A Critical Companion to Steven Spielberg (Critical Companions to Contemporary Directors)

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 295
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

A Critical Companion to Steven Spielberg offers a comprehensive, detailed study of the works of Steven Spielberg. Spielbergʼs early productions stand as landmarks in contemporary cinema, and his involvement with film spans all cinematic genres. Today, Spielberg enjoys an immense and enduring popularity around the globe, and his productions have attracted (and continue to attract) both public and critical attention. This book investigates several distinct areas of Spielbergʼs works and addresses the different approaches and the range of topics invited by the multidimensionality of his oeuvre. The eighteen chapters in this book use different methodologies, offering a variegated and compelling picture of Spielbergʼs films, from his earliest works such as Duel (1971) and The Sugarland Express (1974) to his most recent productions, such as The BFG (2016), The Post (2017), and Ready Player One (2018).

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
1: The Artist and Philosopher
1 “One of the Most Phenomenal Debut Films in the History of Movies”
2 Adapting Objects
3 Fear and Wonder
4 Galloping into the Jaws of Death
5 A Million Light-Years from Home
6 Of Children and Redrums
2: The Dreamer
7 Poiesis and Miracles
8 Deus ex Machina
9 A Modern Pythia
10 The Politics of Nostalgia
11 Piracy, Boy Heroes, and the Importance of Playing the Game in Spielberg’s Hook and The Adventures of Tintin
12 Categorizing E.T.
3: The Historian
13 “I Thought You Were an American”
14 Testimonies of the Past
15 Writing Postmodern Histories in Hollywood
16 Dignified Professor and Intrepid Adventurer
17 “We Spared No Expense”
18 Trivialization, Displacement, and Historical Amnesia
Index
About the Contributors