Steven Spielberg is American culture—or so we told the world. At the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, amid a glowing evening of fireworks, figure skaters, heavy-handed pageantry and an immensely popular President six months removed from 9/11, opening the competition from an unprecedented position (standing within the crowd of athletes), there was Spielberg. That February evening, the Cincinnati native had the distinct honor of carrying in the Olympic flag. Around him were seven other remarkable dignitaries, each representing a continent or pillar of the Olympic movement. Former U.S. Senator, astronaut and fellow Ohioan John Glenn stood at the flag’s bottom left corner, personifying the Americas. Across from him was Poland’s former president Lech Walesa, representing Europe. Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu represented Africa, while environmentalist and famous son, Jean-Michel Cousteau, stood for the first pillar, the environment. Athletes Cathy Freeman (Oceania), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Asia), and Jean-Claude Killy (sport) held up portions of the flag’s midsection. In the middle of it all, holding up the flag’s bottom right corner, was Spielberg, symbolizing culture.

Of course, we have all by now gotten used to Spielberg showing up in the middle of things. Apart from his undeniably lucrative career as a filmmaker, in recent years he has also founded and sold his own major studio, DreamWorks. In 2001, he quietly stepped down from his longstanding post on the advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America, saying he was saddened by ongoing policies of intolerance and discrimination. (Spielberg is himself an Eagle Scout.) He soon after began a wide-ranging career as a spokesperson, recently gracing billboards and city buses wearing a red leather jacket for Gap’s side of the (Red) campaign, an initiative to fund and support AIDS treatment in Africa. In August, the Democrat publicly endorsed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bid for re-election. Next year, perhaps drawing on his experience with the Salt Lake City games, Spielberg will help director Ang Lee design the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing—though Spielberg also recently announced plans to release in 2008 his long-awaited project Indiana Jones 4, the title and plot of which are among Hollywood’s most closely guarded secrets. Announcements of this kind landed Spielberg and Indiana Jones co-conspirator George Lucas on Comedy Central’s irreverent South Park in 2002, in an episode lambasting the directors for re-releasing new, toned-down versions of their most popular films. Once you’ve been parodied on South Park, you know you have made it all the way.