Instructor: Anthony Tobia, MD

Film: Stand by Me
Stand by Me is a coming-of-age drama based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella, The Body. The film depicts the adventures of Gordie Lachance and his friends during Labor Day weekend in 1959. As the narrative is told as a flashback of Gordie’s, participants will appreciate Stephen King’s writing style drawing a close parallel with past psychiatric and developmental histories. As such, we will analyze Stand by Me as a fictional case account of the Depressive Disorders.
Movies have long been utilized to highlight varied areas in the field of psychiatry including the role of the psychiatrist, issues in medical ethics, and the stigma toward people with mental illness. At Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, comprehensive curricula have been created utilizing films as fictional case accounts of mental disorders. At the Center of Alcohol Studies, facilitated discussion of a selected film is achieved via social media as well as traditional PowerPoint didactic. Each seminar will show a feature-length film with a live Twitter feed on the screen that will transform the movie into an educational didactic.