Poltergeist

Douglas Kellner has it all wrong – Spielberg is not celebrating some middle class ideal of possessions. We can't forget that underneath this "idealic" community, lies the bodies of those that the developers bulled over to increased their profits (the community is even named Cuesta Vista, as if commenting on the cost of the viewed afforded by the lifestyles by the middle class homeowners).
Once again Spielberg shows us a family in crisis, with the father’s actions (or job in this case) being the catalyst that threatens to destroy the family. Once could even argue that the “evil presence” that is described leading the lost souls in the next life is paralleled in this world by Steve's boss, who also leads the living souls in this life astray in pursuit of his own desires (both keep the people from what they should do and redirect their energies to their own end). The fact that the evil uses the TV to enter our world is also interesting (the image of the TV is strewn throughout the film and is paralleled in the lighting of out objects in the film with flashes of lightening and moonlight); the “possessions" that Kellner feels Spielberg is celebrating threaten us most in the media that also celebrates the middle class lifestyle while bombarding it with commercials to wet our consumer appetites even more. The family is constantly mesmerized by its screen, staring it at (or falling asleep in front of it) instead of looking and interacting with each other. It is also interesting to note that the spirits first reveal themselves to the mother by moving the (abandoned) kitchen table chairs around, as if pointing to the fact that they are missing. I think Kellner and many others miss the underlying critique of modernity which Spielberg has in many of his films. In some ways he is like the poet Robert Frost or the musician Bruce Springsteen – both popular performers commenting on American society but whose message is sometimes lost on people that apparently become overwhelmed by their mastery of their craft and their popular appeal (how the Republican’s missed the whole point of the song “Born in the USA’ still mystifies me to this day). Spielberg’s film constantly show a family in crisis, battling modernity and trying to remain intact as they struggle for their place within it.