E.T. “The Greatest Jewish Movie Ever Made”
In her review of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic film, Jody Rosen claims that E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is the perhaps “the greatest Jewish movie ever made”. (Rosen, Jody) Other critics also found Catholic religious parallels between the main character E.T. and Jesus.
However, when Spielberg was asked about the religious parables in the film, he answered that he did not intend the film to be religious, “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.” (Crist, Judith)
One way Universal Pictures directly appealed to the Christian community, was the film’s advertising poster that very much resembled Michelangelo’s creation of Adam story.
According to Jody Rosen who makes the claim that E.T. is ‘the greatest Jewish film ever created’, she compares the experiences of the extra-terrestrial to the common minority and immigrant story of the Jew:
“But squint closer and the film’s Jewishness comes into focus. Spielberg himself called E.T. ‘a minority story’. The safe of the spaceman marooned on planet Earth follows the classic, folkloric outline of the foundling myth. But there is another, archetypal Jewish story here, a minority story, indeed: an immigrant’s tale.” (Rosen, Jody)
You can check-out Jody Rosen’s full article below:
On the other hand, many Catholic critics interpret E.T. as a messiah figure sent from above in order to bring forth a enlightenment. In addition, E.T. is also a symbol of peace on Earth in which the society in the movie is evidently seeking.
Ken Priebe finds many parallels in the story of the film with Catholic values and interestingly states: “the indirect Christian parallels in E.T. are mostly accentuated through our subconscious mind without our even realizing it.”
You can check-out how Ken Priebe parellels the film with Christianity in his movie review:
The classic film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is a joyous family film, with a moving experience. The reassuring innocence to the film provides its viewers with an amazing cinema experience: a movie about love, loss, childhood, and growing up. A film that uses Christian and Jewish values in order to demonstrate a meaningful message to its viewers.
Bibliography
Crist, Judith. Take 22: Movie Makers on Movie Making. New York: Viking, 1984.
Priebe, Ken. “E.T.:the Extra-Terrestrial.” Review of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Universal Production). Christian Spotlight on Entertainment. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2002/ettheextraterrestrial.html
Rosen, Jody. “100 Greatest Jewish Films: No. 1 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” Review of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Universal Production). Tablet. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://tabletmag.com/100-films/84756/no-1-e-t-the-extra-terrestrial
