On The Styles Of Steven Spielberg’s Film

Steven Spielberg is one of the most eminent director and filmmaker both in the US and the world. Spielberg, as the most influential American director at present, has made various films, all boasting a large box office, be it the commercial movies or the art movies.Among Spielberg’s multitudinous film subject matters, the war films and the science fiction films are always highlighted. Due to his Jewish ancestry, Spielberg shows great interest in making films reflecting World War Ⅱ. Nevertheless, he is a native American after all, born and grown up in America, whose liberalism has exerted great influence on him, which one cannot afford to neglect. Therefore, his films characterize not only the Jewish culture, but also the American one. These two cultures are usually presented in a blended style as well.Representative though he is nowadays in the US and the global film circle, it is still worthwhile to conduct a study on his understanding of contemporary movies. Since the1980s, China’s film has gradually commenced a return to its ontological self. And it has, especially after China’s WTO accession, begun to integrate into the world’s film-making, to examine its advantages and disadvantages with an internationalized perspective and artistic ideas, and to produce films on the basis of the Chinese culture. It is postulated here that we can gain some inspirations from Spielberg’s success in movie-making. Hence, attention and considerations need to be drawn on answers to the following three questions:why do the films he made usually have an immense impact on the world’s film circle, be it the commercial or the art movies? Why could he turn out to be world famous and unrivaled directors who is able to dominate the box office? Why could he be praised as "the banner and captain of American commercial and science fiction movies" and "trademark of’Coca Cola’in the film circle".On the basis Spielberg’s life experience, his living circumstances and his Jewish origin, this thesis, in perspective of culture, focuses on his war films and science fiction films, so as to discover what are the styles in his movies, how he presents them, and what inspirations can China’s film-making learn from them. In addition, this thesis also strives to make a philosophical analyses of his war films and science fiction films in terms of human culture and the particular social environments.In view of this, this thesis is developed into seven chapters. Through a literature review of the world’s film, the introduction elucidates the importance of studying American movies and Spielberg’s films. To provide a holistic view, this thesis describes Hollywood and Spielberg’s career in film-making in Chapter1, which consists of two sections. The first section depicts the historical and cultural context of Hollywood’s development, especially its appearance and development; the second section, through the description of his life experience and his status in Hollywood, displays that Spielberg’s career as a director is of great importance to Hollywood’s development and rejuvenation. This thesis then furthers the study on the analyses of the narrative styles of Spielberg’s films in Chapter2. On the one hand, the narrative styles of Hollywood movies are expound as a background; on the other hand, it is elaborated that Spielberg, as an eminent Hollywood director, features the common characteristics of Hollywood’s narrative styles, yet maintains his one uniqueness at the meantime. It is discovered, through the case study of the war films he directed in Chapter3, that this kind of his films reflects his national character. And through the analyses of his science fiction movies in Chapter4, it is discovered that there is a children complexion implied in them. As to the causes of Spielberg’s film styles, it is elaborated in Chapter5via factors of time, environment and race respectively. Having conducted the above analyses, this thesis strives to figure out, in the Conclusion part, the inspirations China’s film-making could learn from Spielberg’s film styles, photographic methods, and artistic ideas.