E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Films that shaped it
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Miracle in Milan Atlas note
Steven Spielberg named Vittorio De Sica's Miracle in Milan as the direct visual ancestor of E.T.'s bicycle-across-the-moon shot. De Sica's film ends with the poor taking flight on flying broomsticks. Spielberg transforms this into Elliott and his friends cycling through the moon on bikes, a direct quotation, legally approved, of De Sica's image of transcendence through childhood innocence. Miracle in Milan is available on Criterion Channel.
Films it shaped
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I remember when I saw E.T., I cried like a pig... The idea of the most vulnerable creature being one of the most powerful and meaningful in the universe... that was a big one for me. The film is based on a fundamental idea I've had since I was an '80s kid... it's a genre that I inhabit as my own. Frankenstein, Creature From the Black Lagoon, E.T., Beauty And The Beast.
