Steven Spielberg: One of the All-Time Greats

Steven Spielberg is without a doubt one of the most critically acclaimed director's of the past few decades. Most of us could probably list a handful of movies of his without hesitation. One of the main reasons why we are able to do this is because of his style of film-making and the way he is able to leave an impression on an audience. People may question where he draws his inspirations from. What was he like when he was a child? What was his first encounter in the film industry like? How has his style evolved over the years? Steven Spielberg may seem extremely mysterious to the general public, but the link that I have provided will give everyone a very detailed biography on the directing guru. I am also providing a video documentary of Steven Spielberg below.

Saving Private Ryan: True to Genre and WWII

"Saving Private Ryan and American triumphalism" was featured in Journal of Popular Film and Television and was written by Albert Auster. Unlike David Walsh's opinion that Saving Private Ryan was a bogus movie, Auster believes that the film was true to the war and was depicted in a very truthful form. He provides many reasons why he believes that the film is very accurate, including references to other films such as A Walk in the Sun, and by referring to specific scenes. Overall, Albert Auster's argument is supported by many examples and is completely viable.

I feel that the following quote justly describes Auster's knowledge of the topic he is arguing and captivates the entire piece.

Despite the originality of the ground-level shots, drained colors, camera lenses spotted with water and blood, and the hellish scenes of GIs screaming or searching for severed limbs, the images still rely for their inspiration on those old, grainy combat photos and newsreels that have been the iconic symbol of the D-Day invasion since the end of the war.

Saving Private Ryan: Truth or Fiction?

"Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan: Small truths at the expense of big ones" is a critical article that was written by David Walsh exclusively for the World Socialist Web Site. The largest point that Walsh tries to convey is that this movie is exactly what it is, a movie. He feels that the movie tries to transform ordinary soldiers into enormous heroes, which he believes did not exist in World War II. He feels that the acting was very sub-par and that it did not convey the real essence of the war.

This link will take you to the controversial article that David Walsh wrote and it may provoke your initial thoughts of the epic movie that is Saving Private Ryan.

I feel that the following quote is a good representation of the argument that David Walsh is presenting.

I would say that Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is a film that is truthful about small or obvious things and untruthful about big or complex ones.

Schindler's List: My Father is a Schindler Jew

This article is great for us to use in our major project. The author, Les White, does a great job telling us about many of characteristics Corrigan describes in his book. He talks about cinematography, auteur and gives many different examples. Below are some really good ones that we can use in our final project.White argues that while many liked the black and white cinematography and felt that it was a symbol of the dark events that took place, he feels it took away from the reality of the movie.

“The film’s Holocaust is removed from reality. Yet the Holocaust deserves to be rendered truthfully in all its detail because it challenges and contradicts any advances made by human beings.”

White illustrates this point by giving an example in the movie where the lack of color takes away from the larger picture.

“Without color, the ash from the crematoriums resembles white, purifying snow and not dirty, non-melting ash.”

By only using black and white, White argues that the movie watchers lose some perspective on just how bad the situation was.