Extra Terrific

We have a great lake/park close to our house and every other Thursday, all summer long, the town plays a movie on a giant inflatable screen. This week they played a favorite that I hadn't seen in years... ET. The beloved sci-fi film was released in 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Melissa Mathison. Most people on planet earth have seen this movie, but for many of us it's been decades.

And I gotta tell ya--- the film still works. The magic of ET lies in its emotional roller coaster. This film brings you down into the depths of despair, spits on your soul, and then throws you up into a sky of happiness. The elation in this film is legendary. You think the damn alien is dead, and the kids are crying, everything sucks, and then boom! ET comes alive again! So alive that Elliot is telling him to shut up. It's a hilarious moment, and you can feel the smile in your bones.

So, is it that simple? Roller coaster city? Build them up and crash them down? The secret to good writing is surely to create an emotional response, but it's much easier said than done.

Another film I watched recently was Wonder. This 2017 movie, about a deformed-looking genius schoolboy, was based on the best-selling 2012 novel by Raquel Jaramillo (aka RJ) Palacio. The movie was okay, but the problem was there were too many dips and dives. It went up and down like a trampoline instead of a roller coaster. The movie felt like a damn exercise in writing an emotional scene.

It's tough to compare writing and movie-making, but I'm sorry, I can't help it. I try to be inspired whenever and wherever possible. I never read the Wonder book, and I should. Perhaps something was lost in translation. But in the end, the mind-blowing elation of ET might just be my new goal. If I can somehow create an emotional moment that powerful my job is done.