“THE ALIENATED CHILD”
A thematic analysis of Steven Spielberg’s
E.T. the extra-terrestrial
Text © by Rob Ager June 2010
Contents
1) Introduction
2) The Traditional Fairytale
3) The Eyes of a Child
4) The Stray Story
5) A Small Universe
6) The Grieving Child
7) E.llioT.
8) The Man from the Moon
This article may come as something of a confusing surprise to many readers, as I have never reviewed a children’s film before. Spielberg is renowned for his highly entertaining “commercial” films, though his later works have delved into much more adult subject matter (Schindler’s List, Catch Me If You Can, Munich). Spielberg films aren’t generally attributed as containing deep psychological complexity, but there are many examples of his work that are very much in line with the techniques of Hitchcock (Duel, his first feature, Jaws) and Kubrick (A.I, soon to be reviewed by this author). E.T. is another example, and its status as one of the most commercially successful films of all time is enough reason to look beyond its family-friendly narrative and technical efficiency.
If you have read my film articles before then you’ll have a fairly good idea what to expect here. If you haven’t then there is a basic guideline that will make this material easier to digest. Don’t take every detail of this article as gospel. My intention here is to assist you in exploring the film, not to tell you with scientific certainty how to perceive it. There are many observations included in these chapters that I’m not convinced, nor can I prove, were the film makers’ intention. However, I invite you to consider those ideas out of curious interest.
In recent decades classic children’s films such as Toy Story, Wall E and Antz have served almost as an insult to the quality of film writing spent on adult audiences. One explanation for this may be that the larger audience potential of films that get U or PG ratings has resulted in production companies investing more in writing talent for children’s films, but another could be that the sensitivity required of the writer when scripting a film for a young audience requires particular subtlety in dealing with darker and more adult themes. Add to this the factor that adults are more likely to take their children to see films that they themselves will find entertaining, the writer’s task becomes dual in nature. How to make a film satisfy the simplistic narrative requirements of a child, while also satisfying the complex narrative requirements of the adult?
One way in which this dual task is accomplished, whether intentional or not, is through the use of a symbolic inner journey. A classic example is the Wizard Of Oz. To a child Dorothy’s journey is a real adventure in a fantastic, faraway land, but to an adult she was merely resolving her anxieties and dilemmas after being knocked unconscious in her bedroom during a storm. Other children’s films that feature a similar dream journey structure are Alice In Wonderland and the vastly underrated Time Bandits.
The Wizard of Oz holds special relevance to E.T. Both films start with a character being chased by an unseen predator. Dorothy and ET become lost in unfamiliar lands while trying to find their way “home”. Both characters are helped on their journey by unexpected friends, with the help being reciprocated (Dorothy is helped by the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion and E.T is helped by Elliot, Mike and Gertie). Dorothy flies home in an air balloon and ET flies home in a spacecraft. E.T. sits comfortably as an allegory of the Wizard of Oz.
The “is it just a dream / fantasy” factor, so common in traditional children’s fairytales, is present in many parts of E.T.’s narrative structure. Allusions to children’s inner fantasy worlds are frequent.
Other features of ET that carry fairytale and children’s fantasy connotations include the following:
This list of visual and narrative references to the imaginary inner world of childhood doesn’t provide a fully coherent interpretation of E.T. However, it is our impetus to further investigate the film’s symbolic structure.
A simple indicator that separates E.T.’s sci-fi narrative from its themes of childhood imagination is that the responses of adult characters are inconsistent with the sci-fi storyline.
At no point do the adults speak dialogue that verifies the presence of an alien creature. ET is only referred to as “him” or “it”. Words like “alien”, “monster” or “creature” are not used. The closest we get to a verbal confirmation of an alien character by an adult is the line “He’s got DNA”.
The army of doctors, scientists and technicians who appear to be on a mission to capture and study ET become sentimental and abandon their safeguards against contamination when trying to save the creature. We could argue that in a children’s film such unrealistic portrayals of government sponsored science are to be expected, but before reaching such a conclusion I invite you to consider the following.
At no point in the film does Elliot’s mother acknowledge ET’s presence.
Even at the end of the film the adults react unrealistically to the sci-fi narrative. The doctor who claimed he had been waiting all his life “for this” happily watches ET shuffle into a spacecraft and disappear. The mother looks on the proceedings with equal enthusiasm, even though her son had almost died after his prolonged contact with the alien.
ET points to Elliot’s head and speaks his departing line, “I’ll be right here”. On the level of formal sci-fi we could take that as an indication of a cherished memory or some long distance telepathic contact, but on the level of childhood fantasy we could take it to indicate ET was always a figment of Elliot’s imagination.
Elliot’s patronizing explanation of ET to his sister is one of the most truthful pieces of dialogue in the film, “Grown ups can’t see him. Only little kids can see him.”
Steven Spielberg acknowledges a personal childhood fantasy theme in ET. In a 1982 interview with Susan Royal for Premiere he offers the following explanation.
Spielberg: “ET is a personal film because it’s about people and personal relationships that I have some experience in. My childhood is still fresh in my memory. I’m sure when I’m seventy-eight my childhood will be even fresher in my memory then. But it comes from some of my experiences growing up, and it also evolves out of my wanting to make a movie bout the relationship between a ten year old boy and a nine-hundred year old extra-terrestrial space person.”
Premiere: “Directly from your childhood.”
Spielberg: “Directly from my childhood fantasies.”
So far we’ve identified a variety of details in E.T. that lean towards an alternative, non sci-fi narrative relating to childhood imagination. At a purely literal level the themes clash with each other, but fiction stories (whether on film or paper) are never constructs of the real world, though writers try very hard to make them seem literal. Fiction stories are expressions of thoughts and emotions, operating on a subjective level of multiple meanings that mismatch physical reality.
The sci-fi elements of E.T. hinge on the presence of the ET character, the alien spacecraft and a small army of scientists and authority figures who quarantine Elliot’s home. If we watch these scenes with a literal assumption then the sci-fi narrative is what we will perceive. But if we consider such details as potential metaphors; symbolic expressions of emotions and ideas, then a very different interpretation of the film begins to emerge.
In the last chapter we explored how the alien character seems invisible to the adults of the story. The idea that ET is purely an imaginary construct of Elliot’s imagination is a potential explanation for that paradigm, but it is conflicted in the last third of the film. We see doctors attempting to revive the creature and in the final scene the central adult male character, along with Elliot’s mother, watches the creature leave in a spacecraft.
Another possibility is that ET, rather than being an imaginary friend, represents some other, non-alien character that has a real physical presence.
Implications of ET being some sort of animal are frequent.
Most of the animal references, however, imply very strongly that ET is in fact a dog, perceived as a hybrid boy / dog by the children. That may sound far fetched, but the supporting details are numerous.
This concept of ET as a hybrid dog / boy is even present in the creature’s visual design.
ET spends a lot of time interacting with the family dog when alone in the house. After the beer drinking session, a blanket is shown being pulled behind the TV set, presumably pulled by ET, but the dog then emerges as if it had been pulling the blanket.
Another interesting aspect of all this is that at no point in the film does the mother interact with or acknowledge the family dog, just as she doesn’t interact with ET. A specific instance of this, easily overlooked as an unintended continuity error, is a scene which begins with the Mother watering a plant. In the background the family dog is sniffing around Elliot’s doorway. She seems not to notice, but turns to look at the precise moment Gertie steps into the hall, blocking her view of the dog as it turns to face her. The timing is very specific. The shot cuts to a closer view of Gertie and the dog has disappeared completely. Is this a continuity error or does it relate to the theme of a dog being present in the house without parental permission?
If ET is in fact a stray dog that has been found and nursed back to health by Elliot then Gertie’s mentioning of “dog catcher’s” may be a revelation that the government scientists and agents who show up at the house are, on a thematic level, dog catchers as perceived through the eyes of children. It may also be an indication that ETs spacecraft farewell at the end of the film is, in the hidden narrative, the returning of the dog to its rightful owner. Notice also how Mike stroke’s ET like a dog in this scene.
These dog / boy interpretations are still sketchy and in many places conflict with other elements of the sci-fi narrative. We’ll return to them later, but for now let’s switch our attention to other facets of the film.
We’ve already identified many set details in ET that communicate emotional and conceptual themes unrelated to the sci-fi narrative.
Another is the use of solar symbols in the children’s bedrooms. An establishing shot of Gertie being read a Peter Pan story at bedtime features an orange wall lamp imitation of the sun and, left screen, a moon crescent wall lamp glows in blue. When Elliot catches Gertie talking to ET through her closet doors, we find more of these symbolic props. Three wooden wall plaques read “wish upon a star”, “reach for the sky” and “walk in the sunshine”, each include visual depictions (clouds, stars and the sun). Images of clouds also adorn Gertie’s bedroom walls, which are sky blue, and an air balloon is featured (seen out of focus as Elliot discovers ET dressed in Gertie’s clothes). The air balloon could be another Wizard of Oz reference.
Gertie’s room is a sort of universe within a bedroom, as is Elliot’s. His solar symbols include a globe, rainbow coloured blinds over his windows, a book featuring a map of the solar system and a collection of sci-fi action figures from Star Wars. Of course these are the kinds of items we might find in a child’s bedroom, but here they tie in with the childhood fantasy / play themes of the movie. Most of us, if we dig into our own childhood memories, can remember playing in our bedrooms with siblings or friends, infusing imaginary life into various toys and interacting with them as if they were alive. If ET is a stray dog or a toy then it seems that the three siblings of the household have collectively infused him with a character of their mutually agreed design. A certain amount of conflict over ET’s identity even occurs. Elliot claims ET is a boy, but it’s Gertie who discovers the creature can speak. After her time alone with ET the creature is seen dressed as a girl, although we don’t actually see whether Gertie dressed him this way or if he chose to do so himself.
Back to the solar symbols, the scene of Mike and Gertie’s introduction to ET in the closet is bathed in orange light from a stained glass window – its design suggestive of a flower or sun rays. This same window is shown during an external night scene, lit from inside the house (as Elliot listens to men’s voices in the nearby woods).
The sun and moon are particularly important symbols in ET.
Another example of sci-fi concepts manifested though childhood fantasy can be found on the t-shirt of Mike’s “game master” friend in the kitchen. The shirt design shows a green planet and selection of space rockets. An additional detail of this scene, that may have been used to imply the sci-fi narrative as being manifested through Elliot’s household-item inspired imagination, is the large stained glass lamp shade. It hovers over the fantasy role-playing game like an alien spacecraft. And at other points in the film, glowing lamp shades are seen in dark rooms and frequently hovering over character’s heads. It’s possible Spielberg used these lampshade motifs as intentional fantasy spacecraft symbols.
If all these child’s universe set details were thematically intended then ET’s non-verbal gestures regarding his own origins take on a different meaning. When asked where he is from he points up at the window. Our instant assumption is that he means outer space, but he’s also pointing to both the hills of the valley and to the rainbow coloured blinds. When announcing his desire to “phone home” he first points into the closet while saying “home”, but his finger and his eyes were definitely pointing upwards as if to some object or perhaps a window. He definitely wasn’t pointing to the place where he’d been hiding and sleeping with the stuffed animals. Gertie’s bedroom, and the air balloon picture on her wall, were also visible through the closet from ET’s position.
Elliot’s family context is a more conventional expression of underlying emotional themes in E.T. It is here that we find a psychological middle ground connecting the sci-fi and childhood fantasy narratives into a more coherent whole.
Biographies of Steven Spielberg describe his personal childhood experiences of family break up – a factor that appears to have affected the subject matter of his early family-orientated films. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind a boy is abducted from his mother by aliens and reunited. The Indiana Jones series relies heavily on adventure-induced family bonding and conflict resolution for the main characters. And then there’s E.T, Spielberg’s most personal exorcizing of childhood demons.
The basic dilemma for Elliot, before he even suspects an alien to be hiding in the tool shed, is family break up. The first discussion at the family dinner table about Elliot’s encounter with a creature in the woods leads straight into a discussion about his absent father. The eldest child, Mike, sits next to his Mother like a substitute husband. The mentioning of Dad living in Mexico “with Sally” is too painful for an open discussion. Later, Elliot and his older brother find their father’s shirt in the garage and discuss his absence and the things they miss about him.
Children (and adults) suffering such traumas / insecurities can often retreat into internal fantasy worlds as a form of emotional pain control, a basic repression mechanism. Spielberg apparently indulged in such fantasy worlds as a child in the midst of his parent’s divorce, even fantasizing about an imaginary friend.
As Elliot first searches in the woods for his first encounter with ET, he tells himself, “Elliot you’re crazy.” In a way he’s right. Whether considered an alien, a stray dog or an imaginary friend, on a core emotional level ET is basically Elliot’s externalized projection of himself. The telepathic mind-meld of the sci-fi story provides a convenient device to communicate a twin identity between boy and alien.
Shared feelings between the two characters are described explicitly by Mike to a doctor, “He communicates through Elliot”. Doctor, “Elliot thinks its thoughts.” Mike, “No, Elliot feels his feelings.”
Their shared identity is manifested through behaviour.
There are also basic visual indicators.
A scene that demonstrates ET sharing Elliot’s feelings of family break up occurs when ET is left in the house alone. As he looks at the Buck Rogers comic showing the use of an antennae sending out a distress call, the word “hello” is heard on the television set. We cut to a fiction film on the tv set, in which a “long-distance” call is being made to an “Uncle Ralph” by a woman. Her son is sat in front of her, playing with a toy plane. A cut to the Uncle Ralph character then pans away from the television set to the phone and “speech talk” toy, while Uncle Ralph’s voice continues, “Let me talk to that little fella”. A cut to ET shows that he is paying specific attention to the scene. Cut back to the tv and the boy keeps the long distance call short by simply saying “Hello Uncle Ralph” then hanging up. ET with his sad-eyed expression turns from the tv and sniffles, as if holding back tears. This sequence establishes a family communication failure theme and associates it to the distress signal story in the Buck Rogers comic. Could it be that Spielberg himself had personal childhood experiences of speaking to a distant parent figure in time-limited phone calls?
ET’s death and separation from Elliot reveals their connection to have been one of shared emotion. “You must be dead … I can’t feel anything anymore.” And Elliot’s mother’s inability to see ET is appropriate thematically because she is unable to notice her son’s feelings about their broken family.
ET’s supposed physical illness represents Elliot’s emotional deterioration in a broken family. Elliot pretends to be sick to get a day off school and he wears white, just as ET’s flesh becomes white with illness. ET instantly cures a cut on Elliot’s finger. The line “Ouch” is also used in this scene and ET’s departure, cross-symbolizing physical and emotional pain. Then there’s ET’s sudden, miraculous recovery from death immediately following Elliot’s “I love you” declaration. Given these details, is the entire sickness episode between Elliot and ET a faked one to achieve some other goal?
Physical illness as a metaphor for Elliot’s emotional distress is present in ET’s desire to make a phone call. In the sci-fi narrative the call would be to his fellow aliens, but the emotional subtext is related to Elliot wanting to call his absent father (a long distance call to Mexico) and ask him to return to the family.
The poster for the film shows Elliot and ET’s hands touching, but their position and size suggest the touching of hands between an adult and a child, The caption reads, “The mystery. The suspense. The adventure. The call … that started it all.”
Our first indication of this “phone call” dilemma is at the family dinner table after Elliot announces his encounter with ET. Elliot, “Dad would believe me.” Mother, “Maybe you oughta call your father and tell him about it.” Elliot, “I can’t. He’s in Mexico with Sally.”
ET first expresses his desire to make a phone call after having watched a child on television making a call to a distant relative. Gertie, “You wanna call somebody?” His first verbal announcement of wanting to “phone home” offers another clue. The scene ends with ET’s line, “Come home.”
In a discussion with a police officer about Elliot having possibly run away from home, the topic of family beak up is raised again. “My husband and I just separated recently and it hasn’t been easy on the children.” She closes the fridge door revealing a soaking wet, and presumably sick, Elliot. Note that he is still wearing his Halloween makeup, which exaggerates his appearance of being ill.
In the scene of Elliot and Mike searching the garage for components that ET can use to make his communication device, they reminisce about the good times with Dad. Their conversation is listened to by a man parked outside in a surveillance van, his face partially obscured by his hand, but his eye is visible. This is our first glimpse of an adult male’s face.
The importance of the adult male is communicated through Spielberg’s choice of shots. For the first two thirds of the film men’s faces are kept out of view – the men who chase ET in the woods, the man Elliot sees searching the grass, the school teacher, the men searching Elliot’s room, the police officer talking to Elliot’s mother and the army of scientists and government personnel who quarantine the house. Even the street scenes in the first half of the film don’t show any men.
The first male face we see (aside from those shown on television sets) is the lead scientist. We have already seen him several times during the film, identified by a set of keys hanging from his belt (the keys to the family home?). His face is eventually revealed as he steps through the front door of the house. The interactions we then witness between this scientist and the family are symbolic of an interaction with Elliot’s returning Father. (Incidentally, Spielberg’s father was an electrical engineer) More than likely, the man who was listening in on Mike and Elliot’s discussion about their father in the garage is the same scientist, symbolizing a returning father.
The scientist enters the kitchen where Elliot and ET lay side by side. Initially the voices in the room are echoed and dream-like. He leans forward to look at ET first. A cut to Elliot and the scientist has suddenly switched position and is leaning over him, their emotional separation symbolized by a plastic quarantine wall and the scientist’s glass helmet. Their dialogue is carefully written to carry a subtext of father / son conflict resolution.
Scientist, “Elliot, I’ve been to the forest. … Elliot, that machine. What does it do?”
Elliot, “Is it still working?”
Scientist, “It’s doing something. What?”
Elliot, “I really shouldn’t tell. He came to me.”
Scientist, “Elliot. He came to me too. I’ve been wishing for this since I was ten years old. I don’t want him to die. What can we do that we’re not already doing?”
Elliot, “He needs to go home. He’s calling his people and I know where they are.”
Scientist, “Elliot, I don’t think that he was left here intentionally, but his being her is a miracle Elliot. It’s a miracle. And you did the best that anybody could do. I’m glad he met you first.”
Cut to a close up revealing that the scientist’s hand is holding Elliot’s. We never saw their hands connect during the dialogue.
Within seconds Elliot’s talk with the scientist / father-substitute causes a break between Elliot’s and ET’s shared illness. The creature begins to die as Elliot begs him, “ET. Stay with me, please. Stay together.” A doctor comments, “They’re separating.” The scientist responds, “What does that mean?”
This scene cuts to a strange sequence in Elliot’s bedroom. His older brother, Mike, enters the closet and falls asleep in the place where ET had been sleeping. A dissolve shot pans back into the closet and a glow of sunlight washes over the room. Mike awakens and watches the pot of flowers die. He shakes his head and an alarm kicks in. We cut back to Elliot in the kitchen, screaming at the doctors as ET dies. The strange editing between these scenes suggests a dream-sequence.
ET’s death sequence punctuates a change in the film’s presentation of adult characters. The doctors and scientists remove their masks and abandon their quarantine sensibility, which also allows us to see their faces. Elliot is reconnecting with the adults in his life.
The elusive father figure, returning to the family home and having to resolve feelings of resentment from his wife and children, is an emotionally delicate encounter, visually manifested as a scientific quarantine operation. Dad = the authorities.
The emotional impact of a returning husband / father is also the subtext of the astronaut sequence. Gertie cries to her Mother, “The man from the moon” as ET is left alone to die on the bathroom floor. As they attempt to leave the house, an unidentified man in astronaut gear enters the front door. He holds his arms out in attempted embrace. The family try to escape from him, but everywhere they go he reappears – “the man from the moon” is more likely “the father from Mexico”. Mother objects to his presence, “This is my home!”
The one character who welcomes the astronaut is ET. The man from the moon enters the bathroom and ET responds with open arms while saying, “Home.” Daddy is back.
After ET’s death Elliot has another personal chat with the scientist / father. Here we find Elliot wrapped in a blanket, like ET on the bike. The scientist is more interested in Elliot’s feelings than he is in the priceless alien corpse now in his possession. He opens the container in which ET is stored. The lid features a large round window and is lifted so that Elliot and his father are looking at each other through the glass. The shot then pans down so that we’re looking at ET through the glass. A close up of Elliot shows him an inch away from his own reflection. Cue dialogue, “Look what they’ve done to you. I’m so sorry. (looking upward) You must be dead because I don’t know how to feel. I can’t feel anything any more. You’ve gone some place else now. I’ll believe you all my life, every day. ET, I love you.” A few seconds later and Elliot’s heart is glowing and the dead flowers return to life – the same plant that was upstairs in the closet just a few scenes ago and has now mysteriously made its way downstairs. Elliot’s declaration of love for ET is the very thing he wanted to hear from his own father. Perhaps this is what was being implied with the mirroring shots around the glass window of ET’s container.
In the next shot of the scientist he is dressed casually and having a personal chat with Elliot’s mother, the family reuniting further. The surface narrative rescue mission of getting ET back to the spaceship then ensues. Mother and scientist / father eventually join the children to say farewell to ET. This scene can be considered on several levels – Elliot saying goodbye to an imaginary friend who is no longer needed being that Dad is back home. Or perhaps the recovered sick dog or animal that ET represents is being returned to the forest or its rightful owner – notice that after ET walks up the ramp into the ship, Elliot’s dog runs up it too then changes its mind and returns to Elliot.
The film ends with a drum roll plucked from the classical piece Thus Spake Zarathustra, famously used in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Considering that E.T. uses a complex multiple narrative approach similar to that of Kubrick’s later films, Spielberg may have used this brief drum roll as a nod to Kubrick as one of his inspirations. Over a decade later Spielberg would work directly with Kubrick, developing another multiple narrative masterpiece – the sci-fi / fairytale A.I. Artificial Intelligence. A.I. and E.T. share a lot of common ground in terms of storytelling technique.