Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, On Golden Pond, & Cocoon: Death, Rejuvenation, and Immortality in Film
Faculty: Calvin Colarusso, M.D.
Discussant: Alain J.-J. Cohen, Advanced Candidate, SDPSI, & Professor of Film Studies and Comparative Literature, UCSD
Dr. Colarusso will present his recent article and lead a discussion on these special films and the compelling topics that they address, along with reference to Shakespeare's King Lear.
An authority in the field of development, Dr. Colarusso is a board-certified Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, where he served for two decades as Director of the Child Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He is also a Training and Supervising Analyst in child and adult psychoanalysis at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute and an internationally known lecturer to students, professionals, and the general public on many aspects of normal and pathologic development. His books have been published in English, Korean, and Spanish. He has published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
- 1. Articulate a psychoanalytic understanding of aging, illness, and near death as dramatically represented in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and On Golden Pond.
- 2. Demonstrate the links between the universal wishes for rejuvenation and eternal life, so prominent in the last stages of the life cycle, and the central themes of Cocoon.
- 3. Explore specific ways of working with adults in the late stage of life that address fantasies of youth and eternal life.
- 4. Integrate cultural factors in assessing the connections between the late stage of life and preoccupations with rejuvenation as exemplified in film.
