The Truth About Steven Spielberg’s Alien Obsession
The creatures in Close Encounters of the Third Kind contact humans using music and lights, but the director offers only glimpses of them, mostly in silhouette. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial spends plenty of screen time depicting the titular character as a fish out of water; meanwhile, viewers never get to see the inside of E.T.’s spaceship. Wells’s classic sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds, the extraplanetary invaders stay largely hidden, preferring to observe humanity from behind their weaponry.Aliens are just as camera-shy in Disclosure Day, Spielberg’s newest ostensible examination of them.
- ▪The creatures in Close Encounters of the Third Kind contact humans using music and lights, but the director offers only glimpses of them, mostly in silhouette.
- ▪E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial spends plenty of screen time depicting the titular character as a fish out of water; meanwhile, viewers never get to see the inside of E.T.’s spaceship.
- ▪Wells’s classic sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds, the extraplanetary invaders stay largely hidden, preferring to observe humanity from behind their weaponry.Aliens are just as camera-shy in Disclosure Day, Spielberg’s newest ostensible ex
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| Canonical URL | https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/06/steven-spielberg-alien-movies-disclosure-day-et/687693/?utm_source=feed |
| Publication time | 2026-06-25T10:40:37-04:00 |
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CultureThe Truth About Steven Spielberg’s Alien ObsessionThe director has spent decades telling stories about extraterrestrials without ever leaving Earth.By Shirley LiMark Sennet / GettyJune 25, 2026, 10:40 AM ET ShareSave This article contains spoilers for the film Disclosure Day.As much as Steven Spielberg likes aliens, he seems to prefer holding them at arm’s length. The creatures in Close Encounters of the Third Kind contact humans using music and lights, but the director offers only glimpses of them, mostly in silhouette. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial spends plenty of screen time depicting the titular character as a fish out of water; meanwhile, viewers never get to see the inside of E.T.’s spaceship. And in his adaptation of H. G.
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