Aliens On Earth.com Resources for those who are stranded here Our Bookstore is OPEN Over 5000 new & used titles, competitively priced! Topics: UFOs - Paranormal - Area 51 - Ghosts - Forteana - Conspiracy - History - Biography - Psychology - Religion - Crime - Health - Geography - Maps - Science - Money - Language - Recreation - Technology - Fiction - Other - New Search... for keyword(s)   in Page Titles in Book Title/Author in Contents of Pages ---other searches--- Metacrawler Yahoo FAST Search Google Altavista Dogpile Inference Find Northern Light IWon.com MSN Search Las Vegas Sun Location: Mothership -> UFO -> Updates -> 1998 -> Dec -> Is 'E.T' A Retelling Of The Christ Story?

UFO UpDates Mailing List

From: Stig Agermose <Stig_Agermose@online.pol.dk>
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 02:45:11 +0100
Fwd Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 12:28:09 -0500
Subject: Is 'E.T' A Retelling Of The Christ Story?


Source: The Midland Reporter-Telegraph. URL:

http://www.mrt.com/religion/archives/9810/et10.html

Stig

*******

Dr. David R. Allen, new head of the theater program at Midland
College, has a rather interesting, but not unique, theory about
the meaning of "E.T.," the 1983 film from Stephen Spielberg that
has firmly entrenched itself in American culture.

*

Is 'E.T.' a retelling of the Christ story?

By Jimmy Patterson
Staff writer

*

Dr. David R. Allen, new head of the theater program at Midland
College, has a rather interesting, but not unique, theory about
the meaning of "E.T.," the 1983 film from Stephen Spielberg that
has firmly entrenched itself in American culture.

Speculation has always held that the film is a retelling of the
Christ story, and Allen buys into that notion.

"E.T. comes from above, is left behind, is given shelter by
Elliott and, while he is with Elliott, brings plants back to
life," Allen said. "He can communicate on a non-verbal level and
he heals people. He is chased by the authorities, captured by
the authorities and then dies. After his death, Elliott goes to
him and he lives again and then Elliott takes him back to his
space ship and he returns to heaven."

A simple translation with one further parallel: The last thing
E.T. tells Elliott: "I'll be right here," the alien says,
placing a finger on Elliott's heart.

There are overriding messages of faith and spirituality
throughout many of the films of Spielberg, who is of the Jewish
faith.

"Every single one of them," Allen said. "If you look at a lot of
his films, you will see a recurring motif is light and moving
toward the light. That is his sense of the spiritual. During a
scene in 'Amistad,' the camera pans up a slave's body and he is
holding his hand up to the sky and to the light of the stars.
Throughout the film, there's a sense of moving toward the
light."

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind," one of Spielberg's early
films, dealt with "moving toward a greater understanding and of
our place in the world," Allen said.

"Star Wars" is another example of a film that offers a "clear
sense of spirituality with 'The Force' and (producer) George
Lucas' pop take on that."

More recently, this summer's "The Truman Show" had clear
religious overtones.

"One might be able to say that 'The Truman Show' is a feminist
retelling of the story of Eden. And I'm not talking in terms of
feminist being women's power, but in the philosophical sense of
a different point of view than the masculine telling of the
story that came before it: that men were everything and that
everything was done for the man. The feminist meaning is that
neither man nor woman is the most important, but that we are of
equal value.

"If I look at it that way, I see the retelling of the Eden story
(in 'The Truman Show'). The character Christof is God, Truman is
Adam. As Truman goes through his world he is happy but
dissatisfied, and then along comes Eve. One of the actresses in
the movie, Lauren, gives him the knowledge that his world is a
setup for him. He then becomes extremely dissatisfied and leaves
Eden of his own accord. Lauren gives him the knowledge by which
he can have a better life, and then he takes it on despite all
the problems that may come with it."

Other recent movies with clear religious themes include "The
Shawshank
Redemption," "Dead Man Walking" and "The Spitfire Grill."

=A9