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Penn State Harrisburg Reads

A guide to enrich the campus experience of reading each year's Penn State Harrisburg Reads Selection

Television and Film

Film

  • Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
    • Watch options:
    • Based on the book by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians follows NYU professor Rachel Chu as she travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend Nick's family. Unknown to Rachel, Nick's family is among the richest in Singapore, making him a target for matchmaking from the other wealthy families.
  • Knives Out (2019)
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    • "When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate, the inquisitive Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death."
  • Parasite (2019)
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    • A South Korean black comedy thriller film by Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won
    • "Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan."
  • Train to Busan (2016)
    • Watch options:
    • A South Korean action horror film by Park Joo-suk
    • "While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan."
  • Us (2019)
    • Watch options:
    • ​​​​​​​A family's serene beach vacation turns to chaos when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them.

Television

  • Maid (Netflix)
    • Content warning: Domestic violence, alcoholism, addiction
    • "After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future."
    • Maid showcases how the challenges -- emotional, economic and social -- of leaving an abusive relationship. It shows the red tape involved in getting benefits, just how important it is to have a recent pay stub, and the cost of being poor.

Documentary

  • 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (2013)
    • Content warning: Violence
    • Watch on Pluto
    • "In September 2011, The Occupy Wall Street movement propelled issues of economic inequality into the spotlight. 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film goes behind the scenes of the movement, definitively revealing what happened, and why. Personal stories imbue analysis of big picture issues with the real-world struggles of those compelled to take action, speak up, march, and risk arrest. Supporters, participants, experts and critics shed light on why and how this movement took off with such explosive force, and ask what the next phase might encompass."
  • Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream (2012)

    • Watch on YouTube

    • "Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney contends that America’s richest citizens have “rigged the game in their favor,” and created unprecedented inequality in the United States. Nowhere, Gibney asserts, is this more evident than on Park Avenue in New York. 740 Park in Manhattan is currently home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the country. Across the river, less than five miles away, Park Avenue runs through the South Bronx, home to the poorest congressional district in the United States."

    • "In Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream,Gibney states that while income disparity has always existed in the U.S., it has accelerated sharply over the last 40 years. As of 2010, the 400 richest Americans controlled more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the populace — 150 million people. In the film, Gibney explains why he believes upward mobility is increasingly out of reach for the poor."

    • Interview transcripts