Academy Award winner Oliver Stone, writer and director of over 20 feature films, is coming to Robert Scheer’s class “Media and Society” to discuss his explosive Hollywood career, and the impact that his films have had on the media landscape and society at large.

Stone is no stranger to dissent, as his most prominent works have been at deep odds with conventional narratives, with films such as Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), and Nixon (1995). Each of these films are an expression of the contradictions of American culture, and a depiction of the consequences that a nation built on militarism imposes upon its people and its dissidents.

He has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and won four, including best director (Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon), best adapted screenplay (Midnight Express) and best picture (Platoon).

Stone’s films have often reached wide audiences and have had significant cultural impact. These include Salvador (1985), deeply critical of the U.S. Government’s involvement in Central America; Wall Street (1987), an exposé of America’s new capitalism; World Trade Center (2006), a true story of two 9/11 survivors; The Doors (1991), a poetic look at Jim Morrison’s ecstatic music; and Snowden (2016), the international story of a recent American whistleblower. Films like these, as well as Stone’s documentaries, the cultural reactions to his films and his own life, will be discussed in great detail with Robert Scheer.

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