Critical Companion to Steven Spielberg

Adam Barkman is professor of philosophy and chair of the Philosophy Department at Redeemer University College.Antonio Sanna teaches English language and literature in Sassari, Italy.

• Part I: The Artist and Philosopher Chapter 1: “One of the Phenomenal Debut Films in the History of Movies”: The Sugarland Express as Expression of Spielberg’s ‘Movie Sense’ and as Contribution to a Genre Cycle, David LaRocca Chapter 2: Adapting Objects: Spielberg and the Art of Making Strange, Paul Johnson Chapter 3: Fear and Wonder: The Lived-Body Experience of Spielberg’s Cinema, Adam Daniel Chapter 4: Galloping into the Jaws of Death: The Psychology of Animal Symbolism in Jaws and War Horse, Jennifer L. McMahon Chapter 5: A Million Light Years from Home: Spielberg’s Extraterrestrials, Transhumanism, and Constructions of Alterity, Elizabeth LowryChapter 6: Of Children and Redrums: The Influence of Stanley Kubrick on A.I. and Minority Report, Elsa Colombani Part II: The DreamerChapter 7: Poiesis and Miracles: From Something Evil to “The Mission,” Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns, Mariana Soledad Zárate, and Eduardo VeteriChapter 8: Deus ex Machina: Spielberg’s Fantastic Visions of Tragedy and Grace, Joshua Sikora Chapter 9: A Modern Pythia: The Oracle in Minority Report, Sabine PlankaChapter 10: The Politics of Nostalgia: Reconstructing Epic Heroism in Spielberg’s Amblin’ and Always, Christian JimenezChapter 11: Piracy, Boy Heroes, and the Importance of Playing the Game in Spielberg’s Hook and The Adventures of Tintin, Sue Matheson Chapter 12: Categorizing E.T., Christopher H. KetchamPart III: The Historian Chapter 13: “I Thought You Were an American”: Spielberg, 1941, and Saving Private Ryan, Sean O’ReillyChapter 14: Testimonies of the Past: Spielberg’s Moral Exploration of Racial Discrimination,” Michael Versteeg Chapter 15: Writing Postmodern Histories in Hollywood: The Portrayal of the Male Characters in Catch Me If You Can, Bridge of Spies, and The Post, Orsolya Karacsony Chapter 16: Dignified Professor and Intrepid Adventurer: Two Facets of Indiana Jones, Carl SobocinskiChapter 17: “We Spared No Expense”: Practical Utopias in Jurassic Park, The Terminal, and Ready Player One,” Carl SweeneyChapter 18: Trivialization, Displacement, and Historical Amnesia: The Work of Innocence and Embrace in Empire of the Sun and War of the Worlds, Naaman K. Wood and David J. Strickler

No serious scholar of film should be without this important book dealing with such a significant film maker and cultural icon as Steven Spielberg. The book provides comprehensive and in-depth treatment of the man and his work—both in relation to his person and history—as well as his actual films. A must have.