Be good.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, by Melissa Mathison, 1982 (screenplay)

I’m not someone who rewatches the same movie over and over. Even my very favorite movies I’ve only watched a few times max. But something made me return to “E.T.” recently for the first time since I was 8 or 9 years old.

I think I was in the mood for something inspiring—something simple but epic. Something with heart. Something that made me feel like a kid again.

“E.T.” delivered, holding all the same magic I remembered and making me blink back even more tears than I did when I first watched it.

For those not familiar, if you possibly exist, “E.T.” is a movie about unlikely friendships and the power of empathy. It was also the highest-grossing movie of all time for over a decade, until 1993’s “Jurassic Park.” In the past 50 years, only “Titanic” has held the record as long.

We often associate director Steven Spielberg with “E.T.,” but the screenplay was written by Melissa Mathison, who earned a Saturn Award for Best Writing for it, as well as a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.

She wrote it at a time when just one out of 10 screenwriters, approximately, were women, making her feat all the more impressive.

The number of female screenwriters is closer to one in four today, according to the Writers Guild of America, so there’s been progress since Mathison’s time, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

After all, whoever is doing the writing holds the power. Characters don’t write themselves. The writer shapes the hero and the sidekicks, helping us see ourselves up there on the big screen, making moves and changing the world.

We have the power to support female and nonbinary screenwriters, directors, and other professionals, who still lag behind our male counterparts in both opportunity and pay. We can support them by choosing their movies.

After all, in a recent year just over half of all moviegoers (52%) were female, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Mirroring this, a recent Fandango report showed that 50% of its movie ticket buyers were female, with the other half male or nonbinary (48% and 2% respectively).

Star power may also help women advance in the industry. As one of the many ways she supports women in film, Nicole Kidman has pledged to work with one female director every 18 months. Lulu Wang’s “Expats” on Prime was a standout for me.

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Some of my recent favorite movies, which happen to be written by women, include the following. Note the strong female leads:

• “Lady Bird”: Greta Gerwig (also directed)

• “Promising Young Woman”: Emerald Fennell (also directed; Fennell also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming film adaptation of one of my favorite novels of all time, “Wuthering Heights,” and I have no doubt she’ll knock it out of the park—mark your calendars for February 2026!)

• “Nomadland”: Jessica Bruder

• “Bridesmaids”: Annie Mumolo and Kristin Wiig

• “The Holiday”: Nancy Meyers (also directed; Meyers also co-wrote another favorite of mine, "Baby Boom")

• “Juno”: Diablo Cody

• “Frozen”: Jennifer Lee (also co-directed)

• “Lars and the Real Girl”: Nancy Oliver

• “The Farewell”: Lulu Wang (also directed)

• “Queen & Slim”: Lena Waithe

• “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”: Jenny Han

• “Winter’s Bone”: Debra Granik (also directed) and Anne Rosellini

• “Booksmart”: Katie Silberman (along with Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, and Susanna Fogel)

Strong female leads in more ways than one.

And let’s not forget Nora Ephron, who wrote masterpieces like “When Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail” (also directed), “Sleepless in Seattle” (also directed), and “Julie & Julia” (also directed).

This morning, The New York Times released its “exciting new list” of The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century, and not a single movie written by a woman made the top 10. (I can’t see the full 100 due to the paywall.) So, none of the movies I listed above contend with “Parasite,” “Mulholland Dr.,” “There Will Be Blood,” “In the Mood for Love,” “Moonlight,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Get Out,” “Spirited Away,” and “The Social Network”? I don’t believe it.

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Back to the power of “E.T.” …

It will quickly become apparent to any adult or child with a heart watching the movie that empathy is E.T.’s superpower. Empathy is also the central theme of the movie, specifically how it connects us and helps us lift each other up.

In the movie, remember how Elliott’s parents recently divorced? And how his older brother constantly picks on him? E.T.’s world is also changing quickly, literally, as he finds himself accidentally left alone on Earth by his “people.”

Drawn together through curiosity, caring, and a mutual love of Reese’s Pieces, Elliott and E.T. soon become buddies. We see through several funny and sweet scenes how empathy is the cornerstone of their friendship. Like when Elliott feels tipsy at school after E.T. chugs a few beers at home in an attempt to quench his thirst. Or when Elliott suddenly gets the idea to set the frogs free during a science experiment, or to kiss the girl who likes him.

Or when Elliott says to a dying E.T., “You must be dead, because I don’t know how to feel. I can’t feel anything anymore.”

At the end of the movie, when the two friends must part, E.T. points to his heart and says, “Ouch,” with Elliott nodding in agreement over the heartache.

We see E.T.’s similar close connection to all life in other examples, like when he brings a dying plant back to life by gently touching it. It's through his empathy that we understand E.T. to be an advanced being.

Bravo to Mathison for creating a beloved central character with timeless appeal.