Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg / Edition 1

by Andrew M. Gordon

Overview

Empire of Dreams is the first definitive look at all of the science fiction (SF), fantasy, and horror films directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the world today. In the 1970s and 1980s, along with George Lucas, Spielberg helped spark the renaissance of American SF and fantasy film, and he has remained highly productive and prominent in these genres ever since. SF, fantasy, and horror films form the bulk of his work for over thirty years; of the twenty-six theatrical features he directed from 1971 to 2005, sixteen are of these genres, a coherent and impressive body of work. His films have become part of a global consciousness and his cinematic style part of the visual vocabulary of world media.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742555785
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/15/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Andrew M. Gordon is associate professor of English at the University of Florida and director of the Institute for the Psychological Study of the Arts. He is the author of An American Dreamer: A Psychoanalytic Study of the Fiction of Norman Mailer, co-editor (with Peter Rudnytsky) of Psychoanalyses/Feminisms, and co-author (with Hernán Vera) of Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness, and has many articles and reviews on contemporary American fiction and film, particularly science-fiction film.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: "I dream for a living"
Chapter 2 1: Duel (1971): Paranoid Style
Chapter 3 2: Jaws (1975): Hydrophobia
Chapter 4 3: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977; rev. 1980): Unidentified Flying Object Relations
Chapter 5 4: E.T. (1982) as Fairy Tale
Chapter 6 5: Poltergeist (1982): Divorce American Style
Chapter 7 6: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Totem and Taboo
Chapter 8 7: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): Bad Medicine
Chapter 9 8: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Raiders of the Lost Father
Chapter 10 9: Always (1989) and the Eternal Triangle
Chapter 11 10: Short Films: "Kick the Can" (1983) and "The Mission" (1986)
Chapter 12 11: Hook (1991): The Peter Pan Syndrome
Chapter 13 12: Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997): Jaws on Land
Chapter 14 13: A.I. (2001): Separation Anxiety
Chapter 15 14: Minority Report (2002): Oedipus Redux
Chapter 16 15: War of the Worlds (2005) and Trauma Culture
Chapter 17 Conclusion: Moving Toward the Light

Editorial Reviews

Offers the most comprehensive review of the critical receptions and readings of Spielberg's sf, fantasy, and horror films….His chapters can be easily excerpted for film students….Gordon's book is both intelligent and fun to read….It is worth a read.

The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

Andrew Gordon has produced an exhaustive investigation of this major part of Spielberg's oeuvre—appreciative but also critical, finding the complexities inside films that superficial critics have dismissed as childish or manipulative. It's very rewarding to mentally rewind and watch them again with Professor Gordon's insights playing along.

Joe Haldeman

This is a highly desirable book on a highly necessary topic. Such a major cultural force requires a major study. Well, here it is...

Brian Aldiss

It was a pleasure to have a 'close encounter' with this take on Spielberg's science fiction and fantasy oeuvre. I simply could not put it down! Gordon's adroit use of insightful research coupled with an engaging, accessible writing style and solid organization makes this book useful to readers who range from the general public to the academic expert to students. In short, Gordon boldly goes where no critic has gone before in relation to Spielberg.

Marleen S. Barr

Gordon's book is...engagingly written....Gordon seems able effortlessly to transform any Spielberg film into an example of the logic of any particular psychological or psychoanalytical framework he finds at hand—a number of passages would...provide undergraduates with a clear sense of how mutually to understand a theoretical structure and a film narrative.

Science Fiction Film and Television

Eminently readable and including good photographs, references after each chapter, and a detailed index, this book should have a broad readership....Recommended. All readers, all levels.

Choice Reviews - .

Gordon's book is...engagingly written....Gordon seems able effortlessly to transform any Spielberg film into an example of the logic of any particular psychological or psychoanalytical framework he finds at hand—a number of passages would...provide undergraduates with a clear sense of how mutually to understand a theoretical structure and a film narrative.

November 2008 Science Fiction Film and Television

Eminently readable and including good photographs, references after each chapter, and a detailed index, this book should have a broad readership....Recommended. All readers, all levels.

CHOICE - April 2008

Eminently readable and including good photographs, references after each chapter, and a detailed index, this book should have a broad readership....Recommended. All readers, all levels.
— April 2008, Vol. 45 No. 08

Choice