From the director who sucker-punched the world with such images as a man getting eaten alive by a great white shark (Jaws), a T-Rex tearing a lawyer apart like Shredded Wheat (Jurassic Park), and a witch doctor plucking a beating heart from the chest of a sacrificial victim and then lighting it on fire (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ), a heartfelt message for TV executives: be more mindful of children.
TV.com reports that Steven Spielberg conducted his finger-wagging at the International Emmy’s board in New York City (which, of course, has always been a bastion of morality). In particular, he pointed to shows like ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘Heroes’ as main culprits.
At one point when ‘Heroes’ showed someone getting cut in half the famed director who showed us a soldier struggling to keep his guts from spilling out and not quite succeeding after a D-Day shrapnel wound in Saving Private Ryan, was so aghast he sent his children quickly out of the room. No word yet on just what kind of psychological counseling the Spielberg munchkins are no doubt receiving for their trauma.
Spielberg said, "Today we are needing to be as responsible as we can possibly be, not just thinking of our own children but our friends' and neighbors' children." Ahhh, “it takes a village,” right? Sure thing, whatever you say, Steve-o. I can see Tom Cruise rubbed off a bit of the ol’ Piously Pretentious Dust on you from War of the Worlds and Minority Report.
Spielberg is also perhaps channeling memories of the backlash he got from parents over his 1984 directorial feature Temple of Doom and Gremlins (which he produced) that ultimately resulted in the PG-13 rating (not to mention a round of swearing from 12-year olds across the country). Of course, then Spielberg was a rising auteur, intent on molding cinema into his image. Now, he is "…a parent who is very concerned."
Here’s the thing, Spielberg, if you were to rank people in the entertainment industry according to Greek godhood, you are practically Zeus himself. You’ve helped create this graphic rarely-child-friendly-world by influencing and inspiring a generation of filmmakers in both movies and TV, not to mention made millions along the way. You don’t get to be the one who cries “but what about the children!” when virtually every one of your films features a broken family with a deadbeat dad, and sometimes one or more aliens/sharks/dinosaurs/government agents wreaking havoc on the lives of the protagonists. You produced ‘ER,’ which probably couldn’t have aired years ago because if its intense medical imagery. You coming out against violence and gore on TV would be like Madonna acting as a spokesman for abstinence.
You pushed the envelope so far we all fell in. So deal with it. Or at least designate some lesser entertainment god (and no, not Mel Gibson) as Speaker atop the soap box.
‘CSI’ airs Thursday nights at 9 PM ET on CBS. NBC shows its breakthrough hit ‘Heroes’ Mondays at 9 PM ET. Do hide the children.
