The title of this video at YouTube is "Why Do All Steven Spielberg Movies Feel The Same?" That must be clickbait, because all Spielberg movies do not all feel the same, and they tell completely different stories. However, most of them do have some elements in common, which give each film that Spielberg stamp that makes us want to watch it again. The most important is a sense of wonder. Spielberg puts ordinary people, who we can relate to, in extraordinary situations. They confront an unknown that could be horrible or wonderful. The reveal is often supremely satisfying. To build up the audience to whatever the film is about, Spielberg takes us from fear to astonishment, or vice versa, to create wonder. Nerdstalgic shows us how that wonder manifests itself in a variety of Spielberg films that have grabbed us over the last 50 years. (via Kottke)
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I can't stand when he cuts away from an action sequence to focus on an oblivious bystander, usually for some comedic relief or "gag" that doesn't fit with the theme of the scene.
ReplyDeleteLike the librarian stamping books in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or the prairie dogs watching the nuclear blast test in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I'm trying to think of other examples, but he seems to work something like that in to all of his movies.
The worst was probably in Minority Report ... during a pivotal action chase scene, the action stops and we cut to a family eating dinner in their apartment, when suddenly Tom Cruise bursts through and into their apartment. It was so jarring and out-of-place, during a crucial chase scene, that I said to myself, "wait, did Spielberg direct this?" I had no idea until that stupid scene.
His name used to be magic - people would go see a film, any film, simply because he was the director. And he made some excellent films in his prime, so that name-attraction was well justified. And profitable.
ReplyDeleteBut then he began just mailing it in and made some truly awful films, his attitude seeming to be, 'why bother, people are gonna come see it regardless'. And it was then that the magic ended.
Of course, it may not all be his fault; he's a director, not a writer, and some of the screenplays he used were turkeys. Harrison Ford deserved better, as did the public. He was probably influenced by George Lucas, who, to this day, thinks that flashy special effects can amply compensate for poor writing. They cannot - see Star Wars Episode I.
But now he's just another old man in Hollywood and it's very doubtful that he will ever again reach the heights he once did in the 1980's.
Like other artists, I can see directors use their "styles" in all their movies--like the cut-away scenes Anonymous mentioned, or the lens flairs that J.J. Abrams uses.
ReplyDeleteThink of musicians--many artists and bands use the same singing style; this makes it easy to ID their songs when you hear them. For instance, most of Tom Lehrer's songs have the same cadence to the music and singing.
Conversely, some artists get stuck in a rut and do the same thing time after time. I can think of several actors and actresses who always act the same no matter what role they are in.