Steven Spielberg is best known for transforming the landscape of cinema through groundbreaking blockbuster movies such asJaws,Raiders of the Lost Ark,andJurassic Park. He’s also garnered critical acclaim for historical films likeSchindler’s List,Saving Private Ryan,andBridge of Spies. Yet beyond his innovative action-adventure thrillers and later achievements in historical realism, one movie more than any other gets to the heart of Spielberg as a filmmaker.E.T. the Extra-Terrestrialis the only one of his truly great works of cinema with autobiographical aspects to it, and it’s this factor that helps the movie resonate with me.
Spielberg has openly admitted thatE.T.was about the moment during his childhood when his parents got divorced. The film’s protagonist, Elliott, represents the young Spielberg, the son of a newly single mother, in desperate need of a friend to fill the void left by his absent father. That friend arrives in the improbable form E.T., an alien who’s landed on Earth by mistake. However, his stay is only meant to be a temporary exception to humanity’s isolation from extraterrestrial life, which is why a sequel to the movie would undermine its emotional impact. Thankfully,Steven Spielberg agrees thatE.T.’s perfectas it is.
E.T. Is Still One Of My Favorite Steven Spielberg Movies
It Tugs At The Heartstrings Like Few Other Films Can
I’ll never forget the first timeI was captivated by the arrival of E.T. in Elliott’s life, and moved by the mutual warmth and humor that forged their unlikely bond. I was 10 years old, the same age as Elliott, when I first watched the movie, and too old to cry at sad endings, I thought. Yet I found myself fighting back the tears when E.T. and Elliott both pointed to their hearts and said, “Ouch,” before embracing each other, as E.T.’s journey back to his home planet awaited him.
E.T.’s ending shows Spielberg at his very best, because it combines two kinds of magic only cinema can show us in visual terms.
To this day, I get a lump in my throat when I watch this scene, which showsSpielberg at his very best,because it combines two kinds of magic only cinema can show us in visual terms. There’s the magic of science fiction, which opens up otherwise unimaginable possibilities forkids like Elliott who feel lonely and alienated by the world around them. But there’s also the magic of love, a powerful emotion unconditionally craved but almost always only expressed conditionally in the real world.
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Elliott and E.T. have built such a strong friendship that they feel the kind of heartache only love can cause when it’s time to say one of thesaddest goodbyes in movie history. That Spielberg is able to render this powerful sentiment on screen in the context of a sci-fi story about an alien is testament to his ability as a filmmaker and storyteller. For this reason,if I had to choose a Spielberg movie to watch any day of the week,E.T.would still be right up there.
Why Steven Spielberg Didn’t Make A Sequel To E.T.
He Considered It, But Thought He’d Be Doing The Original Movie Harm
Steven Spielberg did enlistE.T.’s screenwriter Melissa Mathison to co-write a treatment with him for a sequel to the movie, which wasprovisionally titledE.T. II: Nocturnal Fears. This sequel was going to be about Elliott getting kidnapped by evil aliens, and calling on E.T. to rescue him. Spielberg soon scrapped the idea, however, because he felt a sequel wasn’t going to add anything to the originalE.T.
As the director said in 2009, “We had nowhere to take it except to go home with him.” (viaThe New Zealand Herald) Famously, E.T. asks Elliott to come with him onto the spaceship in the movie’s final scene, but Elliott refuses, cutting off that avenue for the development of another story set in space.
Spielberg worried that a sequel would take something away from the original movie. “I think a sequel to E.T. would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity,” he told the American Film Institute in 2012. “People only remember the latest episode, while the pilot tarnishes.” He rightly assumed thatany sequel to his masterpiece would only diminish its stature.
Why An E.T. Sequel Might Have Ruined The Magic Of The First Movie
It Would Lessen The Movie’s Emotional Impact
The emotional power ofE.T.’s finale, in which Elliott says goodbye to his extraterrestrial friend, is predicated onthe idea that they’re never going to see each other again. Spielberg making a sequel to the movie would necessarily change this aspect of the original story, as a second film would surely have to involve both E.T. and Elliott as well. At least, that’s what the treatment forE.T. II: Nocturnal Fearsinvolved. Luckily,Spielberg changed his mind and rejected thisE.T.sequelbefore it got past the ideation stage.
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What’s more, the magical moment in which Elliott discovers E.T. for the first time can never be replicated in any sequel. Some things are best left alone, as the multiple revivals of Spielberg’sIndiana Jonesfranchise have surely proven.E.T. the Extra-Terrestrialis ultimately too close to home for Steven Spielberg to revisit its story in another movie. The original is even better for his decision, and we should applaud his refusal to give in to the temptation of turning the biggest commercial success of its day into a multi-billion dollar franchise.
