Last night I volunteered at one of the "American Days" events being held in Stuttgart. I can't say I really did much... handing out programs, picking up someone's coke bottle after the lecture, finding a 2 euro cent on the floor (finders, keepers!). But I suppose my presence was the present. Ha. Ha.
The lecture was called 'the Gospel according to Hollywood'. The lecturer, American Greg Garrett, talked about how the American mood/spirit of the times/zeitgeist has affected the movies being produced. Americans typically like happy endings, the bad guy to die a terrific death, good to triumph over evil, etc. But in the movies winning Oscars lately, bad is winning and the good guy is being trampled over.
Professor Garrett showed several movie clips (the latest Bourne Movie, No Country for Old Men, the latest Harry Potter movie, 3:10 to Yuma) to illustrate his points. It was truely an interesting lecture. Even the Germans seemed to like it. I heard one saying that he was surprised that an American gave such a good, "balanced" lecture. Ha! I wonder what he's heard before?!
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