E.T. is one of the most successful films of all time – and secretly perhaps also one of the most devout. Because Spielberg, whether intentionally or not, has filmed the story of Jesus. His alien is strikingly similar to the Son of God: he comes from heaven, heals the sick, dies, rises again, and ascends to heaven. The Bible calls this the Gospel. Spielberg called it E.T.
Steven Spielberg's E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial is considered one of the great family films of the 1980s. A lost creature from outer space gets stranded on Earth, is hidden by a child, pursued by authorities, and ultimately must return home. So much for the surface of the film. But beneath it lies a second level that many viewers occupied for decadesIs E.T. A modern Jesus story as well?
This interpretation isn't entirely wrong. The film tells the story of a being that comes to humans from a higher world, is first recognized by children, heals, gives life, is persecuted, dies, is resurrected, and ultimately returns to heaven. That sounds almost too striking to be mere coincidence. At the same time, it would be too simplistic to read the film as a hidden religious lesson. However, the sheer number of religious images the film evokes is astonishing.
Jesus, the Bible, and the movie E.T.: A being comes „from above“
In the beginning, E.T. quite literally comes from the sky. His spaceship lands at night, the aliens collect plant samples, then they are disturbed and have to flee. E.T. is left behind. A being from another, higher world suddenly finds itself in the human world. Even here, the proximity to religious narrative patterns begins: a stranger comes from outside, is vulnerable, is not understood, and yet is mysteriously superior to humans.
In Christianity, too, the divine enters the human world from heaven with Jesus. Through Jesus' birth, God becomes human. Behind this lies the concept of the Trinity – one of the central elements of the Christian faith. According to this, God exists not only as the creator in heaven, but also as a human (Jesus) and as the Holy Spirit – the divine force that works in people and the world.
For the birth of Jesus, the Bible often uses images of descent or of heaven. Jesus is a spirit who comes from above. This doesn't necessarily mean that Jesus is literally descending from above, but rather that with him, the divine—a higher reality—is entering the human world. The image of „descent“ is therefore a metaphor. And precisely this metaphor is also found in E.T.
The children believe at first
Another parallel lies in who recognizes E.T. It's not the adults, not the scientists, not the government agencies. It's the children. Elliott encounters him first, then his siblings. They are afraid, but they are open.
This brings to mind a motif that appears in many religious narratives: the truth is not first recognized by the powerful. It reveals itself to the humble, the outsiders, the people who do not yet want to manage, measure, and secure everything. In the Gospels, it is often simple people, the sick, children, women, fishermen, or the socially weak who understand Jesus or to whom Jesus helps. Authorities, on the other hand, react with suspicion.
In E.T. Are they children who understand: This being is not primarily a research subject. It is a person. That is also politically and socially interesting. The film confronts two ways of dealing with the stranger. The children ask: Who are you? What do you need? How can we help you? The adults and authorities ask: What is this? Is it dangerous? How do we secure it? How do we isolate it? The film clearly opts for the first attitude emotionally.
Jesus and ET: Gentle Power and Miracles Instead of Weapons
E.T. is not a classic messiah. But he does things that the film stages as miracles. He heals Elliott's wounded finger, brings a dried-up plant back to life, and connects telepathically with Elliott. And in the famous escape scene, he makes the bicycles fly.
These moments evoke motifs deeply rooted in religious stories: healing, new life, overcoming the laws of nature. E.T. is not powerful in a military sense. He has no weapons, no army, no command authority. His power is tender: he heals, feels, remembers, touches, connects.
This is perhaps the most important point of the Jesus parallel. E.T. does not triumph through violence. He is strong precisely through his vulnerability. His body appears weak, his gait clumsy, his voice fragile. Jesus is described similarly: thin, physically weak, and from humble origins. But both change the people who come close to them – in a non-violent, caring way.
The police as the modern Romans
As the movie darkens, adults in hazmat suits appear. The house is cordoned off, the family is separated, and E.T. and Elliott are medically monitored. Suddenly, the suburb is no longer a safe place but a laboratory. What was previously a secret between children becomes a matter of state, science, and the security apparatus.
In the biblical story, it is the Romans who represent the state and the violence emanating from it. However, Spielberg doesn't simply swap the Romans for the modern state. Instead, he shows a being that is captured by the institutions of power – and these are cold, technical, and destructive. Not because the authorities are evil; some may even want to help. But they can only treat E.T. as a risk.
With this, the film also tells us something about modern societies' fear of the uncontrollable. What doesn't fit into order is measured. What isn't understood is isolated. In this logic, a miracle can't appear as a miracle at all. It becomes a problem that must be managed.
ET and the Ascension: Death, Resurrection, and Homecoming
The Jesus reading is strongest towards the end, when E.T. seemingly (or actually) dies and is resurrected: E.T. gets weaker and weaker. Then E.T. seems to die. His body lies there, pale and motionless. His friend Elliott has to say goodbye. Shortly thereafter, E.T.'s heart begins to glow again: he is alive. What follows is E.T.'s return to space.
The film doesn't depict a resurrection in the religious sense, but it stages a homecoming to the sphere from which E.T. came. His mission on Earth is over. Just as Jesus returned to heaven after his resurrection, to the kingdom of God from which he came. And both, Jesus and E.T., leave people changed.
The farewell of Elliott is particularly powerful. E.T. doesn't simply say, "I'm leaving." He points to Elliott's forehead and heart, making it clear that he will remain within him. The parallel to the sign of the cross in Christianity is unmistakable here: in this gesture of prayer, the forehead is touched first, then the heart. Touching the forehead means: God should guide my thoughts. Touching the heart means: God should be in my heart. Often, the two shoulders are also touched, symbolically drawing a cross. E.T. tells Elliott: I will always be in your thoughts and in your heart.
The Famous Finger Picture: Michelangelo in Hollywood
The fact that this religious imagery was not just projected by viewers is shown by the famous poster: E.T.'s finger almost touches a child's finger. A light glows between them. The allusion to Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam In the Sistine Chapel it's obvious: there God reaches out his finger to Adam and gives him life.
For E.T. Has this motif translated into pop culture? God and Adam become alien and child. The Renaissance becomes a movie poster. This is no small detail. This image has greatly contributed to E.T. was it ever read religiously at all. It says: This is not just about an alien. This is about transcendence.
But Spielberg didn't want to make a Bible film
Despite all these parallels, it would be wrong, E.T. to reduce it to the formula „E.T. = Jesus.“ Spielberg is a Jewish director, screenwriter Melissa Mathison did not write a Christian allegory, and Spielberg himself later explained that the emotional origin of the film was strongly linked to his parents' divorce. After his parents' separation, he was preoccupied with the question of what holds children together in a broken family and how responsibility arises.
You can tell that in the film. Elliott's family isn't whole. The father is gone. The mother is overwhelmed. The children live in a house where something is missing. E.T. fills this void. He's not just a savior from above, but also an answer to childhood loneliness. Elliott needs E.T. almost as much as E.T. needs Elliott.
That's why E.T. perhaps less a Jesus story than a story about neediness. Two abandoned souls recognize each other. One was left behind by his spaceship, the other by his father. The film is not just about rescue, but about mutual rescue.
Also an outsider and exile story
There is another interesting interpretation: some authors see in E.T. less a Christian parable than a Jewish outsider story. E.T. is a stranger, is hidden, must be protected from state persecution, and longs for home. He is a being in exile. He doesn't belong here.
This interpretation does not entirely contradict the Jesus interpretation, but shifts the focus. Then it is not primarily about redemption through sacrifice, but about alienation, protection, persecution, and return. E.T. then stands for people who stand out in a majority society, who have to hide, who are not understood, and whose otherness triggers fear.
It's precisely this openness that makes the film so compelling even today. E.T. can be read as a Jesus narrative, as a divorce film, as a Jewish exile story, as a fairy tale, as science fiction, as a childhood fantasy, and as a critique of cold bureaucracy. Good films are often not strong because they have only one meaning. They are strong because multiple meanings work simultaneously.
- Ben
- Niklas
- Ghassan
- Anna
