Continued from page 16
heart and wisdom by ten-year-old Henry
Thomas) enthusiastically shares his Star Wars
action figures with his new alien friend, we get
an instant glimpse into his lonesome dreams,
popping with Death Stars and double sunsets.
Throwing in Star Wars vernacular wasn’t just a
gimmick (as was Lucas’s groan-worthy gag in
Episode I: The Phantom Menace when he places a
gaggle of E.T.’s at the Galactic Senate). It was a
timely signal to the strength of storytelling and
populist imagination.
The two directors went to film school
together and Spielberg and Lucas have placed
enough canon information in their universes to
imply that E.T. really is an alien from a species
in a Star Wars galaxy. When the kids take E.T.
trick-or-treating he sees a child in a Yoda costume and begins to follow that child saying,
"Home… home…" (Composer John Williams
included a snippet of his "Yoda's Theme" from
The Empire Strikes Back to accompany this
scene). According to Wikia lore, this could be
interpreted as E.T. recognizing a familiar
species from his home galaxy. More likely,
Spielberg included a Yoda cameo and Star
Wars toys in E.T., so George Lucas promised to
include an E.T. cameo in the next Star Wars film
he made.
Spielberg cites other movies and stories
here, too – most potently, Peter Pan, in a scene
of uncommon lyricism where E.T. magically
mends Elliot’s finger, while we hear mom and
sister reading about Tinkerbell being brought
back to life by the power of “belief.” Spielberg
is telling us that his movie, too, is a fairy tale.
Fairy tales allow us to watch benevolently
aloof, to empathize with strangers, to get lost
in expanding universes and to always remember what is important in life.
Continued from page 26
brained schemes when they materialize.
"When we're writing music, something
will come to mind that will be really evocative and beautiful an exciting to me," he
explains. "And then some other part of my
brain will go 'Yeah, but that doesn't sound
like your band – that's not what you guys
sound like.' And earlier in my career, I listened to that guy. But I have found that if I
can ignore that motherf--ker, I make way
better shit. And that's just within the tight
confines of songwriting or producing a
record.
"But expanding that out across a creative career has been really gratifying,
because obviously, there's criticism, like
'They're not even a band anymore!' Or
'Their music is being overshadowed by
their videos!' It's this boring and repetitive
chant, like 'Stay in your box, musicians!
Stay in your box!'" Yes, he says, he's given
this quite a bit of thought. But just imagne
if he had listened to that inventionsquelching voice in his head, he growls.
"We would still be on a major label, we
would still have our videos directed by
someone else, and we'd still be listening to
the ways that we're supposed to exist in
this world.
"Like, you're supposed to rely on record
sales for income. Despite the fact that no
one is buying records! The system is so
back-asswards that if I'd listened to that
self-critical dude, OK GO wouldn't have
gone anywhere…."
Appearing: 8/15 Lincoln Hall, Chicago
august
2014
illinoisentertainer.com
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