because mom thinks it's GERTunderneath a ghost sheet.
And that's when the bicycleflying happens.
Elliot is taking him to theforest to set up the machine.
(13:06):
It works, but the government hasclosed in.
E.T.
is very sick, and thereforeElliot is very sick.
He's dying.
E.T.
is dying, and the governmentcomes in and they like tent the
whole house and set up this likemedical lab.
And they're trying to save E.T.
(13:26):
Like they have him hooked up andthey're like checking his blood
pressure and is like they givehim like medicine and stuff, but
he dies after he and Elliot havelike E.T.
disconnects their directconnection.
E.T.
dies.
We meet one of the governmentguys whose name in the credits
is only Keys, and I'll explainwhy when I do a little bit of
(13:47):
analysis of the storytelling,who turns out to like be as kind
as he can, because he's sort ofwho Elliot might turn into if
Elliot lost his idealism, right?
And gives Elliot some time withthe body.
And then E.T.
wakes up and he's super excitedbecause he wakes up because he
(14:11):
can sense his people are closer.
So with the help of his brotherand some other neighborhood
boys, Elliot gets E.T.
to the spot where the ship iscoming, and E.T.
is reunited with his people andescapes the planet Earth.
(14:31):
There's a lot that happens inbetween.
There's a tearful goodbye scene,but that's the sort of what
happens.
So let me get into thestorytelling because I that was
like my biggest takeaway,honestly.
Like I was just watching thisand just struck by how all the
(14:51):
things I knew about E.T.
and about this family with zeroexposition.
Like in creative writingclasses, it is a mantra that is
so hard to learn to actually do,to show, not tell.
And Spielberg is a master atthat in this film.
So he is a master just ingeneral.
(15:14):
Well, just yeah.
But I'm just looking at thisfilm.
But yes, like he really heardand like has integrated and
models show, don't tell.
So there's zero dialogue in thefirst maybe 10 minutes of this
movie.
We know that E.T.'s people arenot a threat to us because
they're botanists, right?
(15:34):
Like we see them like touchingplants and very like gingerly
taking plants with their roots.
And then we see inside theirship, and there are these like
crazy looking plants, like, youknow, it sort of looks like
Willy Wonka with like weirdmushrooms and weird things, but
like we see that they are not athreat.
And then even further, that theyare not a threat, there's like a
stick breaks.
It's like a rabbit.
(15:55):
And like the whole, there's abunch of them, maybe a dozen of
them, and they all stop suddenlyand their heart lights light up,
all at exactly the same time.
And so by that one moment, like10 seconds of film, I now know
that they're all connectedbecause their hearts all lit up
at the same time.
I know that they're more used tobeing sort of prey than predator
(16:17):
because it was a startleresponse to that sound.
And just from that 10 seconds offilm, right?
I'm watching this, I'm going,wow, wow, you know, and that
show don't tell goes on likeover and over and over again.
So I mentioned that Elliot andE.T.
have this empathic connection.
(16:39):
I wasn't told that.
Spielberg showed me that.
There's a the scene that youremember with the frogs where
Elliot's at school and E.T.
is at home alone in the house.
E.T.
discovers beer and he drinks abeer and gets drunk.
And Elliot gets drunk while he'sin school.
(17:00):
And E.T.
is like watching something orsees something.
He's like agitated, and Elliotgoes, I have to free him.
I have to free him.
And the frogs don't come aliveagain.
They were already alive.
They were going to be dissectedwhile alive.
Yeah, it's really gross.
So we see the teacher come upthe aisle of the like science
(17:23):
tables, dropping.
He explains to us, these arechloroform cotton balls, and
he's dropping them.
Each of the frogs is in like ajar, and he drops a cotton ball
in each, and the kids aresupposed to put the lid on, and
it will like the frogs won'tfeel anything, and the scalpels
are very sharp.
Hearing all of that, Elliotreleases all the he opens all
the jars.
So there are frogs everywhere.
(17:44):
It's pandemonium.
Meanwhile, eats he's watchingtelevision, and the John Wayne
movie The Quiet Man is on, andthere's this famous scene where
the leading lady like sort ofwalks out the door and he pulls
her back and like kisses her.
Dancing or something.
Oh, okay, yeah.
It's not dancing.
It's like she's like walkingaway from him in the Quiet Man,
(18:05):
and he kind of grabs her wristand pulls her back and like
dramatically kisses her.
Okay.
Into like it's like a spin intohim, right?
Sort of.
He pulls her back and she sortof spins away and then yes.
Okay, okay.
And so we watch Elliot make asimilar sort of move, but he's
shorter than his crush.
So like he makes another kid liedown and he stands on the guy's
(18:29):
back so that he can do the sameJohn Wayne move.
And to Spielberg's credit, thisis interesting.
He has shown us that this girlis interested in Elliot.
Earlier, they were all at thebus stop and she was like, Hi,
Elliot.
Hi, Elliot.
Like she like, she's interested.
We see her like furtivelylooking at him.
So the kiss, it takes away someof like the lack of consent
(18:53):
problem.
And then we see her as Elliotthen like runs away.
We just see her feet, but likeone foot kind of like turns a
little bit, like oh my goodness.
After people micro, which likevisually shows us that she
actually sort of enjoyed whatshe enjoyed what happened, not
sort of she did.
Yeah.
So anyway, that's how like weknow they feel what it the other
(19:15):
one feels, they think what theother one thinks because we were
shown.
Like we're never told later.
The grown-ups say their brainwaves are synced, like when the
government has taken over.
But we already knew that.
Like, as viewers, we alreadyknew that.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
So that means like me as a tiny child watching, I
would not have understood theirbrainwaves were synced.
Exactly.
But I understood what I waswatching.
SPEAKER_00 (19:40):
Right, right.
The other, so the show don'ttell.
He's the master of that.
Part of that in a movie, too,like he uses all of the tools.
The score is incredible.
I think it's I think it's JohnWilliams.
It won an Academy Award.
Like this movie was nominatedfor a million Academy Awards.
(20:00):
I think it won four.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
And score was one of them.
And so that's also part of howwe know in the beginning, we
know that the ET peoples are nota threat to us, is from the
score.
The government people, like thehumans, get sort of the scary
music.
But the aliens in the forest,it's not scary music.
(20:23):
He also uses lighting, right?
The first, I don't know, half ofthe movie is very dark.
Like things are in shadow.
The forest is very dark, andthen the sort of the flashlights
like become sort of thesevectors through the dark that
are threatening.
But even the home, even thetailor's home, is sort of in
(20:46):
shadow, which I think also helpsto like flavor the fact that
it's a broken home, which againwe learn through show don't tell
when Elliot is feeling put outthat no one believes him.
He says, Dad would believe me.
And mom says, Well, you know,you could call him and tell him.
And Elliot says, I can't.
(21:07):
He's in Mexico with Sally, whichmom hadn't known.
So she sort of excuses herselffrom the table and she's like at
the sink.
We just see her back.
She turns around and there'stears on her face, and she says,
He hates Mexico.
So the recency of it, like whathappens, like show don't tell.
(21:29):
Like, oh my God, that is sogood.
I know, I know.
And meanwhile, Michael, theolder brother, who had been like
needling and like just a jerk ofan older brother, like to the
point that Elliot called him apenis breath.
When Elliot says that and momgets up from the table, he goes,
You're so stupid.
Why did you do that?
Michael's like protective ofmom.
(21:51):
Yeah.
All of these layers of therelationships between these
families.
And later, after Michael is inElliot's confidence and they
want to have Help E.T.
build the machine that hebuilds.
They're in the garage lookingfor stuff, like for raw
materials for this machine.
And they're sitting and they'retalking and they find dad's
(22:12):
shirt that dad forgot.
And Elliot like sort of smellsit.
And so Michael wants to smellit.
And he says, old spice.
And then they like remember atime dad took him, took them, I
don't remember, fishing orsomething.
And like, so they sit andreminisce.
So they're like rememberingbefore the separation.
Meanwhile, the government isoutside the house with this like
(22:33):
long-range microphone listening.
And so there's this interestingjuxtaposition of like by showing
us the government listening,juxtaposed to these two brothers
remembering different times, itunderscores the violation of
privacy that the government isengaged in, right?
Like the Spielberg doesn't showus them listening when they're
(22:56):
talking about ET.
He shows us the governmentlistening when they're
remembering their dad being inthe house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As a, I think a very clear, thisis a violation.
And later we have, like afterthe government has taken over
and like tented the whole houseand like pushing folks out of
the way, mom says, This is myhome.
(23:19):
Right.
But we already felt that.
Yeah, we already know thatthey're again like once it's
said, it's just a validation ofwhat we've already been shown.
And the lighting, again, the thelighting kind of starts to
change as the relationship withE.T.
(23:40):
develops, right?
So the darkness becomes brighterwith his introduction into the
sort of family.
So I just was in awe of thestorytelling, which on the one
hand, if I'm sort of thinkingabout it, maybe it's not as
good.
Like I think there are those, Ithink there are those who would
say it was manipulative becauseI was sort of seeing it.
(24:02):
I didn't experience it that way.
I just experienced it as wow.
I yeah, wow.
That's the way I experienced it.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
So I think I've talked about this before,
possibly on the podcast, but theway I think of it is when you
know what you are an expert in,you know what to look for.
Yeah.
And the the where I the metaphorthat I came up with this was
from our uncle, whose family wasin the garment industry.
Right.
(24:32):
And he took me once to one ofthose very discounts, like Ross
or Marshall's or something.
Yeah, no, even more than that.
And I was in college, he waslike, pick out what you're
interested in.
And then once I had like severalthings, he's like, no, no, no,
no.
Because he was looking at theseams.
And then the one sweatshirt, Ithink it was a hoodie, he's
(24:54):
like, this one.
You can buy this one.
It's like uh discount factory,like one of those coat
Burlington Coat Factory.
That's where it was.
It was Burlington Coat Factory,and impressed the hell out of
me.
And ever since then, that's mymetaphor for like with
storytelling, you and I, we knowwhere to look for the seams.
(25:16):
Right, right.
And these seams are flawless.
Yes.
They really are.
They are perfect.
And just because we know to lookfor them, we know where the
seams are, doesn't make theseseams any less flawless.
Right.
It just means that we know whereto look for them.
(25:37):
Right.
Whereas someone who doesn'tspend time thinking about
storytelling just doesn't justknow, like, damn, that felt
good.
SPEAKER_00 (25:44):
Yeah, how it makes them feel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the last thing I want tomention, maybe I think the last,
on this sort of masterstoryteller, master filmmaker
thing is actually the camerawork and the point of view.
So we do not see an adult's facebesides mom for the first
two-thirds of the movie.
Really?
(26:04):
Everything is shot from sort ofkids' eye level or E.T.'s eye
level.
And so I do remember, like, wesee through yes, on Halloween,
we see through the eye holes.
But before that, that's near theend of the movie.
Before that, like the scene withthe science teacher, you only
see him from sort of just belowthe sternum down as he walks up
(26:25):
the aisle.
And the government folks, like,we never see their faces.
And in fact, that piece,Spielberg does this in a lot of
his films, but he did it in thisfilm too.
We there is a focus on the man'skeys hanging from a belt loop,
like on a carabiner orsomething, like a little clip.
(26:47):
From the very beginning, fromthat first scene when the
suburbans arrive and they're theE.T.
people get nervous and fly away.
There's this one dude, we seehis keys repeatedly.
And then there's a couple ofmoments throughout the movie
where, like, with thesurveillance or other things
where we see the keys.
So we know this dude.
He's the one who I said would beElliot if he lost his idealism.
(27:12):
Like he says to Elliot, whenElliot's like dying because E.T.
is dying, he's a miracle.
It's a miracle that he's here.
And I'm so glad he met youfirst.
And I want to do what I can tokeep him alive.
Like, how do we do?
Like, what can we do?
And he still, like grown-upsoften do, unintentionally, is
like causing the problem, right?
(27:33):
Like he's not listening.
Like Elliot's like, leave himalone.
You're killing him.
And they keep, you know, theykeep going.
So we keys, that's all he'scalled in the credits.
We don't know his actual name.
His is the first grown-up thatwe see, face that we see besides
the others, when he sort ofpulls off the like they're
wearing when they show up at thehouse to like tent it, they're
(27:56):
wearing like spacesuits, likeastronauts with the like mirror
dome.
Um but the the other, then theyshow up in like sort of hazmats,
and Keys is wearing like sort ofa hazmat, and he we can see his
face through it, and then hedoes end up pulling it off.
And then the other doctors andstuff do, too.
But the first two-thirds of themovie, we see no adult's face
(28:16):
except for mom.
And that too, I think, like Inoticed it.
I think it was me recognizing aseam, the way that you just
described.
But sort of the effect is like,I think for kids, is that like a
truthiness, like a veracity,because the camera work was done
(28:38):
at kids' eye level or low to theground at ET's eye level.
We see several points like POVwhere he's like moving through
the tall grass and stuff, whichis again show don't tell.
So that's the last I'll say, Ithink, about the storytelling
piece of it and like using allof the different tools of
(28:59):
cinema.
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
So, you know, I just want to say that also shows that
Spielberg, you're gonna get toit, but it's about about what
kids can handle.
But that also shows thatSpielberg understands kids.
Like he listens to kids.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Because he he's showing the movie from their
perspective and understands thatfor kids, like kind of the only
real adult in their life istheir mom.
SPEAKER_00 (29:29):
Yeah.
I mean, I think dad is too, buthe's he is absent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:32):
He's absent.
And teacher who's not gonna makethem dissect a live frog might
be real.
But the teacher who's makingthem dissect a live frog, you
don't see his face.
SPEAKER_00 (29:42):
Yeah.
So now I want to talk about thecore kind of moral of the story,
what I think is the moral of thestory, which is the which is
lessons about connection, whichwe get in multiple ways, right?
And in multiple ways and in waysthat are in some ways
subversive, I think, or maybethat's the wrong word, but like
(30:05):
Elliot is the middle child, andhe becomes the star.
And I think that that'ssignificant, not just the star,
but like the hero, the core, thecenter.
And that's middle and center arenot the same, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And I don't think I'm speakingout of turn.
Middle kids, if you're listeningand you think I'm wrong, like
(30:27):
please, please raise your handand tell me.
But I don't think I'm talkingout of turn to sort of say that
like middle kids almost neverfeel like the center, right?
Because just the nature of likethe one who came before and sort
of broke the parents down, andthe one who came after and now
has like all of the parents'attention as the baby.
And the middle kids often getforgotten.
(30:49):
And Elliot is hungry forsomething.
Like he's missing dad.
He has a big sign on his roomthat says enter, right?
Like, I don't think that's amistake.
That's not a coincidence.
Like he's hungry.
The very first scene that wesee, not the E.T., like in the
Taylor family home.
Michael, the older brother, islike in a DD session with a
(31:11):
bunch of his friends, and Elliotwants to participate, but he's
like the annoying youngerbrother that they kind of don't
want to let participate.
You know, so he's hungry forsomething.
And then E.T.
kind of fills that space.
And the lessons aboutconnection, like, so Elliot says
to E.T., because E.T.'s likestill kind of scared when he
(31:32):
first gets there, they finallykind of meet in the room, and
everything's like, they realizethey don't mean harm to each
other.
And Elliot almost immediatelylike sits down and falls asleep,
as does E.T., right?
Like there's this like reliefonce they're together.
And then the literal connectionthat we see between their
(31:54):
thoughts and feelings, and theway that protecting him and
helping him brings the familytogether, including mom by the
end.
And then there's the heart lightvisual metaphor of E.T., which
(32:15):
we see in the very beginningwith the other E.T.s.
And then after he has died, theway he comes back to life is it
glows, and he wakes up and he'sgoing, E.T.
phone home, E.T.
phone home.
Like he's really excited.
When they are in proximity, likethat's what he needed.
That's why he was dying, wasbecause he was away from his
(32:38):
family or people or what Idon't, you know, he was away
from his community.
That's actually what was killingE.T.
It wasn't like a virus, itwasn't a heart attack, it was
disconnection.
They were too far away.
And then what brings him back isthem in proximity.
And we know that they have thatempathic connection because we
(32:59):
were shown in the very beginningwhen all of their hearts lit up
at the same time, when they werefrightened, when it was time to
come back to the ship, and E.T.
was our E.T.
was like running trying to getthere.
And I started to say, E.T.
is a little nervous, or Elliotthinks he's nervous, and he
says, I'll be right here.
I'll be right here.
Elliot says that to E.T.
(33:20):
several times.
When E.T.
is about to walk up thegangplank onto his ship, and
Elliot is crying and says, I'llnever forget you, and is like
this tearful goodbye.
E.T.
points to Elliot's head andsays, I'll be right here.
And so the lessons aboutconnection, even like the
smelling of dad's shirt, thereare all these layers about
(33:43):
relationship and connection andthe connection that lasts even
in absence.
He doesn't shy away from thegrief of the absence or the
literal pain.
Like E.T.
dies as a result of absence.
And so he doesn't shy away fromthat.
And yet, for me at least as aviewer, I was left with
(34:06):
something really hopeful.
Hopefully, and like I have awistfulness almost for the
vision of connection andrelationship that this movie
wants to give us.
I mean, even Keys, who like inthe beginning, we think he's a
villain, right?
But by the end, he actually endsup at the site because mom and
(34:30):
Gertie are leaving.
Gertie knows that the where theboys went.
She was supposed to, he says,Did the boys leave yet?
And mom says, The boys leave?
What?
And Gertie says, I was supposedto give you this note after they
leave.
And mom says, Give it to me now,Gert.
SPEAKER_01 (34:46):
So they're in the call.
See why dad that reminded Dad ofus.
SPEAKER_00 (34:51):
Drew Barrymore was a natural at seven years old.
Like she's amazing.
Anyway.
Um and so adorable.
Yeah.
So mom and Gertie are in thecar, like driving away from the
tented house.
And Keys says, Where are yougoing?
And mom's gonna head, but Gertiegoes, We're going to see the
(35:12):
spaceship.
So Keys goes with them orfollows them in his own car.
I don't remember.
But so he's there at the site.
And but he doesn't try tointervene.
He doesn't try to stop.
He just wants to witness it.
And in fact, when sort of mom ismoved by this, what's happening
(35:33):
between her son and E.T., andKeys kind of gently puts his
hand on her shoulder.
So there are all these likesubtle and not so subtle
reminders of the web ofconnection that's there if we
allow it.
So that was something that likeI found, yeah, just really
beautiful about this movie.
(35:55):
And it is conveyed in so manyways.
Again, just like this, like whatI spent all that time talking
about the storytelling.
Like it's conveyed through thewriting.
Like it is a well-writtenscreenplay, like with the I'll
be right, I'll be right there,right here.
It's conveyed through theacting.
Like Henry Thomas, who playsElliot, had no right to be as
good an actor as he was at 11years old or whatever.
(36:16):
Like, I mean, incredible.
Like this movie would not workif I didn't believe the emotion
from Elliot.
And it works.
He just nailed it.
So the writing, the acting, theactual, like the way it's
filmed, the visual metaphor ofthe heart lighting up.
(36:36):
It just chef's kiss.
And it gave me this lesson aboutconnection and relationship that
I just really I guess I reallyneeded it right now.
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
In in our current time frame where we don't yeah.
It doesn't we feel like we don'thave connections.
And especially with someone whostarts off as a villain.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
Yeah.
I think that leads into my sortof questioning about the
placement of this story in thisso-called broken home.
Right.
Where with the darkness in theirhome in the beginning, you know,
and the and the sort of Elliotwanting to be a part of with the
big kids and all of the kind offriction that's happening in
(37:24):
this home that has recentlyexperienced this upheaval of the
separation.
And I think maybe that's part ofwhy the lesson about connection
works here and feels soresonant.
It's not a mistake.
It's not a coincidence that thisstory was told with this family
(37:48):
at the center being one who hadrecently experienced rupture.
And not rupture of a death, butof this rejection and sort of
breaking of connection.
SPEAKER_01 (38:01):
Well, and that gets to, we've talked before about
how in the 80s there was a lotof kind of just societal
mishigas, societal anxiety aboutdivorce.
So I think you're right thatthis story about connection,
it's not a coincidence that E.T.
comes to this child of a familyof recent rupture from divorce.
(38:26):
But I also think that it's not acoincidence that this story came
about during the decade whenthere was so much societal
hand-wringing about what are wegoing to do about these kids?
What are we going to do aboutthese latchkey kids?
What are we going to do aboutthese kids, these children of
divorce, that overweening,overwhelming concern that people
(38:46):
had because divorce, you know,no-fault divorce had become
common across the nation.
And so divorce had become muchmore common.
And so there were many, manymore children of divorce.
And so this story that is aboutconnection and relationship,
about building connections, evenwith people who are absent, not
(39:09):
through death, but throughseparation.
And that I will be right there.
Someone who loves you, who isconnected to you through this
heart light, but can't be therebecause they need to be with
their other people, is a moviethat was a phenomenon at the
(39:31):
early part of the 80s.
I don't think that's acoincidence.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:39):
So let's talk about what kids can handle.
This movie does not condescendto its viewers, right?
There's not sort of the likethere's no watering down, I
don't think.
And I say that I think I'll getinto this more maybe in the shit
we forgot to say that will befor patrons only, but I'll just
(40:00):
mention that there was a 20thanniversary release special
edition of this movie wherethings were changed.
And one of the things that waschanged was there's a chase
scene when the neighborhood boysare all on bikes with Michael
and Elliot also on bikes withE.T.
in a milk crate on the front ofElliot's bike, and all of the
(40:23):
bikes fly at that point.
And the government agents arechasing them in like cop cars
and stuff.
And they sort of set up ablockade to stop them.
And the government agents arecarrying shotguns.
And in the special edition, oneof the things that was changed
was that instead of holdingguns, they're holding
(40:44):
walkie-talkies.
And so that would have been in02, because it was it was 20
years.
And Spielberg apparentlyimmediately regretted this
special edition.
And like it's very hard to findnow.
When he released it on DVD, botheditions were there.
And now, like I streamed this towatch it on like Amazon Prime or
(41:04):
whatever.
I didn't even know that thespecial edition was an option.
Like it's not easy to find thechanges because Spielberg
immediately recognized that thiswas a mistake, unlike his friend
George Lucas.
Don't get me started.
Yeah.
But I think part of likeblunting that, like, there was
(41:25):
real danger to these kids.
And also like real judgment fromthe viewers of these government
agents who would brandish a gunagainst kids on bikes.
That I think by by removing thatdanger sort of takes away some
of the power.
It takes away some of the Chef'sKiss storytelling.
(41:47):
And part of, I think, the thingthat like Spielberg trusting
kids, it's kind of like I'mgonna hearken back to our
episode about Mr.
Rogers' neighborhood, right?
Like Mr.
Rogers said everything that'smentionable is manageable and
everything is mentionable.
And I think Spielberg actuallyis modeling that in this film.
(42:09):
He talks about divorce.
He talks about or he shows uslike what happens in this
so-called broken home.
I hate that phrase, but thispost-divorce home.
He shows us sibling friction andrivalry and also sibling love.
He shows us like kids face realdanger in this world.
(42:31):
They do.
And pretending they don'tdoesn't take the danger away.
SPEAKER_01 (42:37):
Even the thing, the penis breath.
There's something I rememberreading that Stephen King said
where about writing children, hehates it when people refuse to
have children say bad wordsbecause children curse.
Right.
And so, like, as like as I was,it was because it was more
(42:59):
because I didn't know what wasbeing said, not because it was
said.
Because that is what an11-year-old boy would say to his
15-year-old brother.
SPEAKER_00 (43:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (43:08):
In 1982.
SPEAKER_00 (43:10):
And in the moment, mom sort of shock laughs and is
like, elegant, but she's likelaughing because which is also
really real.
So I think that when you add tothat, the fact that we had the
kids' point of view in thecamera, the use of the camera,
there is a trusting of childrenthat I think is really powerful
(43:36):
and often missing from mediatoday.
So I I wanted to really likejust name that out loud because
that was also something that I Ididn't appreciate fully as I was
rewatching it.
It was like as I was readingother commentators and reading
about what got changed in thisspecial edition that I was like,
oh yeah, yeah, that walkietalkies like takes away.
(44:00):
Away some of the power becauseand and it also is like lying in
a certain sense.
Like, I think one of the thingsthat I think Spielberg really
wanted from this movie was thatit be believable that it could
actually happen in 1982California.
And unfortunately, the guns werereal.
(44:21):
Like that is the way thegovernment would.
I mean, if anything, thegovernment is less violent than
it would actually have been in1982 California.
So that was just that wassomething that like felt
important to me to name in termsof what Spielberg got right.
Briefly, I will talk aboutgender and I'll save ETS Christ
(44:43):
for the last thing in thisepisode.
So the one big quibble I wouldhave with this movie is
representation and gender.
We have it does not pass, itdoes pass backdell.
Does it pass backdel?
Well, do Gertie and the mom talkabout Gurdy and mom reads from
Peter Pan to Gertie.
So I think that probably counts.
And we know mom's name is Mary.
(45:04):
That's actually another piece oflike the beautiful storytelling
in terms of the connection,because they read the bit where
you have to clap and reallybelieve in Tinkerbell to save
her.
And so there is this sort ofundercurrent idea that like
Elliot's belief and even Keyes'belief in E.T.
is part of what saves him.
And I mean everyone, but yeah,you know, like by having that
(45:26):
moment from the Barry where it'sthe other people's belief in
Tinkerbell that saves her, andthe clapping that like is kind
of like planted seed.
But so it passes Backdell, butit's just the two of them.
Like there are no other, well,there's the crush whose name we
(45:48):
don't know.
And there are other like femalestudents that were women, um,
well, girls in Elliot's class.
But that's it.
And even like when we meet E.T.
when Elliot introduces E.T.
to his siblings, they're like,is it a boy or a girl?
And Elliot's like, it's a boy.
And like, how does he, you know,he I mean, he has a connection,
(46:12):
but like, do the E.T.
really like, do they even havegender?
SPEAKER_01 (46:16):
They have gender, yeah.
You know, is it an enemy mindsituation?
SPEAKER_00 (46:19):
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
And so if it were made today,which it wouldn't be because but
if it were made today, I like Iwould hope there would be sort
of more representation of womenand girls than we have in the
existing movie.
That's my only quibble, though.
Like it's really and it's not,it's women aren't represented
(46:42):
poorly.
Like, I think Mary's of for whatlittle bit that we get of her as
mom, because moms are not fullyformed human beings for their
own children.
Yes.
Yeah.
I think she is as fully formedas she can or should be.
You know, and GERT is absolutelydelightful, Drew Barrymore's
GERT.
So, but that is like one smallquibble.
(47:04):
I'm running out of time.
So, but I do want to mention,like, I didn't see it, but I
read another commentator who waslike, Yeah, E.T.
dies and comes back to life.
Obviously it's Christ.
I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, that'sa thing that Christ does.
So, and the fact that I likenamed the relationship and the
need for connection andrelationship in this family,
like there, I don't think that'sa an overblown or overthinking
(47:26):
interpretation of E.T.
Yeah.
And I don't know what to do withit.
Like Spielberg says, if youknow, it's unintentional because
he like he goes on in his careerfrom this moment to like be very
Jewish in what he to really likeexpress his Jewishness through
some of his filmmaking.
And to be fair, he didn't writeit.
(47:47):
Right.
That's true.
That's true.
But E.T.
performs miracles.
And he's actually refers to himas a miracle.
And then he dies and isresurrected, and sort of his
presence heals this family tosome extent.
I don't think it's anoverthinking interpretation.
(48:09):
No.
I don't know what to do with itbeyond that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:12):
Well, and the the idea that his illness is
separation from his progenitor.
So like his illness isseparation from God, which is
what hell is according to someChristians.
Some Christians.
I mean, some Jews too, actually.
Some Jews, yeah.
Yeah, that's kind of a toughone.
(48:32):
But E.T.
is one of many.
He's not right.
But Christ is one of three, ifif you go by go by Catholicism.
Yeah.
So I yeah, that's interesting.
I would not have a quibble withanyone who sees this as a Christ
metaphor.
But the connection to Elliot,though, would that be, I don't
(48:55):
know, like John the Baptist,like one of his disciples?
SPEAKER_00 (48:57):
Oh no, I don't think it's that literal.
I would think it would be, Imean, I would think it would be
more like an individualbeliever's access to.
I see.
That's more the way I wouldinterpret it.
Gotcha.
Probably.
But you know, I think it's asecular tale that like leans on
some religious themes.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and I I don't knowthat it that I need to go any
(49:18):
deeper than that, but I I just Iwanted to name it because for
those for whom that's a thing,like it's very obvious, you
know.
SPEAKER_01 (49:27):
Yeah, yeah.
So it's also important toremember, JC was one of ours.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (49:32):
Well, he was a rabbi.
Right, right.
I mean, there's also he's abotanist, and there's this
flower that is dying.
I think it's even a sunflower,maybe.
Or no, I think it's like acarnation.
It potted plant that is likewilted that he brings back to
life.
And as he's dying, it starts towilt.
And so part of the way that likeMichael realizes that he's
(49:54):
better is that the flower getsbetter again.
So that the flower becomes alsosort of a symbol for E.T.
There's I bring that up whentalking about the Christ thing
because for the visualmetaphors, there's a sense that
when E.T.
dies, the miracles he performedalso sort of fade, which I don't
(50:14):
think aligns with a Christfigure.
Although the cut finger that hehealed, ouch.
That's that doesn't reopen.
So anyway, I guess what I willsay is that, like so many sort
of tropes or themes, that thisis a that there is a Christ
figure in here, maybe no morethan like that has become a
(50:37):
satisfying theme to Westernconsumers of media.
So I'm running out of time.
So let me see if I can reflectback the things that we talked
about.
And then in our shit we forgotto say, which is a patron only
exclusive.
Listeners head on over to ourPatreon to check it out.
We will go into a little moredepth about a few more things
(50:59):
about ET.
So I spent quite a bit of timetalking about the well-crafted
storytelling, specifically inthe medium of film.
The writing is beautiful, likeit's just neat and like
comprehensive with all of thelittle details, like the fact
that mom is reading from PeterPan, like those little moments
(51:22):
that then all like layertogether for this one story.
I talked about using the toolsof cinema to tell the story, the
lighting, the score, which isincredible, the acting, the
writing, like all of it workstogether.
I talked about the core sort ofthe moral of the story, about
relationship, about connection,which again we get through all
(51:46):
of those different tools offilmmaking.
And what I found deeply hopefulabout this film is the lessons
about connection, even throughabsence, about the I'll be right
here in Elliot's head, even whenE.T.
is absent, which was underscoredthrough, you know, this story
(52:08):
about this home with our recentseparation that right now in
particular, all these yearslater, feels so important for us
to remember the power of likeour heart lights lighting up
simultaneous with otherpeople's, even if we're sort of
not directly in connection.
I talked about the broken home,the so-called broken home, as
(52:32):
this divorced family, as likeripe for this particular
intervention.
They needed E.T.
That was not a coincidence.
It added to the power of thestorytelling.
The fact that Elliot was themiddle kid in this home of
recent divorce.
He needed E.T., he was hungryfor connection.
He was feeling likedisconnected.
(52:54):
I talked about as one of thetools of storytelling is like
the camera work and the point ofview, the fact that we don't see
an adult's face besides mom forthe first two-thirds of the
movie.
And that's part and parcel withSpielberg taking kids seriously
and listening to kids and nottalking down to them.
And like knowing that toparaphrase Mr.
(53:16):
Rogers, what is mentionable ismanageable, and like trusting
kids to handle truth, whichlater he was sort of maybe
pressured to pull back on andimmediately regretted,
apparently.
I talked briefly about gender.
I wish there were more women andmore fully formed women and
girls in this film.
(53:36):
That is my one sort of actualquibble about this film.
And then I spent some timetalking about E.T.
as a Christ figure and sort ofdying and then being
resurrected.
Oh, I'm totally out of time.
And then you pointed out, I lovethe metaphor of like recognizing
the seams.
So thank you for that.
Finally, what are you bringingme next week?
SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
I'm bringing my deep thoughts on He-Man.
Oh my god, I have the power! Thepower of Grace Gull.
SPEAKER_00 (54:04):
I cannot wait.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
(54:24):
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompotech.com.
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
Until next time, remember popculture is still culture.
(54:47):
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
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