Moody-Adams hosts movie night

CORRECTION APPENDED:

On Monday night, Columbia College Dean Michele Moody-Adams hosted students to dinner and a movie in Roone Arledge Cinema in Lerner Hall—complete with pizza, a screening of the 2008 award-winning documentary “Man on Wire,” and a culminating discussion.

Moody-Adams came to Columbia with the plan of hosting dinner and a movie once a semester. “I think film is a good narrative that supplements written narrative and is important to our culture,” Moody-Adams said. “This event is a nice way of opening up a conversation with students about different subjects other than the movie sometimes.”

The film—co-produced by Columbia School of the Arts alumna Maureen Ryan—details the steps it took for tightrope walker Philippe Petit to dance across a wire strung between the Twin Towers in 1974. Told through interviews of Petit and his accomplices, the intensity of the planning and breaking into the World Trade Center is revealed, as is the awe-inspiring act of the 45-minute walk itself.

“It [“Man on Wire”] is a detective story. There is incredible suspense, but also incredible devotion,” Moody-Adams said.

The follow-up discussion touched on that devotion, questioning whether selfishness plays a role in art, and if this high-wire act should even be considered art. One participant referred to the Contemporary Civilization curriculum and all the authors’ “name-dropping” as an example of selfishness being part of what great art is all about.

“I could not imagine putting one foot out there and doing that,” Moody-Adams said of tightrope walking. “They [tightrope-walkers] are so singular. Maybe that kind of greatness sets you apart. There is something extraordinary about someone who can take those risks.”

Also brought up was the role of immortality, and the consideration that viewers may feel so drawn into the documentary because of Petit’s ability to literally walk the line between life and death. One student commented that “life would be more interesting and full if people did what they were supposed to do for themselves and not society,” like Petit did.

The film’s lack of mention of the towers’ destruction on Sept. 11, 2001, played a role in the conversation as well. Many students agreed that including footage or commentary about the destruction would have either overpowered the message of “Man on Wire,” or put the focus too much on the World Trade Center’s fall, instead of the greatness of the building itself and the amazing act that occurred there.

Josh Malin, CC ’12, enjoyed engaging with the administration and the arts. “This is my first time going to a Columbia Dean-run event and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he said. “But the movie has pieces that tied together philosophies and things that I think Columbia’s about. All we’re thinking about is immortality and death and art and it’s nice to have an event and be able to parse these things out.”

Similarly, Kyla Cheung, CC ’13 said, “I think Dean Moody-Adams makes a great effort to make herself accessible. This was a uniquely Moody event that did just that.”

Correction: A teaser originally indicated that it was Moody-Adams' first screening, while it actually was her first screening of the semester, and typographical error was also made. They have now been updated for accuracy. Spectator regrets the error.