E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: contexts, genre and narrative — Eduqas GCSE Film Studies C670
Eduqas GCSE Film Studies · C670
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: contexts, genre and narrative
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
What you need to know
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982): a gentle alien left behind on Earth is found by ten-year-old Elliott, who hides him with his brother Michael and sister Gertie; as government agents close in, E.T. falls ill, and the children help him escape to his spaceship.
A Universal summer blockbuster of 1982 made by Steven Spielberg, with John Williams's score and the special effects of the time.
Suburban California and a family split by divorce.
The 1980s and a distrust of government, after the Cold War fears of the 1950s.
Science fiction in which the alien is a friend and the authorities are the threat, mixed with the family film.
Narrative: the bond between Elliott and E.T., the agents' pursuit, E.T.'s 'death' and recovery, the farewell, and themes of friendship, childhood and accepting difference.
A short worked paragraph linking a context to a specific moment in the film, as the comparison question rewards.
Worked answers with their marks, and practice questions to try, each headed 'Practice question' with its marks.
Quote only short lines of dialogue you're sure of, a few words at a time, and base every point on what happens in the finished film.
