Movie Discussion Series

The movie discussion series presents and discusses DVDs, consisting of feature and documentary films as well as occasional artistic performances and guest lectures, relates to a specific annually selected theme. Previously selected annual themes include The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; Ethnic Political History of the U.S.; The U.S. Culture Wars; Humor as Social Change; Africa; China; Latin America, and Windows on Russian Culture. The theme selected for 2011-2012 (October-April) is Conflicting Contemporary Attitudes about Homosexuality. Prior to the 1980s, Hollywood portrayed homosexuals as “one-dimensional characters, alien to the American dream” (see recommended text below). The journey to and beyond that turning point closely parallels still evolving societal attitudes about lesbians and gay men. Our discussion series examines feature and documentary films which capture the ongoing culture war, as well as the evolution of attitudes, within contemporary U.S. society. A syllabus (Conflicting Contemporary Attitudes about Homosexuality) provides a detailed schedule and summary descriptions of materials. The recommended text for this discussion series is The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo (Revised Edition, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1987). Dr. Richard Adelman presents the DVDs and leads the discussion sessions at University Living on those Monday and Tuesday evenings which do not conflict with the opera-related program. This discussion series also is expected to be a new official course co-sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan.