TY - JOUR
T1 - Humanizing "Alzheimer's" at the opera
T2 - The balance between reductionist and person-centered themes in Strawberry Fields
AU - George, Daniel
AU - Williams, Susan
AU - Southern, Dean
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - Alzheimer's disease has emerged as a major theme in recent motion pictures, literature, theater, and visual arts, but has not been a topic of significant import in the music world. Strawberry Fields, a one-act opera about a woman with mild dementia who wanders into the John Lennon memorial in Central Park expecting to see a Verdi opera, offers a surprisingly strong critique of reductionist approaches to brain aging, while also exploring themes central to the person-centered movement. This article contextualizes the decades-old debate between reductionism and person-centered dementia care, and explores how the opera balances elements of both movements.
AB - Alzheimer's disease has emerged as a major theme in recent motion pictures, literature, theater, and visual arts, but has not been a topic of significant import in the music world. Strawberry Fields, a one-act opera about a woman with mild dementia who wanders into the John Lennon memorial in Central Park expecting to see a Verdi opera, offers a surprisingly strong critique of reductionist approaches to brain aging, while also exploring themes central to the person-centered movement. This article contextualizes the decades-old debate between reductionism and person-centered dementia care, and explores how the opera balances elements of both movements.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80051615713&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80051615713&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19325614.2010.532292
DO - 10.1080/19325614.2010.532292
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:80051615713
SN - 1932-5614
VL - 4
SP - 340
EP - 351
JO - Journal of Aging, Humanities, and the Arts
JF - Journal of Aging, Humanities, and the Arts
IS - 4
ER -