Analysis Of Alive Inside A Story Of Music And Memory

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I. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett follows social worker Dan Cohen on his mission to bring music into the lives of nursing home residents. Cohen’s non-profit organization Music & Memory hope to use music to help patients struggling with memory loss regain their self identify. Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory introduces us to people suffering from memory disorders and have been confined to nursing homes. Their memory impairment and separation from the outside world have left them isolated.
Cohen’s goal is to introduce music in to their lives in hopes of regaining their lost personality and self-identity. With the use of iPods and a playlist of the participant’s favorite music. The film introduces varies professionals such as Dr. Oliver …show more content…

Oliver Sacks, MD, FRCP, was a neurologist and professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine. He is also a best selling author, and is know by the New York Times as “the poet laureate of medicine.” He worked with music and music therapy and wrote Musicophilia: Tales of Music and The Brain (Knopf, 2007).
Sacks adds that “It’s not just a physiological reaction. The parts of the brain that remember music and respond to music are not affected too much in Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.” Music being able to elicit emotions and are connected to past events, which allow those affected with Alzheimer’s to unlock those hidden memories.

IX. Nursing homes initial purpose was to provide care to the aging population in a home-like environment. With the creation of social security, the elderly had the opportunity to be taken care of and supported through the healthcare system. Ultimately turning nursing homes into a hospital setting. Now people are mostly thought of as patients and their disease first rather than human beings. Basic needs are meet such as shelter, food, and medication, but interpersonal human needs have been lost. Covering the cost of medications which sometimes numbs a persona are far easier, than personal music which could help retain a person’s sense of

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