SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: OOI YIN JI

STUDENT ID NO: 0319962

FILMS SELECTED: AVATAR AND EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS

WORD COUNT: 939

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 8TH, 2015

Compare between two science-fiction movies- Avatar and E.T.

Movies are made as a type of entertainment for people. People tend to have different

feeling by watching different types of movies. Movies can make people laugh, cry or even feel

horror. Thus, it can be seen that movies are classified into different type of genres. Genres are

differing from various factors such as setting, theme, message, mood, format and others. There

are some main film genres such as action, adventure, science-fiction, comedy, horror and

romance. I personally keen on watching science fiction movies. Science fiction is a movie genre

of fiction that explores imaginary possibilities and consequences of developments in science and

technology. To put in another way, science fiction plays with answers to the big scientific

questions we ask of our imaginations: What would happen if…? For this essay, I will be

comparing two science-fiction movies which are ‘Avatar’ directed by James Cameron, and

‘Extra-Terrestrials (E.T.)’ directed by Steven Spielberg. I will discuss about the similarities of

these films in the aspects of characters, theme, message and the magical effects in the movies.

First and foremost, one of the similarities between both movies is the main characters.

The main characters in these two movies are set as aliens. In ‘Extra-Terrestrials’, there is an alien

called E.T. which is a lost, warm-hearted and homesick visitor from another planet. He was

mistakenly left stranded on Earth – a place where three million light years away from his home.

E.T. is child-sized, his fingers are long but only three for both hands, his feet are large like a

grown-up’s, his head is huge as well as his eyes! On the other hand, in ‘Avatar’, there are also

aliens who peacefully inhabited in Pandora – a new and beautiful world. They are Na’vi who is

blue-skinned, large golden-eyed race of slender giants, and each one with 12 feet tall, way much

taller than humans. Na’vi also has long, sweeping tails and a pair of sharp ears. Both E.T. and

Na’vi have different physical characteristics from human being and they are known as aliens.

The next common element that can be found in ‘Avatar’ and ‘Extra-terrestrials’ is the

theme. The theme of these two movies is related to love and sacrifice between human and alien.

In ‘Avatar’, Jake Sully – the human sacrificed himself for the one he loved – Neytiri, the alien

and her planet, Pandora. Humans destroyed Pandora by burning the trees and killed the people to

get rich resources which desperately needed by Earth. To protect Neytiri, Jake fought with his

own race. Jake sacrificed his life and his race for Neytiri. In ‘Extra-terrestrials’, I strongly feel

the love between E.T. and Elliott who is the first little boy found E.T. Elliott protected E.T. from

people even his family. E.T. shared his feelings with Elliott, and they bonded. When E.T. caught

by scientists and was very weak, Elliott was sick as well. E.T. decided to sacrifice his life for

Elliott. Elliott was heartbroken and expressed his love for E.T. However, E.T. was then

miraculously resurrected! It is clearly seen that there is a similar theme of loving spirit and

scarification in both movies.

Besides, both of the movies portray similar message which is anti-violence. The anti-

violence message is showed in the climax of both movies. In ‘Avatar’, there is a scene where all

the Na’vi were shot, and the only survivor was Neytiri, but those humans and robot machines

kept shooting and destroying Pandora without sympathy. The audiences were given a dose of

violence to appeal to their gory senses and hence they were appalled by it. The audiences felt

disgusted by the scientists’ actions that destroyed the Pandora and laughed in the meantime. For

‘Extra-Terrestrials’, there is a scene where E.T. caught by authorities and scientists. E.T. was

then surrounded by doctors and scientists who want to study him. E.T. was suffered and

eventually got sick and dead. The audiences felt sympathy for E.T. because E.T. wasn’t meant to

bear this result. E.T. wasn’t a threat to human and what he wanted was to go back to his home.

Hence, both these movies successfully left an anti-violence message to their audiences by

showing the negative scenes.

Due to the same genre, the magical effects in both movies are seen similar. The magical

effects in both movies provide a good visual effect to their audiences. Also, the timing of

occurrence of magical effects in both movies is out of expectation and it gives audiences a ‘wow’

effect. For example, in “Extra-Terrestrials’, the magical effects that performed by E.T when E.T.

tried to escape from polices. When the audience thought that E.T. and the boys would get caught,

E.T. made the bicycles flew through the air and escaped successfully. On the other hand, in

‘Avatar’, when Jake and Neytiri were in the forest of Pandora, Jake was surprisingly surrounded

by a lot of white and tiny seeds of the Eywa, the Mother Tree of Pandora. Magical effect in both

movies is very real and appealing to eyes. It helps to make both movies successful, providing a

sheer watching experience.

In a nutshell, movies under the same genre do have similar elements and can be easily

noticed. These two films do have some similarities from various aspects such as setting, theme,

message and magical effects in the movies. However, they also have some differences which

make each of them unique and remembered by the audiences. Both of the movies deserve high

movie ratings and worth watching them again and again. “Every great film should seem new

every time you see it,” Roger Ebert said.

References

1. Tim Dirks (2015). Main Film Genres. pp2. Retrieved 21 March 2015 from

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

2. Rachael Young (September 21, 2011). Genre and its importance. Retrieved 21 March

2015 from http://www.slideshare.net/rachaelyoung/genre-and-its-importance