Matter of Life and Death/ The Stairway to Heaven

    The film which closes our Heaven Hell & Judgment syllabus was originally titled A Matter of Life and Death by its writers/directors/producers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. For the United States release the Hollywood studio thought the word “death” in the title too ‘down’ for marketing and they renamed the film Stairway to Heaven. (There is a spectacular stairway in the film which leads up to another realm.) I. First discuss how the original title A Matter of Life and Death fits the film and then how the US title Stairway to Heaven fits the film (1 page). II. Then in about 8 pages [regular margins, double-spaced, pages numbered] write an analysis of the film which addresses the following questions: 1. How is death represented in the film? 2. What kind of judgment is represented in the film? 3. How does this film echo ideas of heaven, hell, and judgment which we’ve considered in the course? And how does it reshape or differ from these texts and images? Compare several specific texts and several specific images. Touch directly on Inanna, the Egyptian “Feather of Maat, ” Revelation, The Odyssey, Last Judgments, Dante, Milton’s Paradise Lost and Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven & Hell among your choices.