If you’ve seen too many children’s fantasy films, then E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is not glamorous in terms of plot or stunts, and even 20 years ago, it had nothing to do with any innovation or avant-garde, in fact, it had nothing to do with any Spielberg commercial or art, but when we saw it, it was different, when we saw it, we laughed with the children, we wept with ET, and when they flew across the sky, we felt like we were flying ourselves. When we see it, we laugh with the children, we cry with ET, and when they fly across the sky, we feel that we are flying ourselves, especially after E.T. was born, or 20 years after leaving, especially when we are over 20 years old, we can appreciate more that the theme of “farewell to childhood” is so ritualistic in this film, perhaps, in the 100 years of the film. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” is the most wonderful expression of this theme in 100 years of cinema. Because it is not from the point of view of an adult, nor from the point of view of a child, but from the eyes of a child who loves his childhood, but has to leave it.
In terms of technology, 20 years ago was a time when stunts could help us realize our dreams on screen without looking too flashy. In terms of presentation, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is far from Spielberg’s mature work, and many treatments are still quite young. We should be thankful that E.T. was born in that era, because it is precisely this kind of juvenility that makes the soul of E.T. Starting from Spielberg, Lucas and other outstanding filmmakers, the development of film stunts can no longer be described as “rapid”, and we can even roughly think that from when From then on, we started to enter the information age, and from then on, we started to grow up, destined to say goodbye to our childhood in 20 years, maybe even earlier.
However, some people are lucky, although they also have to say goodbye to their childhood, but their childhood feeling will never disappear, even when the temples are gray, they will dream the same dream as childhood. A kind of innocence, a kind of attachment, a kind of separation, a kind of growth, this is what Spielberg wants to convey to us through the film.
The film is about a group of children helping E.T. go home. “Wanting to go home but not being able to” is the obvious conflict that the film needs to solve, but the film does not focus on this conflict, which makes “E.T.” seem like a film without conflicts, at least the conflicts that would have been written about in the film in the past In this movie, it becomes a subordinate. The film doesn’t create a lot of “reactionary work” to stop the “action”, and the way E.T. connects with his “compatriots” is simple and meets little resistance. At the same time, although there is a conflict between the world of adults and the world of children, but Spielberg does not vilify them, and even many of them are quite humane. The real contradiction that the film faces is that, as the boy helps E.T. return home, he establishes an inseparable relationship with E.T. This feeling of wanting E.T. to return home and wanting him to stay with him becomes the element that really moves us, and that is why it is still moving 20 years later. This is the reason why it still touches people’s hearts 20 years later.
In the first half of the film, except for the mother, all the adults’ images are incomplete, the camera’s view is not higher than the highest adult waist, the perspective is completely children, and when the little boy and E.T. went to the woods on Halloween to send a signal, the image of adults began to complete, we see the face of the man wearing keys at the beginning of the film, he also told the little boy to see E.T. It is also a dream he once had. In this movie, this is the first communication between the world of children and the world of adults, although they are still separated by layers of plastic wrap, and it is at this time that the feeling of E.T. begins to disappear from the little boy, while he keeps praying for E.T. to stay. When we start to communicate with the adult world, childishness disappears from our senses little by little, and this is a fact we must admit.
However, Spielberg is far from a pessimist, in the next film, although this spiritual connection no longer exists, but the truth, goodness and beauty still did not disappear from the film, E.T. is still alive, and the action of escorting E.T. home has also changed from an individual to a group, whether to keep childhood is an individual matter, but whether to keep the childhood galloping and beautiful fantasy is a matter of the entire human race. The shot of the children flying through the sky on their bicycles is not as heavenly as the similar shot in Harry Potter 20 years later. As long as you are not far away from your own childhood, this shot will certainly make all the beautiful fantasies of your childhood vividly, you see more than just them flying across the sky with E.T., you see the picture of your own childhood, you will be amazed by your own You will be amazed by the ideas you had, you will feel sweet and excited that you were once a child.
This feeling brings us back to the state of childhood, but we are about to say goodbye to E.T. One of the most memorable scenes in this scene is when the little boy wants E.T. to stay, and E.T. puts his finger on his forehead and says, “I’ll be here.” At the end when the airship left a rainbow in the sky, even the little boy’s mother smiled with tears in her eyes. This is the charm of fantasy, this is the charm of truth, goodness and beauty in fantasy.
We must grow up and say goodbye to our childhood, but we can keep our childhood memories, keep our childhood fantasies, and keep the truth, goodness and beauty of our childhood.