Why are the E.T.s always naked?
This movie could have been really great - the first half of it indeed is. But then it gets down to a silly 'alien invasion' story, when it could have been more grand - I especially like those parts where Charlie is looking for answers and using the computer systems, listening for the signal and wondering what the heck is going on. Still, once one accepts the shallowness of the premise and the moronic cliché of the storyline, it's an ok, acceptable and entertaining movie, with Charlie Sheen really doing an intense and believable performance.
My question doesn't only have to do with this movie, but almost every movie and TV show with E.T.s in them. Why are they always that same exact color (greyish brown), why are they always naked, and why can't they ever speak english when they are not in 'human disguise'? (Neither can The Terminators and such - when they lose the 'human skin', they become completely mute, at least in the first movie)
It's like we are supposed to believe that there's this amazingly advanced civilization, capable of inventing and using technology that's thousands of years ahead of what we know, but they are inable/unwilling to use any kind of clothing garments whatsoever. That is always so weird to me. When you look at the life on Terra, you can notice that it's the lower lifeforms that do not have clothing, and the higher lifeforms are already using them. Why would you NOT use clothes, if you have the option? They are handy, they protect you from the weather effects, they keep you warm, they cover the erogenic areas, and they can be used to give information (uniforms, like a pilot, a fireman, police and a cable guy, construction worker etc. make it easy to recognize certain groups immediately) and emphasize certain things when necessary (like sexually provocative clothes, for example, and so on).
Even the ancient egyptians, who were wise and above our current spiritual level (way above), used some kind of clothes, although it was presumably pretty hot in Egypt.
The nakedness makes sense in the scene where the E.T. is preparing to be disguised as a human, but later on you see a group of E.T.s gathering and talking in their (typically odd-sounding and low pitch) language (isn't that always the case? Why can't an other-planetary language resemble japanese or chinese, or any of the zillions of languages spoken by people on Terra?), clearly trying to inform each other about Charlie's character (Zane - heh, what a fitting name - it's like a combination of "Insane" and "Zany"), and then go on looking for him.
I mean, wouldn't SOME kind of uniform have served a purpose there?
I challenge you to find an E.T. movie or TV show that shows visually non-human-looking E.T.s wearing clothes. I would be really curious to see one, or even know about one.
And the Star Trek movies won't do - their E.T.s are still just "slightly made-up humans" in the visual sense. Try to find a movie with E.T.s, who look like the ones in "The Arrival", and who are fully clothed. The closest example I can think of is the Star Wars movies (the cantina, for example).
Who ever thought it was a good idea to always make them genderless and naked? (I mean, you can't show genitals on TV or in movies a lot without affecting 'the rating' (or even ratings, heh heh) - so why not just give up and put some clothes on them?)
Who is responsible for this trend? Is there at least some kind of plausible reason for it?
And no, a geek who has modelled, textured, shaded, lit and rendered something an awfully long time with lots of work and trouble is not a good enough reason. "Hey, I want people to see what I rendered, clothes would interfere with my cool skin-plugin's ability to show off" is not a good reason. I think that's why they do it - they want to show off their software and skills, but they might not be good enough to create good-looking clothes for their creations, so they just leave them naked.
Other than that, I can't really even guess why would they always want to make them naked, except maybe some egotistical sense of superiority. "Well, they are more advanced than us, but at least we have the decency to wear clothes!".. that can't be the right answer, can it? Please tell me there's a more sensible answer.
If I was to travel to another planet, no matter what the mission is, I would definitely wear some clothes. I mean, people should at least have some sort of space suits for easier exploration of planets and for convenience. But no. Always naked.