Chapter 3 E.T.—The Extra- Terrestrial As a Reaganite “Small-Government

Chapter 3 E.T.—The Extra- Terrestrial as a Reaganite “Small-Government Fable” Introduction and Chapter Overview The release of the filmE.T.—The Extra-Terrestrial in June 1982 signaled a new phase in the history of Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking� After the tremen- dous financial successes of previous blockbusters, such asJaws (1975) and Star Wars—Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), E.T. 85 achieved even higher levels of success and accelerated the high-concept formula into full swing� The film became the top-grossing movie of the 1980s, totaling more than $792 million in world- wide ticket sales alone�86 This science-fiction tale not only incorporated many narrative and stylistic elements of the early blockbuster craft; it also excelled as a vehicle for merchandise (from candy to video games) and as a branding tool for Steven Spielberg’s own newly formed production company, Amblin Entertainment� The handful of filmmakers who had proven themselves skilled in the new blockbuster craft (e�g� Spielberg with Jaws (1975), George Lucas with Star Wars (1977), John G� Avildsen with Rocky (1976), Richard Donner with Superman (1978); Prince, A New Pot of Gold 186–287) could now aim for record-breaking budgets, while producers saw the immense revenues generated through merchandise and aggressive marketing campaigns as vindication for the corporate integration of ancillary markets into the Hollywood landscape� It is this far-reaching legacy and entrenchment within the popular culture of the United States that make E.T. an interesting starting point for an analysis of the interrelationship between Reaganite rhetoric and Hollywood blockbusters� The immense popularity of E.T. raises questions of how the content and context of the film helped to propel it to these record-breaking financial successes� On the surface, the movie relates the story of a 9-year-old boy named Elliott, from a white, suburban, middle-class, single-parent family, who befriends an alien stranded on Earth� Federal agents, who are aware of an alien pres- ence in the suburb, seek to seize and use the alien for scientific purposes� The 85 The film titleE.T.—The Extra-Terrestrial will occasionally be shortened to E.T� 86 “E�T� the Extra-Terrestrial,” box-office information at boxofficemojo�com� Accessed December 16, 2018: <https://www�boxofficemojo�com/movies/?id=et�htm>� Ilias Ben Mna - 9783631837801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 12:54:14AM via free access 106 E.T. as a Reaganite “Small-Government Fable” central conflict arises from both Elliott’s and E�T�’s opposition to these plans, as E�T� wishes to be reunited with his87 fellow aliens and return to his home planet� After E�T� is captured by the government, Elliott, his siblings, and his friends mount a largely improvised rescue mission and succeed in liberating E�T� just in time to deliver him to his mother ship before it departs Earth� Through this antagonism between government bureaucracy and suburban child protagonists, the movie implicitly touches upon competing social visions of the role of government versus the role of the white, male, and middle-class individual� Through the formal and narrative positioning of Elliott, E�T�, and their friends as victorious protagonists, it can reasonably be argued that the film’s attitude toward this conflict is highly conducive to an interpretation that celebrates a racialized and gendered form of individualism in the face of an intruding, yet ultimately ineffective bureaucracy� Released the year after Reagan’s inauguration as the fortieth President of the United States, the film is located at a critical moment in recent history, shaped by the beginning of a process of cultural and political realignment� In Reagan’s 1980 campaign rhetoric,88 one of the most frequently repeated themes was the assertion that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem�”89 Reagan initially rode on a wave of dissatisfaction with the Carter administration—which he had characterized as imposing “on the individual freedoms of the people�”90 In this context, the “small-government” meta- phor became a staple for the newly formed conservative coalition and a fixture in the neoliberal consensus that characterized both major political parties after the 1980s (Mann 27–29)� Against this political backdrop, a possible interrelationship between Reagan’s endorsement of a so-called “small government” in 1980 and the tre- mendous success of a blockbuster movie that pits suburban boys against federal agents becomes tangible� Thus, the aim of this chapter is to analyze the extent and contours of these similarities� The analysis will trace the echoes of Reagan’s campaign rhetoric in the movie, as well as dissect the role of neoliberal policies 87 Even though gender and sex of E�T� remain ambiguous throughout the movie, certain narrative signifiers construct the character as male� 88 This rhetoric was among the factors that contributed to Reagan’s landslide victory against Jimmy Carter in the presidential election (Shogan: 2–3; B� Dan Wood 39)� 89 Ronald Reagan, “Ronald Reagan’s Announcement for Presidential Candidacy” (November 13, 1979)� 90 Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, “The Carter–Reagan Presidential Debate” (October 28, 1980)� Ilias Ben Mna - 9783631837801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 12:54:14AM via free access Introduction and Chapter Overview 107 in the production and distribution of the film� Drawing on Douglas Kellner’s multi-perspectival approach, this inquiry will be based on three components: 1) a discussion of the production and the political economy, 2) a textual analysis, and 3) a study of the legacy and repercussions of the film (Kellner,Media Culture: 10–16)� Reagan’s rhetoric on “small government” in the early 1980s and the related co-ordinates of his ideology at the time will serve as a primary frame of refer- ence for this ideological analysis� The reading of the film will therefore mainly focus on episodes that either address the government’s role or depict its imme- diate actions� Nevertheless, certain aspects that facilitate the understanding of the political subtexts in the film—for example, the depiction of the family, the spatial setting, the construction of E�T� as an Other—will be interwoven into this reading� Two specific foci will form the foundation for the analysis: • The dystopian undertones of the portrayal of government agents and institutions� • The restoration of the father through white, male, middle-class individualism� Based on these focal points, the textual reading will draw together possible resonances and dissonances between Reagan’s rhetoric and the movie� While the restoration of the father has already been analyzed in E.T. in psychoanalyt- ical and cultural terms (Wood 155–160), the subsequent analysis is differen- tiated by its application of George Lakoff’s concept of the “strict vs nurturant father” (Elephant 39–40) to stake out the usage of political framing devices� This makes it possible to strip back the seemingly apolitical veneer of this movie and determine how basic political frames are transformed into simple metaphors� These metaphors can, in turn, provide a basis for formulaic, high-concept story lines� In addition, the frequently observed moralist overtones and infantili- zation of the audience (Britton 102–103; Wood, 156–160) make this movie a candidate for classification as a fable�91 At of the basic level, it can be observed that this is a narrative about a talking, intelligent, non-human creature with 91 In Approaches to Literature: Genres (1987), D�W�S� Ryan and T� Rossiter define the term “fable” as “[a] very short story in which birds, insects, and animals talk and act like humans� Its purpose is to communicate a moral, to teach good behavior, and to show the hurtful side of vice [bad behavior]�” Rosario Piqueras Fraile adds that these tales not only serve entertainment purposes, but often also have hidden objectives, for example, attacking “corrupt politicians” or satirizing governmental power (33)� In this sense, the fable provides an ancient format for the production of knowledge about political power and appeals to audiences of all ages� Ilias Ben Mna - 9783631837801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 12:54:14AM via free access 108 E.T. as a Reaganite “Small-Government Fable” anthropomorphic qualities, who teaches a family—and in particular chil- dren—about an implicit value system� The inscription of patterns of legendary storytelling and mythical imagery into the movie exposes a subtext that is comparable to the use of national myths in political rhetoric (McConnell)� This analysis will lay out the ideological parameters for the themes of mythical restoration in Reagan’s campaign rhetoric on the role of government in their historical context of the early 1980s� A selection of myths—which are present in both Reaganite rhetoric and the movie—will therefore be scrutinized in terms of their relation to power and their self-ascribed “depoliticized” nature (Barthes 142–145)� As power relations between the government and the white, middle-class citizenry are central to this analysis, it is essential to understand the precise role of myths in outlining the normative parameters of this relationship� In the film analysis, the central argument aims to demonstrate how both Reagan’s rhetoric and the portrayal of government representatives in the film addressed widespread anxieties among the white, middle-class mainstream in the United States� The implicit resolution comes through the

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