After the logos fade out we see the stars. In terms of plot the shot is fairly self-explanatory but thematically it resonates with simple references to a child’s hopes and dreams, for those with imagination, aspirations and magic.
The music changes to E.T.’s theme, high-pitched, enigmatic, magical. We are presented with a series of shots, seemingly one long take but in fact a number of shots carefully cut to give the impression of a smooth transition. We see forests, a classic image of change from fairy tales (a character may enter a forest as a child but won’t leave the forest doing childish things). The sounds of the forest arrive with the suddenness of a switch. We see ET’s space ship, the threshold before the transformation.
Organ music is being played, reminiscent of old Dracula films. We can hear Owls, birds of the night, and rustling. Then the foreign beeping sound starts. This sound stands out as not being part of the forest, as an intruder, for that is what the aliens are.
The shots of the spaceship are at such an angle that they rhyme with the external shots of Elliott’s house later on. These serve not only to represent the thresholds that must be crossed, the homes that must be left behind, but they are a visual reminder, reinforcer, of the connection between the two protagonists.
This is also evident in the shots of ET positioned within the shrubbery and undergrowth or behind, below trees. We also see Elliot positioned in the background, in what Mark
Cousins refers to as the z-axis. Neither is centre-stage in the foreground. Even when ET watches his friends fly off and leave him behind he is positioned to the left of screen, red ‘heart’ beating too brightly. Another thematically resonant image. Elliot and ET fall in love, look for love within family or back with friends.
Elliott must learn to grow up and one day leave his home whereas ET is looking for a way back home. ET is a classic narrative device, an outside catalyst used to represent the change from childhood to puberty. Here, though, Spielberg plays around with this device by placing ET at the centre of the story from the start. It is very much ET’s story as much as Elliott’s.
The red of the heart is a colour we see again and again. It shines brightly in the rear lights of the delivery van later, outside Eliot’s house, the house with the rising driveway, like the ramp of the spaceship.
The lighting used by the aliens is soft, sfumato like. The entrance of their craft is a moon. Their light is part of the environment, it doesn’t clash or negate any aspect of its surroundings. It is environmentally friendly light. Natural, organic light.
Shafts of light are a feature of Spielberg’s films, just ask the makers of Stranger Things. Here, during the opening of ET, these shafts are strongest when the humans arrive. They aren’t like the aliens; their lights are like blades cutting through the darkness. They are aggressive, imposing, unenvironmental.
CinÉireann / February 2018 19
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