Schoeman Lecture, 2011

Antigone at the Movies:
Law, Tragedy, Melodrama

Bonnie Honig

Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
Senior Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation

Nov. 3, 5pm, Law School Auditorium
 

Bonnie Honig is the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and a Senior Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation. Click here and here for more information about her.

Professor Honig's talk is "Antigone at the Movies: Law, Tragedy, Melodrama." Antigone is the heroine of Sophocles' great 5th century play by that name, but she is also a reference point for those engaged in dissenting politics throughout the 20th century. She has inspired Greek revolutionaries, German leftists, and contemporary US and UK anti-war activists. But are artists and activists well-served by this heroine who flouts the law of the polis, fails in her quest, and commits suicide? This lecture will focus on the impact of Antigone in Germany during the mid-70's experience with the terrorism of the Baader Meinhof group. Looking in detail at a film made by a group of German directors in the aftermath of Germany's hot autumn (Germany in Autumn), the lecture will also ask how genre (tragedy, melodrama, comedy) frames our understandings of law, justice, and politics. For more information about this film, click here.