|
Werner Erhard and his self-improvement courses have been referenced in popular culture in various forms of fictional media including literature, film, television and theatre. These courses, known as ''est'', were delivered by the company Erhard Seminars Training (EST, or est). Under the name ''The Forum'', they were delivered by Werner Erhard and Associates. Also, the ''Landmark Forum,'' a program created by Erhard's former employees after purchasing his intellectual property, has had an influence on popular culture. Some of these works have taken a comedic tack, parodying Erhard and satirizing the methodology used in these courses. Other works have taken a more direct approach, and analyzed and questioned Erhard's early life and controversy through fictionalized accounts. Both ''est'' and ''The Forum'' have been depicted more often in film and television than in literary works. The 1977 film ''Semi-Tough'' satirized Erhard and the ''est Training'', through the fictional "Bismark Earthwalk Action Training." Bert Convy portrayed the Erhard parody character. ''est'' students Diana Ross and Joel Schumacher incorporated Werner Erhard's teachings into the 1978 musical film, ''The Wiz''. The 1990 film ''The Spirit of '76'' also parodied ''est'', where Rob Reiner portrayed an abusive trainer for the est-like "Be, Inc. Seminars." Movie critics have also drawn parallels to ''est'' and Werner Erhard, in reviews of the films ''Fight Club'' and ''Magnolia''. Concepts from the Landmark Forum were utilized by The Wachowskis in their film ''The Matrix Revolutions''. Werner Erhard's training programs have been parodied in television. The 1979 episode of ''Mork & Mindy'', "Mork Goes Erk", and the 2002 episode of ''Six Feet Under'', "The Plan", are the most notable. In the ''Mork & Mindy'' episode, the Erhard parody character was played by David Letterman. The third season of the FX series "The Americans" contains a significant story line in which several recurring characters attend the EST training in or near Washington, DC. Madison, Wisconsin's Broom Street Theater produced a play about Werner Erhard and ''The Forum'' in 1995, called ''Devil In Paradise, The Fall and Rise of Werner Erhard.'' This piece presented a fictionalized version of controversial issues surrounding Erhard. ==Background== Werner Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg), originally from Pennsylvania, migrated to California. A former salesman, training manager, and executive in the encyclopedia business, he created the Erhard Seminars Training (''est'') course in 1971. est was a form of Large Group Awareness Training, and was part of the Human Potential Movement. est was a four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of 250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day would contain 15–20 hours of instruction.〔 During the training, est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a dramatic change in their self-perception.〔 est was controversial. It had it's critics and proponents〔name="mcgurk"〕 Proponents asserted that it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives.〔 By 1977 over 100,000 people completed the est training, including public figures and mental health professionals.〔 In 1985, Werner Erhard and Associates repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on "goal-oriented breakthroughs".〔 By 1988, approximately one million people had taken some form of the trainings.〔 In the early 1990s Erhard faced family problems, as well as tax problems that were eventually resolved in his favor.〔 A group of his associates formed the company Landmark Education in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology" from Erhard.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「EST and The Forum in popular culture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|