Is your understanding of Spielberg's work really that poor? Or are you just regurgitating some clichéd nonsense you heard from some equally misinformed and resentful person?
A correct reading of Spielberg's films tells us that he has almost no interest in endorsing a black and white, good vs evil view of the world.
Let's look at some of the evidence:
Duel - David Mann, like the majority of Spielberg's protagonists, is an ordinary, flawed human being in an extraordinary situation. Spielberg goes to great lengths not to show the truck driver himself and instead makes the truck the villain of the piece. It's the unfeeling, unrelenting, motiveless truck that is demonised rather than a particular person, and Spielberg will continue to show how a concept or a mindless 'other' is the real antagonist throughout his films.
The Sugarland Express – There are no good or bad guys here; the ‘criminals’ are our protagonists and the Sheriff on their tale is shown to be a good man in a difficult situation. We alternately sympathise with and dispute Lou-Jean and Clovis' purpose, and must simply watch as their well-intentioned yet ill-judged journey leads inevitably to its tragic, foreseeable conclusion.
Jaws – Again, no good or bad guys here. Our three protagonists each have their own selfish agendas and even the conflicted Mayor ends up recognising his mistakes. Like Duel, the villain is a mindless, unrelenting 'other'.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Again, no good or bad guys to speak of, simply a self-destructive protagonist showing a distrust of faceless centralised authorities, even as individuals within that system, like Lacombe, are shown to be decent people.
1941 – A chaotic, anarchic film with no protagonists at all, just a whole lot of flawed fools. Somewhat unusually, the American soldiers come out of it much worse than the Japanese or Germans.
E.T. – We are made to fear the jangle of Peter Coyote’s keys throughout the film, yet when we finally meet him we find a compassionate and likeable person who also just wants the best for E.T.
Empire of the Sun – Spielberg has in fact been criticised for glorifying the Japanese and painting them in too good a light. But we see everything through Jim’s eyes and to him the Japanese pilots were honourable and noble and so this is how they’re presented on screen. The main protagonists of Basie and Jim himself are painted exclusively in greys and shadows.
The Color Purple – The worst person in the film is clearly Danny Glover’s Albert, and yet it is he who gets the money to allow Celie to finally see her sister again. For all his flaws he is shown to have the capacity to change, and we're provided with plenty of information to explain why he acts like he does; hardly your standard black and white villain.
Always – No villains at all, just a misguided protagonist who slowly realises his selfish needs are destroying the needs of the one he loves.
Jurassic Park - The true villain of the piece is probably the cuddly Doctor Hammond whose hubris and desire to control nature result in the terrifying events that unfold.
Schindler’s List – The whole film is about how a member of the Nazi party helped Jews to survive during the Second World War. Spielberg was actually criticised by some in the Jewish community for concentrating on this Christian German’s role and not on a more black and white, ‘Us vs. Them’ retelling of the Holocaust. And, contrary to what you may think, Oskar Schindler is definitely not your average hero. Throughout the film we are shown the often close connection between Schindler and Amon Goeth; they share a love of fine living, of money, of power, of parties, of wine, of women. Spielberg even mirrors many of their actions. We are left wondering if the only real difference between the two is how they derive their feelings of power; Goeth from killing people, Schindler from saving them. Schindler’s true motivation is rightly kept ambiguous.
Saving Private Ryan – At several points during the film we see American’s performing war crimes – shooting surrendering Germans and firing bullets into the German dead. There’s even a scene in which our so-called ‘heroes’ want nothing more than to execute a captured German in revenge for a fallen comrade. At another point we see a German soldier spare Cpl Upham, who himself is shown acting out of both cowardice and murderous rage. In truth it’s the American soldiers who come out of it the worst; the German soldiers in the film do nothing except their job. The only moral distinction here is the one which we ourselves bring to the movie, that being that the cause of the Allied soldiers was more just, more 'good', than the cause of the German soldiers.
A.I. – Yet another Spielberg film with no discernible villain, but plenty of confused and flawed people (and robots).
Minority Report – It is ultimately Burgess, the supposed bad guy, who brings down the system because he feels regret for his actions and wishes to be forgiven. He isn’t a simplistic, moustache twirling villain.
Catch Me If You Can – No simplistic good and bad guys here; like with Sugarland Express both the ‘criminal’ and the ‘cop’ are shown to have their positives and negatives.
Munich – The whole film is a mess of greys and shadows, as our protagonists slowly come to the realisation that their vengeful actions hurt no one except themselves. It isn't the Palestinians who are demonised; it's the act of vengeance itself.
War Horse - The film tells stories from both the British and German point of view, showing how there were good and bad individuals of both nationalities.
As I said, the idea that Spielberg is only interested in black and white characters or situations shows a complete disregard for the actual content of his films.
The true antagonist in a Spielberg film is usually a concept (racism, ignorance, greed, fear, misogynism, loneliness, hatred, revenge) or a mindless ‘other’ (a truck, a shark, a dinosaur, an alien); the protagonist in a Spielberg film is usually pretty flawed. Outside of the comic-book exploits of Indiana Jones and Tin Tin, the concept of black and white, good versus evil rarely makes an appearance in Spielberg's universe. If people do evil it's because they're misguided or ignorant or unthinking, not because they themselves are evil.
Though Spielberg's point of view may be largely optimistic in nature (although I'd argue most of his films are in fact bittersweet), this should not be mistaken for seeing only in black and white. Carl Sagan once said, "it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness", and Spielberg's work is almost the artistic embodiment of that ideal.
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