| 9780300186932 |
| 0300186932 |
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Summary
Summary
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a film-centric portrait of Steven Spielberg, the extraordinarily gifted movie director whose decades-long influence on American popular culture is unprecedented
"A swift and elegant introduction to Spielberg's life and work."--David Denby, New Yorker
"Everything about me is in my films," Steven Spielberg has said. Taking this as a key to understanding the hugely successful moviemaker, Molly Haskell explores the full range of Spielberg's works for the light they shine upon the man himself. Through such powerhouse hits as Close Encounters of the Third Kind , E.T ., Jurassic Park , and Indiana Jones, to lesser-known masterworks like A.I. and Empire of the Sun, to the haunting Schindler's List , Haskell shows how Spielberg's uniquely evocative filmmaking and story-telling reveal the many ways in which his life, work, and times are entwined.
Organizing chapters around specific films, the distinguished critic discusses how Spielberg's childhood in non-Jewish suburbs, his parents' traumatic divorce, his return to Judaism upon his son's birth, and other events echo in his work. She offers a brilliant portrait of the extraordinary director--a fearful boy living through his imagination who grew into a man whose openness, generosity of spirit, and creativity have enchanted audiences for more than 40 years.
About Jewish Lives:
Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present.
In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award.
More praise for Jewish Lives:
"Excellent." -New York Times
"Exemplary." -Wall Street Journal
"Distinguished." -New Yorker
"Superb." -The Guardian
Author Notes
Molly Haskell is a film critic and the author of five previous books, including From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies , and Love and Other Infectious Diseases . She writes and lectures widely on film. She lives in New York City.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Noting that Steven Spielberg has said "Everything about me is in my films," legendary movie critic Haskell (Love and Other Infectious Diseases) weaves Spielberg's entire body of work through her captivating narrative, providing a poignant study of him as a person and a filmmaker. She shows how the undercurrents of his youthful life are projected on the screen, such as his untraditional parents and their eventual divorce, his interest in storytelling over sports, and his simultaneous fascination with, and feelings of alienation from, his Jewish background. As Haskell observes, Spielberg's filmmaking allowed him "to play vicariously and imaginatively all the roles denied him and other Jews not just in life but on the Hollywood screen." At the beginning of his career, his movies (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) are filled with wonder and magic, but eventually they evolve into more socially conscious stories (The Color Purple, Schindler's List) that often coincide with his personal experiences or with world events. In Haskell's telling, he "grew up" alongside his films, letting his feelings and anxieties play out on the screen while achieving global fame and respect as "the world's most successful movie entertainer ever." Haskell's biography, issued as part of Yale University Press's Jewish Lives series, reveals how a moviemaking genius's personal life shaped his craft and, in the process, reshaped popular culture. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Film critic Haskell (My Brother My Sister, 2013) takes a measured look at the life of an iconic director via his work in her contribution to Yale's Jewish Lives series. Born in 1946, Spielberg grew up feeling like an outsider as one of few Jews in the suburbs of New Jersey and Phoenix. Shortly after he dropped out of college, his short film Amblin' led to a major deal at Universal, where he started out directing television before moving on to the troubled production of the film Jaws, which would usher in the era of blockbuster movies. Other hits, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., cemented his status as a hit director as well as establishing the boyish sense of wonder for which his work would become known. As his career matured, so did his material: he tackled serious subjects such as abuse (The Color Purple), slavery (Amistad), and the Holocaust (Schindler's List). Haskell marvels that at the age of 70, the director is still going strong. A solid starting point for anyone curious about Spielberg.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2016 Booklist
Choice Review
Spielberg is probably recognized by the international film audience more than any other American director. From Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Raiders of the Lost Ark, from E.T. to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, from Schindler's List to Saving Private Ryan to Minority Report, and from War of the Worlds to Bridge of Spies, filmgoers and scholars have been taken with the imagination and complex aspects of Spielberg's films. In just more than 200 pages, film critic Molly Haskell succeeds in touching on the reasons Spielberg chose the subjects he did and his methods of revealing the importance of those subjects to himself as well as to audiences in the US and around the world. Haskell notes Spielberg's admiration for John Ford, another great American director who could take on almost any script on any subject and work it into a polished product with great finesse. There are not many directors with this ability. The notes are pertinent, the index is tight, and the book is a good starting point for an analysis of one of the US's greatest directors. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Robert James Blackwood, City Colleges of Chicago
Library Journal Review
With an emphasis on the films rather than the man, this offering does provide a fresh look at wunderkind Spielberg. Haskell gives a multisided view of each movie, admits her personal biases, provides dissenting opinions when necessary, and seems to have a respect for Spielberg's talents. Wordsmith Haskell shines most brightly when critically discussing the productions, their possible Freudian implications, and the social atmosphere that affects public and critical reception. Her tendency to lean toward sexual interpretations of scenes often leads her to overlook the simple. For example, Indiana Jones's fear of snakes may well have sexual overtones, but it most certainly could just demonstrate a very common fear of snakes. Johnny Heller's even and unassuming audio performance tempers some of the author's humor and hubris and makes the experience pleasant for both admirers and detractors of Spielberg's works. Verdict While not for libraries looking for a biography of Spielberg, this will certainly interest film enthusiasts. Listeners may feel that they end up knowing far more about the author than about the filmmaker. ["Haskell's discussion of the childlike wonder inherent in many of the director's films and her eloquent defense of some of his riskier, less successful movies is particularly valuable": LJ 1/17 review of the Yale Univ. hc.]-Lisa Youngblood, Harker Heights P.L., TX © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. vii |
| 1 Beginnings and the Lost Ark | p. 1 |
| 2 Steve Bites His Nails and Hears Voices | p. 14 |
| 3 Arcadia: The Best and Worst of Times | p. 24 |
| 4 The Kid with the Briefcase | p. 36 |
| 5 Jaws "Open Wide" | p. 57 |
| 6 Close Encounters of the Third Kind | p. 68 |
| 7 1941 and Raiders of the host Ark | p. 80 |
| 8 E.T., Poltergeist, and Twilight Zone | p. 91 |
| 9 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Color Purple | p. 103 |
| 10 Empire of the Sun | p. 117 |
| 11 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Always, and Hook | p. 125 |
| 12 Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, and the Shoah Foundation | p. 138 |
| 13 Amistad and The Lost World: Jurassic Park | p. 157 |
| 14 Saving Private Ryan and A.I. | p. 163 |
| 15 Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can | p. 176 |
| 16 The Terminal, War of the Worlds, and Munich | p. 186 |
| 17 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Adventures of Tintin, and War Horse | p. 194 |
| 18 Lincoln and Bridge of Spies | p. 198 |
| Notes | p. 207 |
| Index | p. 215 |
