Research catalogue

Dysfunctional families are a common theme in Steven Spielberg's films, does this make him an auteur?

Item 1- 'E.T.'(film)-1982

This is my focus film, for me this defines Steven Spielberg as an auteur. It backs up my idea of how he uses dysfunctional families in his work, a lot of the things that happened in his childhood are reflected in this film. There is a divorced family in e.t. just like in Spielberg's childhood, dysfunctional families are a common theme within Spielberg's films and I think that this theme is very apparent in 'E.T.'

Item 2- 'A.I.' (film)-2001

I picked this because it shows again the use of dysfunctional families, this wasn't originally Spielberg's but you can tell that the film is his, and I think that the narrative shows his presence as an auteur. Throughout the main protagonist is trying to be reunited with his family that is now dysfunctional, this is a recurring theme in a lot of Spielberg's films and that's why I think that this film backs up my theory.

Item 3- 'The Colour Purple', (film)-1985

This film is really helpful because it not only repeats the theme and backs up my theory, the story is of a woman who has to live in a dysfunctional family and how she overcomes this. It was Spielberg's first serious film which I think helped to define him as an auteur because he then later went on to make such films as Schindler's list.

Item 4- Spielberg A Retrospective, Richard Schicknel (book)

I found the information in this book to be really useful it explains a lot about his life and the relation between his personal life and his films which really helps me to make connections and backs up the theory that Spielberg is an auteur, I found that the most useful was page 1 and the chapter The Colour Purple. I will be using quotes from this in my presentation script.

Item 5- Pocket Essentials Steven Spielberg, James Clarke(book)

I found that the most helpful part of the book was the chapter 'To Fly', starting from page 40 to page 43. it was helpful because the information in this chapter backed up my ideas of Spielberg being an auteur, it has lots of information about his film e.t. which in my opinion is the most useful film for backing up my argument of him being an auteur, because of its representation of dysfunctional families. I didn't find the rest of this book that helpful but I will use quotes from other sections of this book in my presentation script.

Item 6- Steven and Stanley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW5RJz6YvpI (interview)

In this interview there are a lot of helpful quotations that will be useful for me to use with in my presentation script, it also discusses how Spielberg made A.I. his own even though it was originally Stanley Kubrick's, this backs up my argument that Spielberg is an auteur.

Item 7- A Cinema Of Loneliness by Robert Kolker, (book)

I found this book helpful, in the book it shows analysed photographs of scenes from my focus films. This is helpful because it shows how he uses different shots to express family problems, and this relates to my question by telling me that he does use dysfunctional families.

Item 8- http://www.theyshootpictures.com/spielbergsteven.htm (article)

I found this article relatively helpful, some of the content in this article backs up my question and helps me to argue my point. I found one particular quote that states that Spielberg does use dysfunctional families with in a lot of his films, this quote will be used in my presentation script.

Item 9- Steven Spielberg on his 29 films, from Duel to bridge if spies- telegraph- (picture gallery.)

Although this doesn't necessarily help me answer my proposal a lot of the quotes that are found on this slide show will be helpful for my presentation script, because I can use the pictures from the slide on the projector.

Item 10-A. I and Spielberg 1- (article)

I think that this can be helpful because there are points in here that argue for and against reasons why Spielberg made his films the way that he did. This is useful to me because I can use some of the ideas from this article to back up my point of view.

Item 11- http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/great-directors/spielberg/ (article)

This is incredibly useful; the article discusses what makes Spielberg an auteur. A section in this article is from the perspective of John Baxter who is one of Spielberg's biographers. He has a huge insight as to why Spielberg makes films the way that he does. I think that it will be really helpful to use quotes from him in my presentation script.

Item 12- http://time.com/3544502/spielberg-movies/ (documentary/ article)

The first paragraph of this article is really good, it completely backs up my ideas that he uses dysfunctional families in his films and that this makes him an auteur. This article explains lots of different ways that Spielberg is an auteur but this specific paragraph is really useful to me as I will and can use it in my presentation script to prove my opinion.

Item 13- Spielberg- 'The Culture Show' BBC2 (documentary) 2006

The documentary discusses lots of different films that Spielberg has made, although it does talk about my films completely. Spielberg mentions details about my focus films and also other films he has made that have a similar theme to the ones I have chosen to discuss. Spielberg also discusses how he represents family in his work. This will be really useful when I come to write my presentation script as it has really good quotes relevant to my question. Spielberg also relates my focus film to his real life, this is really helpful because it proves my argument.

Item 14- 'Teach Yourself Film Studies' by Warren Buckland (2010)

This book discusses what makes a director an auteur, it is extremely helpful to me as it goes into detail about what makes someone an auteur. It has information that I can use to back up my argument and it also has lots of useful quotes that I will use in my presentation script.

Item 15 - Rejected items.

'Schindler's List'- I was going to use this film as an example however I thought that The Colour Purple was a little more appropriate as it was his first serious film and I think that it was more useful to answer my question than Schindler's List.

The Passions and Techniques of Spielberg. (an analysis by Steven Benedict)- I did find this useful but I don't think that it helps answer my question and therefore I rejected it. The analysis does talk about what Spielberg did production wise but didn't go into much detail to why he did something, it didn't discuss the relation of his films to his own life.

Steven Spielberg by Paul Bullock (article the director’s chair)- I think that this was helpful, it explains why he might make the films the way he does and it does ink to his childhood however I don't think that this helps answer my question of whether his use of dysfunctional families makes him an auteur.

Steven Spielberg's techniques and themes by Steven Benedict- Although I found this you tube video helpful because it did back up my idea that Seven Spielberg is an auteur, it showed it in a way that wouldn't be helpful in answering my question. It highlighted how his religious and spiritual themes made him an auteur were as I think that dysfunctional families do have a big part in it also.