Steven Spielberg has been a symbol of changing times for most of his working life, but now he has to add another iconic role to his collection. He is the gracious old man conceding to the upstart thugs who appeared at the edge of the forest and let their pigs loose in the village.
Let’s explain. Spielberg is the absolute master of mass emotions. He taught generations of surburbanites how to feel and what to feel about. He shaped the sentimentality of a nation. From Jaws to Schindler’s List, Poltergeist to E.T., he burrowed so deep into American feels it was never the same again.
