The Lost Boy By Steven Spielberg - 2074 Words

There is no flowing current throughout Spielberg’s filmography quite like the Lost Boy; the ultimate lost boy being Steven Spielberg himself. As a result of moving often in his formidable years, he was always the new kid. His father, who he described as a workaholic, was often absent. The absence only grew after his parents divorced. Considered a nerd by many of his classmates, even called ‘Spielbug’ behind his back, he found solace in the world of film. In 1958, to satisfy the quest for a merit badge in Boy Scouts, he made a nine-minute video entitled the Last Gunfight. The rest, as they say, is history. Beyond divorce and a less than cool persona, he also struggled with anti-Semitism in the largely WASP neighborhoods he grew up in. All†¦show more content†¦During the journey that ensues to help E.T. accomplish his goal, Elliott harnesses the help of his brother and his brother’s friends who shunned him before. This is not dissimilar to Spielberg’s experiences in the seventh grade. In Joseph McBride’s biography a former schoolmate of Spielberg’s, Steve Suggs, explains what it was like to be involved in the young filmmakers amateur production Fighter Squad. â€Å"I remember telling my mom about it afterward. Here was this kid who was sort of a nerd and wasn t one of the cool guys; he got out there and suddenly he was in charge. He became a totally different person, so much so that I as a seventh grader was impressed. He had all the football players out there, all the neat guys, and he was telling them what to do. An hour ago at home or on the campus he was the guy you kicked dirt in his eyes. It was miraculous. It just blew me away. The parallels between Elliott and young Steven Spielberg are absolutely intentional. â€Å"E.T. began with me trying to write a story about my parents’ divorce† he’d later explain in an interview. It was the ‘alien and the alienated’ and it spoke to him. Though it was his most personal use of a lost boy, it would hardly be his last. With Empire of the Sun he described the movie as the death of childhood. The story is probably quintessentially more about the death of childhood than anything I ve made before or since. Based on a true story, Jim is separated from his family as the attack on