What’s the significance of the ending of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi classic? ET extraterrestrial? Documenting the connection between a young boy named Elliot (Henry Thomas) and an alien creature stranded on Earth, ET extraterrestrial is a touching coming-of-age story about the inner power of love, friendship, and hope.
ending ET Evoking mixed emotions as it is both rewarding and heartbreaking to see two similar souls forced apart. After being accidentally left behind by a group of alien botanists who briefly visited Earth, Elliot discovered the aliens and immediately established an empathetic connection with them. A series of exciting adventures ensue, with ET’s presence breathing new life into Elliott’s personality and sense of self, as he struggles with severe feelings of alienation and his father’s continued absence.
The intervention of government officials, particularly an agent known simply as Case (Peter Coyote), disrupts the situation, which is further exacerbated by the alien’s desperate need to return to his home planet. A series of dramatic events intertwine, including death and resurrection, leading to the film’s emotional finale.Below is a study of different narrative themes leading up to the ending ET extraterrestrial.
Why the alien died (and how he came back to life)
While reading a Buck Rogers comic, ET was inspired to build a makeshift communications device so he could “call home” and reunited with his species. Elliot helped him build the device and the two successfully bonded on Halloween. However, after this incident, Elliot woke up in a field and the alien was missing , and later found him by Michael (Robert MacNaughton) next to a culvert, his condition seriously deteriorating. Elliot’s health also declined, but he seemed to recover after agents invaded his home. ET Dies , a distraught Elliot tearfully mourns the loss of his best friend. The cause of ET’s death may seem sudden, but it makes perfect sense when one considers that ET was a member of a hive-mind alien species. It makes sense, these species stay alive through shared consciousness and communal telepathy.
This shared link was the ET’s only source of food and was severed when he was accidentally left on Earth. When Elliot finds him, Elliot develops a telepathic link and an impromptu hive mind with Elliot, the first sentient being he has encountered in order to survive. This explains why their fates seem so inexplicably intertwined, like Elliot getting drunk at school and ET drinking beer at home. Over time, this interaction strengthens and becomes more unstable, causing Elliot to become seriously ill after the aliens are able to send a distress beacon home. ET’s “death” can be best understood in terms of a system overload and shutdown, which severed the connection to Elliot’s consciousness, thereby reviving him. Once ET’s species arrives on Earth to rescue him, the telepathic link is re-established, creating an intense surge of data transmission in the alien hive mind, causing ET’s heartlight to glow and miraculously come to life.
Due to the interdependent nature of the alien hive mind, it would be impossible for the alien to remain on Earth as this would prevent him from functioning independently. While he was able to form a temporary telepathic link with Elliot, the link was likely not as effective as one with his own kind, as evidenced by the downfall of the alien. ET’s behavior and his scene at the beginning of the film suggest that this shared consciousness is also responsible for the repair and regeneration of damaged tissue, which may be an evolutionary acquired trait or a technological achievement of the species in question.
Since ET’s condition directly affects Elliot’s health and well-being, and telepathic contact with humans is not sufficient to sustain his survival anyway, ET is forced to return home at the end of the film. Aliens are physically incompatible with Earth. Symbolically, the alien must return home simply because Earth is not his home; while Elliot and the alien have a special connection, the alien’s narrative journey can only be determined by whether he returns Beside his people, or die, as the plot dictates that he returns to the status quo at the end.
Why Elliott can’t choose ET
As the alien bids farewell to Elliot, Michael and Gertie (Drew Barrymore), he asks Elliot to return to his home planet with him. Despite the close connection between the two, it would be unrealistic for Elliot to travel with aliens because, on the one hand, the aliens’ planetary systems may not be suitable for humans, especially children. Story-wise, Elliot needs to stay on Earth so that the plot can be resolved by returning to established canons: both ET and Elliot have completed their own personal journeys, and their characters have evolved with them. Although Elliot and ET eventually return to where the story began, they are different people who have matured through their shared experiences.
Elliot experiences new hope after an encounter with an alien, who represents the wonder and wonder of childhood.as ET extraterrestrial A coming-of-age story, Elliot’s refusal to accompany the aliens back to his home planet marks the beginning of his adolescence, as he is finally able to accept his emotions and own them with confidence. Furthermore, Elliot couldn’t have left his family on Earth, and by the end he felt even more connected to them. Still, the memory of their time together will live on, as ET’s outstretched finger on Elliot’s forehead signifies, and ET will always be present in Elliot’s consciousness.
What happens next in Elliot and the Alien (and why doesn’t a sequel happen)?
due to this fact ET extraterrestrial Since it’s such a cultural maelstrom, it’s natural to wonder if there will be a sequel to the film, chronicling Elliot and ET’s reunion, perhaps after a few years.It is also worth noting that et al. alienof The original ending was planned in a very different way, with Elliot taking on Dungeon Master duties for one game. Dungeons and Dragonsthe last footage of a still-working communicator, hinted that Elliott was still in touch with ET, and while Spielberg ultimately decided not to follow this version, it did spark speculation about how their relationship had progressed over the years. , especially as Elliot grows up and faces the realities of adult life.
This could be a potential premise for a sequel, but unfortunately, although Spielberg wrote a script with screenwriter Melissa Matheson called ” ET II: Night Fear. However, Spielberg ultimately decided against it, as the sequel was intended to deal with themes rooted in horror, featuring a group of evil alien mutants who kidnapped Elliot and his friends. He believed this would dilute the surreal magic of the original film, as well as its core messages of innocence and friendship. This decision is probably for the best, as it makes the original ending all the more poignant, marking Elliot’s transition from the paradise of childhood into the realities of life.
The true meaning of ET ending
exist. . .the beginning ET extraterrestrialIn Eliot, the middle child in a proverbial broken family, he finds solace in the company of aliens because he has a childlike openness to the unknown, like the toddler in the movie Same as Barry. close contact of the third kind.ending ET Symbolizing the end of an era, a childhood often bathed in iridescent light and rosy horizons. The thrill of discovery as a child is an important part of childhood, and it manifests itself in the aliens hidden in Elliot’s tool shed. After the two meet, Elliot’s life takes on new meaning as this friendship is able to fill the void left by his intense loneliness and the absence of a father figure.The ending proves that Elliot is done Hero’s Journeyamong which his bildungsroman Ends with maturity and adulthood. Despite the bittersweet ending, ET extraterrestrial Filled with light and love, evoking a special kind of nostalgia that can’t be captured or imitated.