Published in the PANY Bulletin Fall, 2009
For the past few winters, my teaching schedule has me reading Anna Freud’s monograph, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense at around the same time that I come across the Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street. One wouldn’t think that they have much in common, but each year I am re-reminded of passages in the book that come to life in the film. Continue reading The “Miracle” of Fantasy “on 34th Street”
Click Here to Read: Absorbing analysis of Chaplin’s appalling childhood by Stephen Dixon in the Irish Times on December 21, 2009, a review of Stephen Weissman’s Chaplin: A Life
Click Here To Read: 3 Other Reviews of Stephen Weissman’ s Chaplin: A Life on this website.
Click Here to Read: Review of Stephen Weissman’ s Chaplin: A Life in the Boston Globe, on this website.
Click Here To Read: Played to Death: The Dresser, directed by Peter Yates, reviewed by Harvey Roy Greenberg. The Dresser, and most of the other films cited in Dr. Greenberg’s reviews, are available either through Netflix, Ebay, or Amazon.com, as well as special internet sites. Dr. Harvey Roy Greenberg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, publishes widely on cinema, media, and popular culture. Other reviews and essays can be found at his website, http://www.doctorgreenberg.net. Dr. Greenberg welcomes comment, criticism, and further discussion, of his reviews.
It seems that the subject of war trauma and its psychological effects have been forefront in the news as we debate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and hear stories of personal tragedy. I wrote this commentary on Saving Private Ryan shortly after it came out, but unfortunately it remains timely.
I have worked for many years as the director of an outpatient program for combat veterans at a local VA hospital. When Saving Private Ryan was showing in the theaters, I advised combat veterans not to see it, on the theory that they were seeing enough combat in their dreams and memories, and told everyone else to see it, particularly if they wanted to better understand the effects of combat trauma. The film could well be used as a primer for understanding the “affects” of combat. Continue reading “Saving Private Ryan”: The Affects of War
Click Here to Read: APOCALYPSE WHEN? : The Rapture (1991), directed by Michael Tolkin, Reviewed by Harvey Roy Greenberg. The Rapture and most of the other films cited in Dr. Greenberg’s review are available either through Netflix, Ebay, or Amazon.com, as well as special internet sites. Dr. Harvey Roy Greenberg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, publishes widely on cinema, media, and popular culture. Other reviews and essays can be found at his website, http://www.doctorgreenberg.net. Dr. Greenberg welcomes comment, criticism, and further discussion, of his reviews.
