Gordon, Andrew. Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg
2008; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0897-0521
Autores Tópico(s)Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism
ResumoGordon, Andrew. Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008. 302 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-7425-5578-5. $26.95. Andrew Gordon's Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg is the fourth book to come out on Spielberg's work in as many years, which is both its blessing and its curse. It is a blessing because Gordon is able to draw from the work of Warren Buckland, Lester Friedman, and Nigel Morris, all of whom recently published monographs on Spielberg's films (Buckland's Directed by Steven Spielberg and Friedman's Citizen Spielberg came out in 2006; Morris's The Cinema of Steven Spielberg shortly after, in 2007). As a result, of the four books, Gordon's offers the most comprehensive review of the critical receptions and readings of Spielberg's sf, fantasy, and horror films because he is able to reference the work of the other three scholars. At the same time, Gordon's timing could be seen as a curse: his is the fourth in line, and therefore his book must struggle to tell us something about Spielberg we could not learn from the other three. Indeed, Gordon begins his book in much the way Buckland, Friedman, and Morris begin theirs: as a critical defense of Spielberg against the purple prose of gushy fans, on the one hand, and on the other, marauding bands of critics intent on maligning Spielberg's work as popular and sentimental. Gordon writes, While most publications about Spielberg provide a fan's eye view of the man and his work, many academic critics dismiss his films as akin to animated cartoons or sentimental greeting cards. shall treat Spielberg with respect as a major filmmaker (1). In other words, like Buckland, Friedman, and Morris, Gordon's aim is to take up the Spielberg oeuvre critically yet unapologetically. What separates Gordon's book from the three that immediately preceded it is that it focuses on Spielberg's sf, fantasy, and horror films, and does so through a psychological or psychoanalytical lens. Buckland's book is a methodical analysis of Spielberg's filmmaking techniques; Friedman's a far-reaching, encyclopedic romp through Spielberg's entire oeuvre; and Morris's a careful, sometimes esoteric, psychoanalytic exploration of Spielberg's many films. Gordon's book, on the other hand, is playful and accessible. It is organized chronologically, beginning with Spielberg's earliest horror film, Duel (1971), and proceeding through the 2005 film War of the Worlds. Almost all chapters address each film individually. Despite the linear organization, Gordon manages to provide readings of the films in context; for example, he brings up depictions of manhood in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) in the chapter where he discusses Hook (1991). In other words, the book is well structured, but Gordon's themes and explorations remain fluid. They are also accessible, which stems in part from the fact that Gordon frequently inserts himself as a viewer personally and directly in the book. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. By personalizing the psychological effects of Spielberg's work, Gordon takes psychoanalytical film criticism (which, we should admit, often seems bizarre or impenetrable to the average reader) and casts it as a tool for understanding problems posed by spectatorship. Rather than losing himself or the reader in the complexities of Freudian, Kleinian, or Jungian analyses, Gordon tries to understand his own reactions--positive or negative--to Spielberg's films: I don't go to many horror movies. When first saw Jaws in 1975, was so scared by the opening sequence that wanted to race out of the theatre in a panic. hadn't been so terrified by a film since the shower scene in Psycho (1960). Yet stayed till the end of Jaws. Why did stay? (30). Gordon goes on to use Freud (and others) to look for answers to such questions but does so in a way that might be compelling, say, to an undergraduate film student skeptical of psychological readings of film. …
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