Suggested Discussion Outline

[johnkarls]

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The following outline is respectfully suggested –


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A. Comments About Specific Episodes of “The Power of Film” – 60 minutes

Our tradition is to devote the first portion of each monthly meeting to going through the focus materials to invite important comments that are specific to a particular part. After all, each participant (except, perhaps, “first timers”) have taken the time to digest the focus materials and her/his opportunity to opine on anything in them should NOT be denied.

HOWEVER, our total meeting time of 120 minutes should prove a SEVERE constraint, so please be sure your comments really are important.


Episode 1 – Popular and Memorable

A tiny fraction of the most commercially successful American films lasts from one generation to another rather than the large proportion. Howard Suber asks why this small minority continues to have such power.

Episode 2 – Trapped Between Fate and Destiny

Nearly all memorable stories, whether told in movies or in real life, are about traps. The most memorable are generally about the loss, sacrifice, and ultimate triumph the central character must engage in to escape their trap.

Episode 3 – The Power of Character Relationships

The structure of memorable stories often focuses on one central character. The drama stems from their relationships and interactions with others.

Episode 4 – Heroes and Villains

Film dramas often portray central characters as heroes or villains, yet the two are frequently quite similar. Memorable films tend to compensate for the real world's lack of justice, commitment and altruism.

Episode 5 – The Power of Paradox

In memorable films, paradoxes create tension as the truth about characters and situations is often the opposite of first impressions. This reveals surprising truths that engage audiences.

Episode 6 – Love and Meaning

Despite Hollywood's penchant for happy endings, many iconic love stories conclude with lovers separated or dead, their bittersweet paradox etched in memory.


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B. Further Discussion – 60 minutes

The Suggested Answers to the following questions of this month’s Short Quiz were “What Do You Think??? Let’s Discuss!!!”

[Please see the Suggested Answers at viewtopic.php?f=821&t=2555&sid=32c0db89 ... eb2c2acc71.]

Q&A-A1
Q&A-A3
Q&A-A4
Q&A-A5
Q&A-A10
Q&A-A11
Q&A-A12

Especially important are our indictments of –

the 1960 Hollywood movie “Exodus” starring Paul Newman because it was a hoax which helps to fuel The Big Palestinian Lie that in 1948 the U.N. stole Palestinian land and gave it to the Jewish survivors of Hitler’s Holocaust, and

the 1979 Hollywood movie “The China Syndrome” starring Jane Fonda because it convinced the public that nuclear power is unsafe and, accordingly, Global Warming (aka Climate Change) can only be fought with uneconomic energy sources so that it would be necessary to invade China et al. to force them to curtail their carbon emissions.

Q&A-B1
Q&A-B2
Q&A-B3
Q&A-B6
Q&A-B13

Q&A-C1
Q&A-C3
Q&A-C5
Q&A-C7


The Black Experience in Hollywood – please see viewtopic.php?f=821&t=2557&sid=32c0db89 ... eb2c2acc71, including the description of the works of Donald Bogle (a Black film historian and author of eight works on the subject from his vantage point on the faculties of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Pennsylvania).

The Black Experience in Hollywood was ignored by The Power of Film.

However, it was the focus of Turner Classic Movies on 9/5/2024 when it presented several Black movies interspersed with interviews of Donald Bogle by Ben Mankiewicz who said that during his 21 years at Turner Classic Movies, he had interviewed Prof. Bogle more than anyone else.

The description of the works of Donald Bogle per Wikipedia --

Bogle's first book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films, was published in 1973. In it, he identified five basic stereotypical film roles available to black actors and actresses: the servile, avuncular "tom"; the simple-minded and cowardly "coon"; the tragic, and usually female, mulatto; the fat, dark-skinned "mammy"; and the irrational, hypersexual male "buck".[2] In the second edition of the book, Bogle identified a sixth stereotype: the sidekick, who is usually asexual.[2] Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks was awarded the 1973 Theatre Library Association Award.[3]

Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars was published in 1980.[4] It was the basis of "Brown Sugar," a four-hour PBS documentary that aired in 1986.[5]

Bogle published his third book, Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, in 1988.[6]

Bogle's next book, a biography of actress Dorothy Dandridge (1922–1965), caused a sensation before its 1997 publication.[4] It sparked renewed interest in Dandridge's life, and several Black performers raced to make a film about her.[7] Whitney Houston acquired the rights to produce a movie based on Bogle's biography,[7] but Halle Berry brought Introducing Dorothy Dandridge to fruition.[8]

Bogle published Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television in 2001. In it, he argued that television lags behind film in reflecting the social realities of blacks.[9]

His next book, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood, was published in 2005. It tells the story of black actors and actresses in the film industry during the first half of the 20th century.[10]

In 2011, he published Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters, which examines the personal and professional life of singer and stage performer, Ethel Waters.

His most recent book is titled, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed which was published in 2023, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive and lavish biography of Hollywood’s first African American movie goddess, Lena Horne.


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C. Possible Public-Policy Campaigns Directed At Decision Makers – flexible minutes from Sections A & B if there are any proposals

From Yours Truly – none.

Additional Campaigns???

If anyone has any additional proposals, please post them in this “Discussion Outline” section of our website - hopefully, 24 hours in advance so that participants can give them proper consideration.

THOUGH, OF COURSE, CAMPAIGNS THAT ARE CONCEIVED SPONTANEOUSLY DURING A MEETING ARE NOT PROHIBITED.