E.T. -- The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Union South Marquee Theater
co-sponsored by the Center for Culture, History, and Environment
E.T. -- The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Steven Spielberg (121 min., color, DVD, U.S.)
"E.T. phone home!" This iconic movie line itself offers an example of the overlap between our interactions with non-human life and technology. But this classic film about a boy's encounter with an orphaned alien from another planet offers many examples of technology's limits as well as its strengths (although who knew a simple Speak 'n Spell toy could facilitate interstellar communication?!). For unlike other movies about alien encounters, whose stories typically focus upon either the search for or threat from alien life, Spielberg asks us to consider the challenge of getting to know and understand an alien other. And his deceptively-layered film suggests that sometimes the technical tools empirical science and modern medicine deploy to make sense of the world frequently come up lacking. Instead, it is Elliott's simple love and compassion that allow him to best bridge what Derrida calls "the abyssal rupture" between himself and E.T. Join us for this 30th anniversary screening of an American classic and enjoy both the sentimental family-friendly romp and the chance to reconsider how and why we try to reach out to non-human others all around us!
Steven Spielberg (121 min., color, DVD, U.S.)
"E.T. phone home!" This iconic movie line itself offers an example of the overlap between our interactions with non-human life and technology. But this classic film about a boy's encounter with an orphaned alien from another planet offers many examples of technology's limits as well as its strengths (although who knew a simple Speak 'n Spell toy could facilitate interstellar communication?!). For unlike other movies about alien encounters, whose stories typically focus upon either the search for or threat from alien life, Spielberg asks us to consider the challenge of getting to know and understand an alien other. And his deceptively-layered film suggests that sometimes the technical tools empirical science and modern medicine deploy to make sense of the world frequently come up lacking. Instead, it is Elliott's simple love and compassion that allow him to best bridge what Derrida calls "the abyssal rupture" between himself and E.T. Join us for this 30th anniversary screening of an American classic and enjoy both the sentimental family-friendly romp and the chance to reconsider how and why we try to reach out to non-human others all around us!