I believe A Boy's Life would have been an easy film to pitch back when it was made in the early eighties. Aliens, space and space travel was all the rage, what with Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Flash Gordon (both delicious live-action, Queen soundtracked 1980 flick and animated TV series) being all successful. If I were to pitch A Boy's Life I would definitely mention the previous successes the Sci-Fi genre has had within the last couple of years (especially Star Wars record breaking run). However, I would also mention the emotional aspects the story carries. The story of a child, all alone in this world, who happens to find friendship in the form of a creature from beyond the moon is a story capable of great drama and emotional power. Alienation and need for friendship are things we can all relate to. Also, the wacky, zany antics of an alien creature who has never been to Earth can provide comedy relief. So we have serious emotional undertones that can entertain the adults and the comedy relief of an alien and his many hi jinks on Earth for the kids. Therefore, it is a film the whole family can enjoy.
Also, kids LOVE aliens and the lovable E.T. surely falls under that category. If I was confident enough, I would also mention the marketable potential E.T. has. It would be like that scene in Spaceballs, where the wise Yogurt (Mel Brooks) shows the many examples of merchandising: E.T. cereal, E.T. Happy Meals, E.T. plush toys, E.T. T-shirts, and so on.
-Juan Sanchez
Discussion Questions:
1) McKee mentions a plethora of genres and the possibilty of mixing genres. Do you believe mixing generes to be a good idea? Any examples of great mixed genre movies? (And don't give me the whole "Ooh, Sideways is a Dramedy" thing.)
2) Do you belive A Boy's Life/E.T. could be produced in todays age? Could this film find an audience today or do you believe the film was released "at the right place, at the right time?"
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1 comment:
I absolutely agree with you that pitching E.T. would have been much easier back in the eighties. Not only were there several alien-related themes occuring in film then that allowed an easier acceptance of an idea such as E.T., but I believe that audiences today have been conditioned to expect an immediate emotional response in every scene rather than patiently waiting or working for the same effect. I imagine that if E.T. were to ever be remade, we would lose the authenticity of E.T.'s appearance due to the possibility that puppetry would be replaced with CGI.
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