Now, by saying that they are the same I am not saying that they are the same movie over and over again, although that happens from time to time cough Transformers cough. These are basic structure models that movies, and all stories are woven with and a good film takes this structure and makes something unique. There are some exceptions though, because there are good movies that do not follow this structure, some that come to mind are the Mobius Strip-esque movies that Charlie Kaufman writes. Now that we understand that most stories may be similar, we get into E.T. and the Christ Story.
Now Frank Tomasulo makes some good points in this article The Gospel according to Speilberg in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and I don't always disagree with him. Although I do find that some of his points are a bit of a stretch when saying that E.T. is expressly unique in mirroring the Christ story. Yes, it is a story of separation, trials of initiation, and return, but so is Superman and Harry Potter. The Christ story follows the same structure as The Hero's Journey and by comparing certain story elements that match up seems moot because they both follow the same structure.
I think it is a stretch when Tomasulo calls E.T.'s death a "high-tech crucifixion. Come on, what does that even mean?! In reality it was never fully shown what was killing E.T. but it was implied that it was because our earth could not sustain his life, plus all he ate was candy and that can't be good for you. Again, Tomasulo says there is even an "empty tomb" scene in both narratives. This is just a basic reveal and is not specific to the Christ story. Just because something was there and when someone looked it wasn't there does not mean that their intention was to reference the empty tomb in the Christ story.
Although E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial does hit some of the same plot points as the Christ story, their journey is in fact very different. Jesus was very much a leader in his life and people who followed him blindly did what he said. In E.T., if Elliot was not there E.T. surely would have died and even then he was only seen by few as "godly."
I'm not refuting the fact that there are many parallels between the two narratives. The white clothed, glowing heart image of E.T. is hard to argue. I think that Tomasulo argument was weak because E.T. is not specific enough to the Christ story and he was trying to find parallels that were not there between the two narratives to support his argument. It would have been much more cohesive to read an article about how they both mirrored Joseph Campbell's, The Hero's Journey and showed how they are both similar to that.
Also, if we are going to worship an alien... it might was well be ALF.
I agree with you that Tomasulo's argument in his article was a bit of a stretch, however there were indeed many parallels between both E.T. and Christ, which I had never noticed before. I actually felt the same way as you when reading Tomasulo's reference about the "high-tech crucifixion" at the end of E.T. One parallel that can certainly be made is that both E.T. and Christ die and are resurrected, however it is quite the stretch to compare E.T.'s death to Christ's death. Christ was actually tortured, nailed to a cross, etc. In essence, I think that Spielberg wanted viewers to see E.T. as a hero. Tomasulo suggests that Christ too was a hero, but I agree with you that Christ had much more of a heroic impact on many people, whereas E.T. just impacted the family. I also think that reading an article comparing E.T. to just the Hero's Journey would have definitely been interesting, but without Tomasulo's article I would have never realized how much religious symbolism was incorporated into the movie. Also, love that you pointed out that a possible explanation for E.T.'s death could have been all the candy he ate in the movie..Definitely never considered that one! Nice post :)
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you that the argument is a little bit exaggerated. I also agree that parallels can be found in other stories too. As you explained E.T. story of separation, trials of initiation and return but there are other hero type stories that follow the same structure. I think that E.T. being a type of savior figure is something that can be found in other hero stories (which is something I didn't consider before). I think the religious symbolism is something that makes it more Jesus-like than other hero stories.
ReplyDeleteThis starts out really well, and I love seeing how polished your writing style has become. And you're right about most stories being structurally pretty much the same, and the Hero's Journey and etc. What I'd have liked to see you do though, rather than just disagreeing with Tomasulo (and agreeing with him at the same time; it's not entirely clear what you were taking exception to), is taking the observations about mythic structure through to analysis--not so much is it there, but what narrative purpose does it serve? How and in what ways does this particular structure reflect 1980s American concerns and anxieties?
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