The Screen Addict | Spielbergisms

I’d argue that there is probably no other (living) director who epitomizes being a true Auteur more than Steven Spielberg.

I grew up watching and endlessly re-watching the legendary director’s films, just because I loved them so much. As I got older and more film-savvy, I became aware of the completely unique, almost spiritual attention to detail across Spielberg’s body of work that is virtually unparalleled amongst his peers.

I call such an utterly idiosyncratic moment a “Spielbergism”.

Obvious examples are the silhouette of Elliott and E.T. against a huge full moon in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), the little girl’s red coat in Schindler’s List (1993), and the barrels foreboding the shark in Jaws (1975).

But there are also less conspicuous touches – like the single shooting star across the night sky in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), or a distant nuclear explosion mistaken for a soul ascending to heaven in Empire of the Sun (1987).

I could write a ten-page essay about the many Spielbergisms across the director’s 30+ films, but I’m pretty sure that my fellow admirers know these moments by heart – please feel free to comment with your personal favorite below.

Spielberg’s latest masterpiece The Fabelmans (2022) is no exception to his own set of aesthetic rules. In fact, this highly personal film might hold the director’s most Spielbergisms ever.

The one that stood out for me [SPOILERS] occurs in the scene that sees the Fabelmans gathered around Tina’s deathbed. Sammy sits to the side and quietly observes his dying grandmother’s pulsating carotid artery. The frequency of pulses slowly decreases until they finally cease altogether. Tina has passed.

It’s a somewhat unsettling and unconventional element to lay the focus on perhaps, but at the same time it perfectly summarizes the essence of the scene.

These small moments with big potential meaning are precisely what make The Fabelmans more than just another film.

It’s a Steven Spielberg film.

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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict