WHY STEVEN SPIELBERG IS PURE CINEMA
Steven Spielberg fan and expert, Paul Bullock, creator of From Director Steven Spielberg, tells us why the director of Jaws, Indy and Jurassic Park is pure cinema.
Steven Spielberg IS cinema
His name alone makes you sit up and take notice, the images he creates are some of the most iconic in cinema and he is arguably unparalleled in making us feel scared, happy, sad and thrilled...all in the same film...or moment.
That is the power of Steven Spielberg. And that power means his film aren't just films, they became an indelible part of our culture, the posters some of the most memorable, the music the most hummable. His movies are almost magical.
His movies are Hollywood, and not not the crowd-pleasing blockbusters. For every Jaws there is an Empire of the Sun.
For every Jurassic Park, there is Schindler's List, what's more amazing is that Spielberg was in the edit of Jurrasic Park at night whilst he filmed his holocaust epic in the day. That shows the breadth, sheer talent and diversity right there.
As film viewers it is great for us that he moves in such wide ranging circles of content, he's always said that he was the audience, making films and stories he would like to see on the screen.
His journey is also our journey, and it has been such a ride, whether it had been out to sea to catch a shark, across the moon on a bike, on a quest for the ark of the covenant or seeing a rampaging T-Rex.
Paul Bullock is an essential and inspiring voice about the work of Steven Spielberg. He has written about film and pop culture for publications such as The Huffington Post, Starburst magazine and Den of Geek, and took time out to tell us about the continued magic of the modern master of cinema.
Paul said: "For me, Steven Spielberg is cinema. Simple as that. No other director uses the medium in the way Spielberg does, capturing mood, emotion and theme through his visual sense.
"Whether it's the sunset finale of Duel or the vertiginous opening of West Side Story, Spielberg's greatest moments don't even need dialogue to work; they're purely visual, purely cinematic.
"He's been a vital part of my life since the moment I first encountered his work. That trip to Jurassic Park as a kid remains seared in my brain and after leaving the cinema feeling dizzy I just had to know everything about this man who'd somehow made dinosaurs roam the Earth once more.
"The fact that Jurassic Park doesn't even crack my top 10 speaks to the quality of his films. The gentle warmth of The BFG, the beautifully shot power dynamics of Lincoln, the candy-coated capers of Catch Me If You Can all rank highly, but for me the number one will always be Close Encounters.
"I'd love to explain why, but I can't. It's just got something special. Pure magic, pure cinema, pure Spielberg."
Paul has self-published an eBook about Jurassic Park, and had essays included in a book compendium about Spielberg’s work.
If you'd like to discover more about his writing - and if you love films, writing and Spielberg, you really should - check out his site, From Director Steven Spielberg.
Since 2011 it has been a sumptuous unofficial online resource focused on the work and career of Steven Spielberg. More than just a blog, it aims to get to grips with Spielberg’s work on a deeper level, analysing themes, tropes and motifs that the director repeatedly explores.
https://fromdirectorstevenspielberg.com
If you would like to contribute a guest blog, please visit our ‘work with us’ page