The Power of Place in American Life
How does the power of place shape personal identity and American identity? To what extent does place shape
the people who live there and to what extent do the people shape the place? How permanent is the sense of
place in American lives? Can one ever really transcend their place of origin? Should they? What really
defines the sense of place? Is it more regional (Texas, California, the South, New England, the Midwest)? Is
place based on the nature of the community (city, suburb, small town, rural)? Is place defined in a cultural
way, based on the values of a place? Or is it something different or a combination of all of these?
the people who live there and to what extent do the people shape the place? How permanent is the sense of
place in American lives? Can one ever really transcend their place of origin? Should they? What really
defines the sense of place? Is it more regional (Texas, California, the South, New England, the Midwest)? Is
place based on the nature of the community (city, suburb, small town, rural)? Is place defined in a cultural
way, based on the values of a place? Or is it something different or a combination of all of these?
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- DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
- DirectorGene SaksStarsBlythe DannerJonathan SilvermanStacey GlickEugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsSissy SpacekTommy Lee JonesLevon HelmThe fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsJessica LangeSam ShepardWilford BrimleyGilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
- DirectorJoan Micklin SilverStarsAmy IrvingPeter RiegertReizl BozykA Manhattan single meets a man through her Jewish grandmother's matchmaker.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
- DirectorZach BraffStarsZach BraffPeter SarsgaardNatalie PortmanA quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
- DirectorJoan Micklin SilverStarsSteven KeatsCarol KaneMel HowardIn 1896, a Russian Jewish woman immigrates to New York's Lower East Side to reunite with her Americanized husband, but has difficulty assimilating.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperElizabeth PeñaStephen MendilloWhen the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsKeith CarradineKaren BlackRonee BlakleyOver the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.
- DirectorJoe JohnstonStarsJake GyllenhaalChris CooperLaura DernThe true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
- DirectorGary RossStarsTobey MaguireJeff DanielsJoan AllenTwo 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsJason SchwartzmanBill MurrayOlivia WilliamsA teenager at Rushmore Academy falls for a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Later, he finds out that his love interest and his friend are having an affair, which prompts him to begin a vendetta.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTeresa WrightJoseph CottenMacdonald CareyA teenage girl, overjoyed when her uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsAngela BassettEdie FalcoAlex LewisA woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsRobert DuvallTess HarperBetty BuckleyA broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
- DirectorPeter MastersonStarsGeraldine PageJohn HeardCarlin GlynnCarrie Watts is an elderly woman who decides to visit her childhood home in Bountiful one last time. There, she meets a young woman with whom she shares her secrets and memories.
