SEMINAR PROFILE

H04 -
Brando and the Fifties

The iconic American actor of the 1950s, Marlon Brando is often identified with the decade's major themes, especially rebellious youth, as represented by his 1953 film, The Wild One. What is less often recognized are the ways his films confronted major social and historical dilemmas of the time. In films such as, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); On The Waterfront (1954); and The Young Lions (1957), together with Elia Kazan; Tennessee Williams; Vivien Leigh; Budd Schulberg; and Montgomery Clift, among others, Brando explored, respectively, social mobility and sexual politics; the Red Scare; and Fascism and Nationalism. In this two-day seminar, we will look at these films supplemented with selections from contemporary social theory and fiction: Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem; Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl; Simone du Beauvoir, The Second Sex; David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd; J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye; Karen Horney, Neurosis and Human Growth; Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita; and Albert Camus' The Rebel. Through Marlon Brando's remarkable life we will uncover a deeper and more thoughtful understanding of a decade that is now understood mainly through cliches.

Scholar:

Susan Mizruchi

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

5/10/2016, 5/16/2016

H04 -	Brando and the Fifties

	The iconic American actor of the 1950s, Marlon Brando is often identified with the decade's major themes, especially rebellious youth, as represented by his 1953 film, The Wild One. What is less often recognized are the ways his films confronted major social and historical dilemmas of the time. In films such as, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); On The Waterfront (1954); and The Young Lions (1957), together with Elia Kazan; Tennessee Williams; Vivien Leigh; Budd Schulberg; and Montgomery Clift, among others, Brando explored, respectively, social mobility and sexual politics; the Red Scare; and Fascism and Nationalism. In this two-day seminar, we will look at these films supplemented with selections from contemporary social theory and fiction: Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem; Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl; Simone du Beauvoir, The Second Sex; David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd; J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye; Karen Horney, Neurosis and Human Growth; Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita; and Albert Camus' The Rebel. Through Marlon Brando's remarkable life we will uncover a deeper and more thoughtful understanding of a decade that is now understood mainly through cliches.

		Scholar:	Susan Mizruchi
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	5/10/2016, 5/16/2016