The Power of Film
THE POWER OF FILM is a 6-part series about the inner workings of America’s most popular and memorable films. It’s hosted by legendary UCLA Film School Professor Emeritus Howard Suber, Ph.D., who’s insights are interwoven with dramatic clips from an incredible array of powerful and beloved movies from the last century through today. For over fifty years, Professor Suber taught directors, screenwriters, producers, and scholars the defining principles and hidden patterns of great films. THE POWER OF FILM distills these teachings into six episodes with clarity, humor, and an understanding of the history of storytelling from Aristotle to Shakespeare to Coppola and beyond. Neither a technical analysis nor a review, this series reveals the psychological underpinnings of why certain films affect viewers so deeply and can impact viewers for generations beyond their release. Using dramatic film scenes, Suber uncovers mysteries, dispels myths, and explains powerful themes that have impacted us for millennia. Though THE POWER OF FILM is about movies, it’s really about ourselves. By examining the psyche of the audience, Suber ultimately inspires us—as the heroes of our own stories—to realize that we can seize our own destinies, “that we CAN change our world.”
A large proportion of the most commercially successful American films are quickly forgotten. A tiny fraction, however, are truly memorable, lasting from one generation to another. In this introductory episode, using iconic scenes from many of these classic films, Professor Howard Suber explores films that were both popular in their day and remain memorable. Suber reveals the overarching patterns in these lasting films and in storytelling throughout the ages. He discusses why “Oedipus Rex”, “Hamlet”, “Death of a Salesman”, and “The Godfather” all have the title character as their titles, and why so many enduring American films such as “The Exorcist”, “Boyz n the Hood”, “Bambi”, and “Star Wars” focus on the universal themes of family, loss, memory, and power.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, most American films do not have “happy endings.” A great many end with the departure or death of the main character, or a victory that is Pyrrhic. Finally, Professor Suber analyzes the way different types of power (institutional power, will power, the power of respect) operates in films such “Thelma and Louise”, “Shawshank Redemption”, and “Schindler’s List”.
The Power of Film series includes the following titles:
The Power of Film, Part 1: Popular and MemorableIn this introductory episode, using iconic scenes from many of these classic films, Professor Howard Suber explores films that were both popular in their day and remain memorable.
The Power of Film, Part 2: TrappedIn this episode, Professor Howard Suber explores how many great film stories portray a central character who is trapped between their fate and their destiny.
The Power of Film, Part 3: Character RelationshipsCHARACTERS RELATIONSHIPS explores the myriad ways characters relate to one another and to their communities in films such as “Sideways,” “E.T.”, “Thelma and Louise,” and “Do the Right Thing.”
The Power of Film, Part 4: Heroes and VillainsIn HEREOS AND VILLAINS, Professor Howard Suber debunks the binary conception of hero and villain, asserting that frequently the hero and villain are more alike than they are dissimilar.
The Power of Film, Part 5: The Power of ParadoxThis episode explores our endless fascination with mystery and stories in which, as Howard Suber says, “things are not what they seem.”
The Power of Film, Part 6: Love and MeaningIn this episode, Howard Suber delves into romance and demonstrates our need in movies to see love as a triumph over death (“Titanic”), and cites Billy Wilder’s famous quote, “All great stories are love stories.”
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