Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, will make two presentations in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 18. From 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., it’s “Laughing in the Face of Death: Movies, Medicine and Mortality.” (Click the talk title for a downloadable PDF flyer.)
Terry Garr, Peter Boyle and Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein (1974)
In hospitals, medical professionals, patients and families focus on maintaining life and returning to health. Despite great advances in medical care, humans still have a 100% mortality rate. Using funny films, we’ll examine hospital personnel reactions to mortality and offer ways to relieve the pressure of working around death.
Films include Patch Adams, Terms of Endearment, Little Miss Sunshine, Critical Care, The Doctor, Wit, Young Frankenstein, Death Becomes Her and the TV show Scrubs.
The presentation is sponsored by the University of Michigan Health System – Grief Awareness Week. In addition to being entertaining, it counts for continuing education credits.
Then at 7:30 p.m. on May 18, the free talk “Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film” will be held at Beth Israel Congregation, 2000 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor, MI.
Jewish traditions regarding death and dying, the funeral, the treatment of the body, burial, mourning, and annual remembrances are very different from Christian practices. This talk illuminates the differences and similarities of these funeral traditions – highly beneficial for interfaith families. Scenes from two comedic films from Mexico, My Mexican Shivah and Nora’s Will, as well as American movies This Is Where I Leave You, Two Weeks, and The Cemetery Club illustrate Jewish funeral, burial and mourning traditions.
The event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, Beth Israel Congregation, Temple Beth Emeth, and the University of Michigan Health System – Grief Awareness Week Committee.