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Like the Jesus depicted in the Gospel of John,
E.T. is the man who came from heaven, an alien who can sometimes pass for one of us (throw a sheet over him, and he can go trick-or-treating) but who doesn't belong here and who ultimately must return to heaven.
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E.T. comes into the world under startling circumstances -
he comes from the sky, and is left behind when his ship departs without him. He also comes into the world hunted by the authorities, as Matthew's Gospel tells us that Herod's soldiers hunted diligently for the baby Jesus. And he comes into the lives of the fractured family who take him in as the Christmas narrative in Matthew suggests: the moon hanging over the backyard shed where he hides is like the manger underneath the star.
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When E.T. meets Elliott (Henry Thomas) he takes on
the nature of a human through some sort of symbiosis - a connection that accounts for some of the movie's funniest and most frightening moments, and reminds us of the nature of incarnation, that incomprehensible union written about by Athanasius. But E.T. never surrenders his otherworldly nature, and like the Jesus of the Gospel of John, that nature is displayed through a series of signs.
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He demonstrates the power to heal: with his glowing finger (raised in the traditional visual iconography of Christ blessing) he heals Elliott when he cuts himself and brings wilted flowers back to life just as Jesus shaped power to turn back death in raising Lazarus. His otherworldly nature is most clear in E.T.'s power to levitate objects - the power to fly, if you will. The film's most iconic moment, captured in the poster for the film, is when E.T. and Elliott fly across the broad face of the moon. Fans of apocalyptic rapture theology could perhaps argue that the scene, like its later twin, shows us believers taken up in the air. I'll merely observe that ascent toward heaven is a long-standing goal of spirituality, and represents an early and incomplete movement of E.T. toward home.
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Finally, E.T. makes a vital sacrifice, giving up his union with Elliott when both are dying and seemingly taking his pain and suffering upon himself: although both are deathly ill, after that sacrificial act, Elliott rapidly recovers, while E.T. becomes weaker and ultimately dies, despite the best efforts of the doctors and scientists to save him.
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E.T.'s death leaves Elliott bereft, and in words that
might have been spoken by Jesus' apostles after the crucifixion, he says, "You must be dead. 'Cos I don't know how to feel....I'll believe in you all my life. E.T., I love you." And then Elliott closes the door of the cryogenic tomb, but to those with eyes to see (and ears to hear), it becomes clear the grave can't hold E.T., as his "heartlight" begins to glow in response to the mothership returning. (This heartlight is also iconic, reminiscent as it is of depictions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.)
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In an ironic twist, Elliott and his older brother Mike (Robert MacNaughton) steal E.T.'s "body" (just as in the Gospel of Matthew the disciples were accused of plotting to steal Jesus' body to create the hoax of his resurrection) and then, trailing a shroud, E.T. steps forth, boldly backlit in Spielbergian glory, from the tomb (or at least, from the back of a white panel van).
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Just as the disciples gathered for the ascension in Acts,
when Jesus was taken away into heaven, Elliott's family - and the scientist who sought E.T. - gather to see him ascend in the mothership. Elliott, like Mary Magdalene who encounters the risen Jesus in John, tries to keep the risen E.T. at hand. "Stay," Elliott pleads, just as Mary tried to hold tight to Jesus and he had to tell her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father." But like Jesus' final promise to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew - "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" - E.T. makes a promise that he won't forsake Elliott. With that miraculous glowing finger, he touches Elliott's head in blessing and reminds him,
"I'll be right here."
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Here in your memory; here in your heart.
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Greg Garrett
The Gospel According To Hollywood
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Spielberg says that he did not intend the film to be a religious parable, joking, "If I ever went to my mother and said, 'Mom, I've made this movie that's a Christian parable,' what do you think she'd say? She has a kosher restaurant on Pico and Doheny in Los Angeles."
Editor's Note: He may not have intended all the religious
symbols, meanings, etc., but they're all there in plain sight.
That's what gives the movie its power.
Spielberg, like a lot of Jewish folks, may be in a state of denial
of sorts, but it doesn't matter, not in the slightest.
Or maybe he's afraid of his mother. OY VEY!!!
God works in strange ways, indeed.
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Spielberg says that he did not intend the film to be a religious parable, joking, "If I ever went to my mother and said, 'Mom, I've made this movie that's a Christian parable,' what do you think she'd say? She has a kosher restaurant on Pico and Doheny in Los Angeles."
Editor's Note: He may not have intended all the religious
symbols, meanings, etc., but they're all there in plain sight.
That's what gives the movie its power.
Spielberg, like a lot of Jewish folks, may be in a state of denial
of sorts, but it doesn't matter, not in the slightest.
Or maybe he's afraid of his mother. OY VEY!!!
God works in strange ways, indeed.
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Since we're dealing with the movies here,
we thought that adding a batch of clips
was the right thing to do.
So, in order, they are:
E.T. Phone Home Scene
Ouch! Scene
Across the Moon Scene
He's Alive! He's alive! Scene
I'll Be Right Here Scene.
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