Steven Spielberg: A Simple Home Film

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Many people only ever glance superficially at the successful peoples’ lives and decry that their success stems from “genius” or “talent,” but talent arises from experience and experience from passion. Despite being just about the most important film he ever created, Spielberg’s first movie did not win an Academy Award, or a Golden Globe, or even an Emmy. It was a simple home movie about a train wreck starring young 12-year-old Spielberg’s toy trains (Sanello 14). It may sound pathetic, especially juxtaposed with a list of his other grandiose decorations, but I hold that this simple “home video” is one of Spielberg’s most important works. It was the manifestation of a seedling passion that would guide Spielberg into the director’s seat as one …show more content…

Hollywood doesn't always recognize talent, but Steven’s was not going to be overlooked” (Chandler 261). Appearances often convey false implications. Spielberg’s youth carried the false impression of inexperience, but upon working with him, star actress Joan Crawford quickly realized that he was a talented and experienced individual. When she refers to the “talent” that he possesses, she points out that he differs from Hollywood’s commonplace directors in his novel approaches and creative flair, something characteristic of a passionate artist, pursuing new heights and discontent maintaining the status …show more content…

These men are labelled as polymaths or renaissance men. Today after millennia of progress, it is nearly impossible to progress so deeply into unexplored territory in as many subjects as people of the past have. The polymaths of today are repositories of knowledge rather than explorers of the unknown. For this reason, sharpening the axe of focus becomes increasingly important as time passes to achieve success that attracts attention like that of the outliers mentioned above. If you want to be successful, sit down, find something you truly care about enough to dedicate your life to, and train to be the best at it. Everyone must find their own path; this is done by self-discovery and contemplation by uncovering and recognizing one’s passions. In the high-pressure frenzy of modern society, young people are often misled and fail to understand this. As in the days of Henry David Thoreau, “the mass of men [continue to] lead lives of quiet desperation.” People who chase after goals that they are not truly passionate about and often give up and fail, weakly reaching out in hope of rescue, slowly wilting away in spirit and verifying that “what is called resignation is confirmed desperation” (Thoreau 4). It is vital that children are trained from a young age to become learning machines because it is inherently impractical to teach people things that are impractical to them. We should

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