Minority Report (2002)

The short story by Philip Dick has no references to a lost daughter and son and there is also no father figure (whether good or treacherous) in the form of Lamar Burgess. Spielberg has once again created a film in which the issue of the longed for mother (as well as child in this version) is placed at odds with and finally subverted by an uncaring and dishonest evil father figure. It is interesting to note that it is the female figure that has the ability to create and the father literally has to kill the mother in order to control the child’s gift. Spielberg has added so many levels dealing with the family that are not found in the original story – so many that the two stories are barely recognizable as similar. In Spielberg’s modern take on Oedipus we are shown a father missing a son (both with similar names as John and Sean have similar origins), a mother missing a daughter (Anne and Agatha also with similar origins), true brothers (the twins) and symbolic ones (John and Danny Witner), good mothers (Anne) and monstrous mothers (Iris) that is can be argued that the screenplay has more to do with the story of Oedipus and the struggle of the child between the powerful forces of the mother and father than it does to Dick’s original story. As in many Spielberg films, it is the female that drives the story and it is the father that threatens to destroy the creative power. Spielberg again seems to be working through issues from his childhood, perhaps the scars he still feels from his father’s abandonment and the struggle for dominance between the maternal and paternal that resulted. The father figures in his films are typically disinterested (A.I.), failing at their role as father (Close Encounters), lacking feeling (Empire of the Sun), immoral (Minority Report) or gone (as for Elliot in E.T. and the boy/man Indian Jones). The mothers can be at times too dominant (Sugerland Express) or even monstrous (Minority Report) but it is typically the female that is responsible for the narrative (Marion becomes the true Ark, the concern for Ryan’s mother is what starts the quest to get him home, Agatha longs for her mother and shows John her vision). It is when the male tries to dominant and control this art (where Agatha’s pre-visions or the chaos that transpires when nature introduces males into the female only world of The Lost World). Perhaps much of Spielberg’s popularity is due not only to his technical skills, but his constant return to this struggle between the maternal and paternal, as it is something we all struggle with, whether consciously or unconsciously at times.

Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001)

In the story of Oedipus, the main character pokes out his eyes when he learns that he has killed his father, slept with his mother, and fathered children with her. In A.I., David cuts his mother’s eye with scissors he was using to obtain her hair (which coincidently holds her DNA – the building blocks for reproduction). When physically assaulted by his father as to why he did this, David replies he wanted his mother to love him. This scene is set in motion by David’s “real brother” who tricks him in to promising to obtain her hair and with the promise the Monica will love him if he is successful. It is not until David physically touches the bed (the father’s domain) that Monica is startled and nearly loses her eye. Spielberg has twisted the Oedipus story so that the son almost stabs his mother’s eye less due to the fact the son wishes to replace the father, but because he wishes her to love him as much as, if not more, than her biological son - echoing the familiar motif that one sometimes needs to be blinded before they can truly see. The wish fulfillment of this desire is granted at the end of the film, but Monica and David’s positions have changed – she is not the replicant and David is the special or unique individual. It is no surprise that the wish fulfilled day begins and ends on the mother’s bed. Spielberg again provided a story driven by the desire for the mother, where the main character struggles through many obstacles for her approval, where the father is distant and threatening, and where the final images (which appear as film or dreams) would not have been possible without the muse of the mother.