An Iranian TV Show about Steven Spielberg's Movies

The following are excerpts from an Iranian TV documentary about Steven Spielberg's Films:

Kiarash Anvari, film director: As a filmmaker, Spielberg has always supported the political worldview prevalent in America. He invites America to get involved in the uncivilized world, and sees the preservation of the American dream as one of the most important elements in his ideology. He makes films for a sector of the American public that is interested in eradicating the East and in defining the "Other." In doing so, he makes cultural racism appealing to his audience.

Majid Shah-Hoseini, film critic: (In Jurassic Park) Spielberg cleverly juxtaposes tradition with modernity in an entirely natural – and not social - environment. He speaks in an indirect manner about a form of fundamentalism that is destructive and dangerous to the West. Were it to hatch from its shell, it would seriously endanger today's world.

Through the optimistic portrayal of heroes, the film [Schindler's List] preserves the hope that in the midst of the Nazi hell there still remains a noble person who will act to save humanity. On the other hand, the film clearly opposes anti-Semitism and disseminates pro-Semitic ideas through the words of Schindler's Jewish foreman. thus, when we return to the present at the end of the film, Spielberg to Schindler's grave some of the actors, along with real survivors from the death camps, the viewers are reassured that this is a Zionist film.

Kiarash Anvari: Spielberg is actually the same "Uncle Steven" Robin Wood's book Hollywood: From Vietnam to Reagan… and Beyond who takes you by the hand and guides you through Wonderland. Robin Wood adds: "Don't let the fear get to you. He [Steven] will bring you home safely." "Home' means the good values. Spielberg's film heroes were created to reiterate these values: racism, sexual discrimination and democratic capitalism. For Spielberg, survival and success are only possible only for the white American man-child. From his point of view, dinosaurs, pirates, blacks, sharks, fascists, easterners and non-westerners are all the same, and they have no place in the vision of an American paradise.

The film [Amistad] is based on a true story. In 1839, 53 oppressed African slaves aboard the Amistad rebelled and murdered the ship's crew. Spielberg wants to speak out against the oppression of the slaves of the black continent. However, this epic rendering of the killing scene arouses the viewer's revulsion of the impudent avenging rebels, who have Nazi-like characteristics. In many of its memorable scenes, the film is reminiscent of Jurassic Park. Spielberg relates to the prehistoric dinosaurs with a mixture of admiration, sympathy, and disparagement. He relates in a similar manner to these black-skinned humanoids. At any rate, for Spielberg the other is an ugly patch, which cannot be sewn onto the American dream, and cannot be liked.

This cute robot [in AI: Artificial Intelligence] gradually begins to feel a void within himself and develops a strong desire to be loved like a real child. Further on in the plot, he goes out in search of his mother. Thus, Spielberg alludes to one of the oldest motifs in Jewish folklore: The struggle to find the mother, and more precisely, the motherland. This was the central pretext for the founders of the false State of Israel in their Zionist ideology. Thus, Spielberg reveals once again his not-so-hidden alliance with Zionism.