![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI saw E.T. on TV on Boxing Day - the 20th anniversary edition - and am glad how well it holds up, considering that last year I had a fierce Spielberg vs Emmerich debate with one of our exports to Hollywood. E.T. at this point was a fond memory of my childhood, but I hadn't rewatched it in recent years. And my loathing of Roland Emmerich or more precisely his movies was fueled by having had to watch The Patriot (shudder!), the trailer for Independence Day (this made sure I never watched the movie, so was on somewhat shaky grounds during the debate but managed to bluff my way through), and Stargate (James Spader was good; Jaye Davidson was underused; a mixed bag all in all).
Anyway, E.T. The first thing that struck me (pleasantly) on this adult viewing was that Spielberg, partly to blame for all the rushed storytelling in modern cinema due to the Indiana Jones flicks, takes his time here. Building up atmosphere, and the mystery. And he's careful not to show us E.T. in detail - we see shapes and body parts, mostly hands - until Elliot sees him for the first time.
Also, Melissa Matheson's script is great. Elliot, his siblings and their mother make for a convincing post-divorce family, likeable but not idealized, and the sibling interaction is completely realistic (says she who remembers the arguments and alliances back when). Once in a conversation with RozK I mentioned how relieved I was that Spielberg didn't present John and Agatha in Minority Report as a couple, because he's much better with friendships than with love stories. I had forgotten, of course, that you can classify E.T. as a love story, just not in the romantic/sexual sense. And by the time we arrive at Elliot's I love you, both script and direction have made sure that it's heartfelt, true, and not funny in the least. Oh, and there is a blessed absence of Spielberg's usual father/son obsession. Of course the missing father is mentioned, but he's never a major issue in the movie, and there is no replacement father figure. Ms Matheson should have written more scripts for Steven Spielberg.
Of course the best script can be damaged by bad acting or bad direction. There aren't many directors who have such a consistent record of coaxing good performances out of children, and E.T. is a showcase of why Spielberg rules here. (For the record, the best child performer in a Spielberg movie in my opinion is either Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun or Haley J. Osment in A.I.; I tend to favour the former because the emotional journey is much stronger.) Little Drew Barrymore is never annoyingly sweet as Gertie (and certainly not above blackmail), and Henry Thomas (whatever became of him?) as Elliot sells both the frustrated and obnoxious younger brother in the opening scenes, the curiosity battling with fear when he meets E.T. and the love and heartbrokenness at the end. And for the first time, I noticed consciously how Spielberg keeps the E.T.-and-the-children perspective consistent by showing most adults only from their hips downwards, as an endless, threatening gallery of legs (the only adult we see in full figure and close-up for a longer period of time is the mother, Mary). And such small but realistic touches as one of Michael's buddies making a move towards Mary's unsuspecting backside, only to be held back at the last minute by Michael. It's crude, but it's such a teenage boy thing to do.
Spielberg and his sense of wonder about two life forms meeting and joining. The forces of government, the military, are definitely the bad guys here, the threatening force, turning the family home into a sterilized zone in which death happens. Even when they're neutral or well-meaning, like the Man With The Keyes, they have to be evaded and outwitted because they want to possess, not co-exist. It's truly the opposite of anything Emmerich. Or of beat-the-invading-Aliens movies in general. I know John in the Farscape pilot brings up E.T. ironically, but in truth, first season John finding his way round Moya, still amazed at everything and ready to try the peaceful way first, is very much like Elliot in this movie.
Quickly surfing, I noticed the holidays produced some great fanfic. For example, a look at X2 villain William Stryker, and his motivations. And an utterly convincing story about Angel and Buffy during Christmas, post-Chosen, post-Connor. You know, usually in fanfic starring both one of them is bound to be characterized badly, and/or their history since season 3 BTVS ignored. If it's not a story with a One True Love agenda, it's a story wherein Buffy gets bashed, or less often Angel. Or, most obnoxiously, Buffy is some sort of award for the best vampire with a soul, depending on the author's agenda. Not so here. This is Angel, alienated from his friends whose memories he wiped, bereft of the son he saved and destroyed, and with Spike issues of which Buffy is only one; this is Buffy who knows all too well about the strangeness of not being one of a kind anymore, who thanks to Dawn knows what it means to raise a child, who has no intentions of restarting a romance but has a go at friendship instead. It's a story about much more important things than who ends up with whom in the end. I loved it.
Speaking of Buffy,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
malkingrey in her version of the "Unpopular Opinions" meme a while a go included what's quickly becoming my favourite statement on the matter here:
I like Buffy. Not just the perky, wisecracking early-seasons teenybopper Buffy, but Buffy all the way through to and including the thousand-yard-stare, seven-years-on-the-front-lines veteran Slayer Buffy. And I'm sometimes disturbed by the way in which she often gets condemned for those same behaviors and character traits which, if she were a guy, would have fanwriters lining up to dispense chicken soup and comfort to his wounded, suffering soul.
Moving to other fandoms: I found a great Discworld fanfic, a Vetinari pov . Be warned, though: this one makes only sense if you've read Night Watch.
And lo and behold, a Gone With the Wind fanfic from Ashley Wilkes' perspective. As Ashley is probably the Riley of GWTW fandom, treasure the rarity.
Lastly, a Sandman story, set in the Doll's House era. Desire and Dream, and Hob Gadling caught in between. Not your usual interpretation of the Dream/Desire feud, but given the nature of the Endless, it's certainly a viable interpretation.
Anyway, E.T. The first thing that struck me (pleasantly) on this adult viewing was that Spielberg, partly to blame for all the rushed storytelling in modern cinema due to the Indiana Jones flicks, takes his time here. Building up atmosphere, and the mystery. And he's careful not to show us E.T. in detail - we see shapes and body parts, mostly hands - until Elliot sees him for the first time.
Also, Melissa Matheson's script is great. Elliot, his siblings and their mother make for a convincing post-divorce family, likeable but not idealized, and the sibling interaction is completely realistic (says she who remembers the arguments and alliances back when). Once in a conversation with RozK I mentioned how relieved I was that Spielberg didn't present John and Agatha in Minority Report as a couple, because he's much better with friendships than with love stories. I had forgotten, of course, that you can classify E.T. as a love story, just not in the romantic/sexual sense. And by the time we arrive at Elliot's I love you, both script and direction have made sure that it's heartfelt, true, and not funny in the least. Oh, and there is a blessed absence of Spielberg's usual father/son obsession. Of course the missing father is mentioned, but he's never a major issue in the movie, and there is no replacement father figure. Ms Matheson should have written more scripts for Steven Spielberg.
Of course the best script can be damaged by bad acting or bad direction. There aren't many directors who have such a consistent record of coaxing good performances out of children, and E.T. is a showcase of why Spielberg rules here. (For the record, the best child performer in a Spielberg movie in my opinion is either Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun or Haley J. Osment in A.I.; I tend to favour the former because the emotional journey is much stronger.) Little Drew Barrymore is never annoyingly sweet as Gertie (and certainly not above blackmail), and Henry Thomas (whatever became of him?) as Elliot sells both the frustrated and obnoxious younger brother in the opening scenes, the curiosity battling with fear when he meets E.T. and the love and heartbrokenness at the end. And for the first time, I noticed consciously how Spielberg keeps the E.T.-and-the-children perspective consistent by showing most adults only from their hips downwards, as an endless, threatening gallery of legs (the only adult we see in full figure and close-up for a longer period of time is the mother, Mary). And such small but realistic touches as one of Michael's buddies making a move towards Mary's unsuspecting backside, only to be held back at the last minute by Michael. It's crude, but it's such a teenage boy thing to do.
Spielberg and his sense of wonder about two life forms meeting and joining. The forces of government, the military, are definitely the bad guys here, the threatening force, turning the family home into a sterilized zone in which death happens. Even when they're neutral or well-meaning, like the Man With The Keyes, they have to be evaded and outwitted because they want to possess, not co-exist. It's truly the opposite of anything Emmerich. Or of beat-the-invading-Aliens movies in general. I know John in the Farscape pilot brings up E.T. ironically, but in truth, first season John finding his way round Moya, still amazed at everything and ready to try the peaceful way first, is very much like Elliot in this movie.
Quickly surfing, I noticed the holidays produced some great fanfic. For example, a look at X2 villain William Stryker, and his motivations. And an utterly convincing story about Angel and Buffy during Christmas, post-Chosen, post-Connor. You know, usually in fanfic starring both one of them is bound to be characterized badly, and/or their history since season 3 BTVS ignored. If it's not a story with a One True Love agenda, it's a story wherein Buffy gets bashed, or less often Angel. Or, most obnoxiously, Buffy is some sort of award for the best vampire with a soul, depending on the author's agenda. Not so here. This is Angel, alienated from his friends whose memories he wiped, bereft of the son he saved and destroyed, and with Spike issues of which Buffy is only one; this is Buffy who knows all too well about the strangeness of not being one of a kind anymore, who thanks to Dawn knows what it means to raise a child, who has no intentions of restarting a romance but has a go at friendship instead. It's a story about much more important things than who ends up with whom in the end. I loved it.
Speaking of Buffy,
malkingrey in her version of the "Unpopular Opinions" meme a while a go included what's quickly becoming my favourite statement on the matter here: I like Buffy. Not just the perky, wisecracking early-seasons teenybopper Buffy, but Buffy all the way through to and including the thousand-yard-stare, seven-years-on-the-front-lines veteran Slayer Buffy. And I'm sometimes disturbed by the way in which she often gets condemned for those same behaviors and character traits which, if she were a guy, would have fanwriters lining up to dispense chicken soup and comfort to his wounded, suffering soul.
Moving to other fandoms: I found a great Discworld fanfic, a Vetinari pov . Be warned, though: this one makes only sense if you've read Night Watch.
And lo and behold, a Gone With the Wind fanfic from Ashley Wilkes' perspective. As Ashley is probably the Riley of GWTW fandom, treasure the rarity.
Lastly, a Sandman story, set in the Doll's House era. Desire and Dream, and Hob Gadling caught in between. Not your usual interpretation of the Dream/Desire feud, but given the nature of the Endless, it's certainly a viable interpretation.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I pretend the same thing...
Date: 2003-12-27 10:59 pm (UTC)Gigolo Joe: go ahead!
Minority Report: once you've watched it, try to track down Melymbrosia's review back when it was released. It's one of the most insightful ones I ever read. She also wrote a great story about one of the characters.