We talk a lot of Spielberg here at TDM, because Steven makes a lot of movies both for and about Dads.
BRIDGE OF SPIES might be the ultimate "only Dads will watch this movie" movie. Every Dad remembers showing their kid RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK for the first time, probably a few years too soon because WATCH THIS PART WITH THE WHIP! JURASSIC PARK - in between the screams and the biting - is essentially a film about Sam Neill learning to become a Dad.
Missing Dads are a huge part of Spielberg's oeuvre, too, of course; Helen of Troy might have the face that launched a thousand ships, but Spielberg's parents' divorce is the separation that spawned (literally) billions of dollars in revenue for Hollywood. THE FABELMANS, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - all stories of men looking for guidance and direction from the absent/disappearing men around them. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN might be the most overt glimpse into Spielberg's psyche, taking the (largely debunked) story of a young con artist and twisting it into a meditation on the roles Dads play, the burdens Dads place on our narrow shoulders, and the aching absence when they inevitably disappoint us and/or disappear.
Are Dads important? Or are we nature's appendices, vestigial tails that serve no real purpose beyond the biological. Steven Spielberg answers that question with a resounding "It's complicated!" in 2002's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
We talk a lot of Spielberg here at TDM, because Steven makes a lot of movies both for and about Dads.
BRIDGE OF SPIES might be the ultimate "only Dads will watch this movie" movie. Every Dad remembers showing their kid RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK for the first time, probably a few years too soon because WATCH THIS PART WITH THE WHIP! JURASSIC PARK - in between the screams and the biting - is essentially a film about Sam Neill learning to become a Dad.
Missing Dads are a huge part of Spielberg's oeuvre, too, of course; Helen of Troy might have the face that launched a thousand ships, but Spielberg's parents' divorce is the separation that spawned (literally) billions of dollars in revenue for Hollywood. THE FABELMANS, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - all stories of men looking for guidance and direction from the absent/disappearing men around them. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN might be the most overt glimpse into Spielberg's psyche, taking the (largely debunked) story of a young con artist and twisting it into a meditation on the roles Dads play, the burdens Dads place on our narrow shoulders, and the aching absence when they inevitably disappoint us and/or disappear.
Are Dads important? Or are we nature's appendices, vestigial tails that serve no real purpose beyond the biological. Steven Spielberg answers that question with a resounding "It's complicated!" in 2002's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.