Posts tagged talk
Constantine Santas to examine the films of David Lean
Sep 27th
On Wednesday, October 17 at 7 p.m. Dr. Constantine Santas will discuss his latest book “The Epics of David Lean” in the Gamache-Koger Theater in the Ringhaver Student Center at Flagler College. Santas is professor emeritus and former chair in the Flagler Department of English. He is also the author of “Responding to Film” and “The Epic in Film: from Myth to Blockbuster.”
Santas has long been fascinated with the epic film and with Lean’s work in particular. And with good reason: widely regarded as one of cinema’s most accomplished directors, David Lean twice received the Academy Award for best director, and two of his films, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Lawrence of Arabia” won the Oscar for best picture. Both are featured on the American Film Institute’s Top 100.
But despite the awards and accolades for these motion pictures, many critics often look more favorably upon the smaller films that Lean produced earlier in his career, and in recent years his reputation as a director has diminished. In his newest book, Santas seeks to restore these now undervalued epics to the elevated esteem they once held. He argues that the epics show a progression and refinement of Lean’s work and that they are thematically broader and feature more complex characterization than his earlier films. In his talk at Flagler, he will provide background material on the production of each epic; examine insights into structure, characters, techniques, and themes; and look into the relationship between the films and their literary sources.
“The idea for this book started back in the 1990s, when I read a paper on ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai,’ at a Flagler Colloquium, sponsored by the English Department, under Professor Carl Horner,” remembers Santas. “I was drawn by the artistic values of the epics of David Lean, several of which I taught in my film classes regularly. One particular aspect of the epics that gave me food for thought was that all of them were derived from literary sources. That fact motivated me to connect literature, T.E. Lawrence’s “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” for instance, which became the basis for “Lawrence of Arabia,” with film studies.”
Santas credits an ongoing fascination with the epics, as well as the assistance of the Flagler community, with helping him to write the book. “I believed that there were universal values in all the epics, and I was more convinced that this was so as I progressed in my research, considerably aided by the librarians at Flagler College,” he says. “I express my gratitude to them, to my colleagues, and especially to my students at Flagler over the years for keeping the flame alive.”
The reading and discussion will be held in the Gamache-Koger Theater at the Ringhaver Student Center at 50 Sevilla Street. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are a person with a disability and need reasonable accommodations, please contact Lynn Francisco at 904-819-6460. Sign Language Interpreters are available upon request with a minimum of three days’ notice. Call (904) 819-6339 or visit www.flagler.edu/our-community/events/writers-in-residence for more information.
Source: Flagler College
Marlowe to discuss transcendentalism in the Gilded Age as part of Community Lecture Series
Sep 16th
When Flagler College assistant professor Hugh Marlowe kicks off the 2012 Community Lecture Series on Sept. 25 with a talk on “Strange Bedfellows: Transcendentalist Simplicity and Gilded Age Excess,” he will attempt to explain not only how Brooks is wrong but how the path taken may have stunted the country’s soul.
“While there are clear dimensions where we can point to the Gilded Age’s self-interested drive for progress, there are other important dimensions which have become atrophied as a function of it,” said Marlowe. “More specifically, moral and spiritual dimensions.”
Marlowe cites 20th century mythologist Joseph Campbell who said that the purpose of society is to aid in the spiritual development of the individual.
“This would be a view shared by transcendentalists such as Thoreau and Emerson,” said Marlowe. “On that scale, the narrow economic values of the Gilded Age fail pretty miserably.”
Marlowe received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside and wrote his dissertation on “The Problem of Freedom,” investigating two-standpoint style arguments as a means of preventing a notion of ourselves as agents from disappearing into the event-causal flow, and exploring issues of reflective evaluation, identity, and moral realism. He currently teaches courses in philosophy and ethics at Flagler.
Marlowe’s lecture is the first in this year’s lecture series entitled “Reconstruction & Gild: Wealth, Innovation and the Pursuit of Status in Late 19th Century America” which focuses on defining moments in American history during the mid to late 1800s. Speakers will discuss the topic through the lens of their particular discipline.
Tickets are $5 per person for a single lecture, or $15 for four lectures. Active military personnel may attend at no charge.
Lectures begin at 10 a.m. in the Flagler Room at Flagler College, 74 King St. Reservations are required, but space is limited. The lecture will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a coffee and pastry reception.
Call (904) 819-6282 for reservations or more information. To watch a live stream of these lectures, visit ustream.tv/channel/community-lecture-series
Source: Flagler College