Posted on June 11, 2022
This is an update of my post published on June 11, 2011:
This science fiction film – which premiered in theaters on this date in 1982 – is about a friendly extraterrestrial creature stranded on Earth and the children who help him to re-establish contact (“Phone home!”) with his spaceship so he can go home. This movie was hugely popular, when it was first released; it became the highest-grossing film of all time, over Star Wars (A New Hope) – a record that stood for 11 years, only to be eclipsed by Jurassic Park (the first one!). It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won four Oscars plus other awards.
This movie was notable to me – at the time when it was released – because it was one of the few that portrayed alien creatures in a positive light. (Another that did, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was created by the same director as E.T., Steven Spielberg.)
How about doing a research project about how aliens are portrayed in movies and books? How many authors and screenwriters show aliens as monsters who attack humans and who need to be destroyed?
How many show aliens as interesting possible friends?
How many show aliens as powerful, technologically advanced good-guys?
How many show aliens who are super mysterious and impersonal and aloof, or hard to recognize as sentient in the first place?
Here are some movies that could be part of such an analysis:
Warning: some of these are really scary, and some movies may be rated R. But you can check plot summaries on the internet, rather than watching them.
- Alien movies
- Star Wars movies
- War of the Worlds
- Independence Day
- Contact
- Starship Troopers
- Cocoon
- Starman
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- The Day the Earth Stood Still
- 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact
- K-Pax
- Star Trek movies
- Avatar
- Battle: Los Angeles
- The Blob
- Men in Black movies
- Guardian of the Galaxy movies
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Ender’s Game
Also on this date:
National Yarn Bombing Day
Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau’s birthday
Anniversary of the death of philosopher / teacher / writer Roger Bacon
Corn on the Cob Day
King Kamehameha Day in Hawaii
Plan ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
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June holidays
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June birthdays
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Historical anniversaries in June
And here are my Pinterest boards for:
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July holidays
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July birthdays
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Historical anniversaries in July
