Cadet training
Students prepare to become officers and leaders
A local shop offers a tactile experience in a digital age Making a business of love
Wendy Strgar works to change society's view of intimacy Slow and steady wins this race
Developmental delays are no match for Tegan Wright Celebrating Spielberg
The English Department showcases the director's work A celebration of culture
The Elmira Pow-Wow honors veterans, elders and diversity A fresh approach to cocktails
It's the ingredients at Bel Ami Lounge From Quito to Eugene
A student's journey from the Universidad to the University Death Saddle
Three students try a new sound in a new band Behind the scenes
What goes on to make the show go on at the EMU Baseball is back
The sport returns to the university after 28 years Thompson's Mills
The oldest water-powered grain mill in the state A chance to shine
Intramural basketball provides an equal opportunity Lessons in teamwork
YMCA youth basketball molds future athletes Making the right call
Students find that officiating isn't as easy as it looks A soccer tradition
Local players get together to keep the game alive
Celebrating Spielberg's Work
The UO English Department Showcases Director's Work to the public
|
 |
It's 6 p.m. on a Thursday and the doors to Prince Lucien Campbell Hall are open. In Room 180, about two dozen people, young and old, are getting ready to watch a movie. The lights dim and an iconic sound blasts through the speakers. It's the music from "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
The University of Oregon English Department has put together a film series called "Directed by Steven Spielberg," which investigates Spielberg's influence as a director and producer on the film industry and culture. Each term of the 2008-09 school year, films Spielberg has either directed or produced, will be shown. Graduate student Drew Beard talked about how the series was created.
"Carter Soles and I came up with the idea after seeing a series of papers given on Spielberg at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference in Philadelphia last March. We thought it might be worthwhile to re-examine these films by showing them on a big screen and allowing graduate students to discuss how Spielberg's work has impacted the film industry over the past 40 years," says Beard.
Beginning fall term, Beard and Soles presented a series of Spielberg's films including "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Spielberg is, financially, according to boxofficemojo.com, the most successful American director of all time, and Beard felt it was important to showcase a director whose films have been not only commercially successful but also relevant.
"Spielberg was interesting to us because he was associated with so many iconic films from the past three decades. He's worked in numerous genres (horror, sci-fi, action/adventure, melodrama, etc.), and the way his films have been packaged and sold to audiences has had tremendous influence at the industrial level. In many ways, Spielberg's development as both director and producer has paralleled the development of 'Hollywood' since the 1970s," says Beard.
Before each film, a graduate student gives a short lecture on some topic related to the film being presented. So far, students in the English Department and in other areas have given presentations.
"Most of the time, I think that these topics come from specific ways that the speaker is interested in looking at the particular movie, and sometimes they come from the speaker's background and overall research interests as graduate students," says Beard.
The final three films presented were "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" on Feb. 12, "Jurassic Park" on Feb. 26 and "Schindler's List" on March 5. More of Spielberg's work will be shown during Spring term.
"I can tentatively tell you some of the films we are showing next quarter: "Munich," "The Goonies," "Tiny Toon Adventures," and "Koi Mil Gaya" (I Met Someone), a Hindi film that happens to be an unacknowledged adaptation of E.T," says Beard.
Fans of some of Spielberg's contributions to film whether it be as director or producer can watch them for free on the big screen and in Surround Sound on Thursday evenings in PLC 180 next term.