The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: E.T.
written by Melissa Mathison
E.T. is an excellent movie to study for its
rising conflict with increased jeopardy to the protagonist, for its magical
moments, for its gentle humor and for its integration of subplot and main
plot.
Structural Analysis
Note: times refer to edited TV version
- The Hook (1 min.)
- We begin with a bang, a flying saucer in a forest, its alien creatures
collecting plant samples.
- The Complication (3-5 min.)
- Then a truckload of humans arrive, and the aliens
race to escape. But one gets stranded. E.T.
- Call to Action (13 min.)
- Our protagonist, a boy named elliot, hears a noise outside (8 min.),
and when he goes to investigate, something returns a ball he throws (9 min.).
But his older brother and his friends don't believe him that something is
out there. Investigating again, the boy finds E.T. - and, what is essential,
tries to befriend him, despite his strange looks.
- Act One Plot Point (25-30 min.)
- elliot brings ET into his bedroom, keeping him as a kind of playmate
and pet, beginning a relationship with the alien. Finally he shows ET to
his brother and sister, a secret between them all.
- Midpoint Plot Point (53 min.)
- ET manages to communicate that he is from outer space - and that
he wants to go home. Despite elliot's wanting him to stay, the kids help
ET concoct a machine that can call his people to fetch him (60 min.).
- Act Two Plot Point (73 min.)
- But human investigators have traced ET, and here - with ET very
sick - is where they find and capture him. All seems lost, with ET getting
sicker by the moment and being treated like a frog in a lab class.
- Resolution (90-107 min.)
- But when elliot says to ET, on what is presumably the alien's
death bed, "I love you," this proves to be a power that revives ET (the
boy's and the alien's feelings are connected), and later (94 min.) elliot
with his brother's help steals the truck in which ET is held - and the
chase begins to get to the forest where ET's people are coming to pick
him up. ET goes home.
Step outline
Notes
E.T. weaves plot and subplot into a narrative of rising tension and
increased danger to "the good guys." Throughout the film, to the end of
Act Two, the "humans" after ET are shown progressively on the trail and
getting closer, in short visual scenes. For example, at 23, 34, 54, 65 and
71 minutes we are reminded that ET is being pursued - and then, of course,
the humans arrive to study him and take him away. This reminder of danger,
and our knowledge that the humans are getting closer and closer, increases
jeopardy to the plan to get ET home.
Visual storytelling is also very strong here. Both the sequence in the
forest that is the story's hook and the chase at the end that leads to
its climax are virtually without dialogue. Here a picture is worth
a thousand words - and it is instructive to see how these "silent actions"
are treated rhetorically in the screenplay.
ET also is filled with moments of gentle humor, most of it a result of
this alien's total charm (unlike all the monsters that came before and
after).
But at root, this is a very human story, about a lonely boy who finally gets
his playmate - and then must learn to say goodbye (after saving ET with
the power of love). The original title of this script was A Boy's Life,
which gets to the heart of the story, though admittedly very less a commercial
title.
E.T. is well worth studying over and over again.
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
[BACK TO TEXT]
8/98