For both good and ill, Steven Spielberg has both created and defined the face of America and movie-making in the latter half of the twentieth century. Couched in movies of wild fantasy, he has captured the American family lifestyle: suburban tract houses, divorces, adults looking for the inner child, children looking to grow up too fast. In movies of unwavering realism, Spielberg has allowed us to reflect upon the defining moments of the twentieth century that defined the nation's character. By tapping into collective dreams, Spielberg allows us to build a future nation. Spielberg's movie empire and entertainment machine may represent the last bastion of anti-postmodern, irony-free filmmaking in which history is black and white, with winners and losers, with a universe that is easily dichotomized between good and evil. In a sense, mainstream America and Spielberg have co-existed in a dialogue of mutual admiration for each other, with Spielberg becoming America's greatest ambassador to the world, evolving into the P.T. Barnum of late 20th century cinema.

A cursory and critical assessment of Spielberg could legitimately accentuate his lesser contributions to film: overemphasis of technical wizardry at the expense of character development and story; a lack of depth, realism, and nuance pervading his oeuvre; the inadvertent spawning of Spielberg clones and one-offs, polluting the American film market with would-be blockblusters of rampant superficiality and high-gloss ephemera, leading to what critic Pauline Kael called the "infantilization of the culture."¹ In essence, Spielberg has too easily succumbed to style over soul, sensory onslaught over the subtlety of substance.

An equally critical, but broader view of Spielberg would retain the preceding but add the following appraisal: a master craftsman who has never failed to grow and develop when the temptation to rest on popularity and mega-success have been great; an individual courageous enough to imprint his child-like innocence and awe on celluloid in an industry notoriously known for its ability to destroy dreams as quickly as they are made; an unsurpassed entertainer with an innate and uncanny intuition of pacing, image creation, and storytelling; and finally, at the pinnacle of his success, a young man willing to transform from a gadget-obsessed Peter Pan to a mature father, from hard-bargaining mogul to philanthropist, and from entertainer to artist. The simple, unambiguous narratives that Spielberg injects into the majority of his movies belies the complexity of their creator. Spielberg’s meandering journey towards psychological wholeness is not unlike others inspired to actualize their deep potentials, the only difference is that Spielberg has left grand visions of his journey, impressing themselves in the imaginations of millions.