Interview: Author Steven Scheer

Did you know that Evansville is home to several published writers? I got in touch with the Evansville Writers Guild and asked them to recommend a few people to profile on this site. For our first local author profile, I selected Steven C. Scheer, author of Hollywood Values, a book that dissects and analyzes several movies of the past two decades. We sat down and discussed his life, movies and his thoughts on our fair city.

Where’d you grow up?

I was born in Hungary in 1941. It was in the middle of the war, so some of my first memories are of bombings of the city of Budapest, going into the cellar, the Russians coming and so on and so forth. I had a wonderful childhood though. When the revolution broke out in 1956, I had no idea that we were going to leave Hungary. It was my mother’s idea. My mother wanted to because she felt there was no future for me there. We eventually ended up in the United States. I went to work for a few years and became a college student in my early 20’s.

Where did you teach at?

I found a job at Saint Meinrad College. Having moved a lot and had a divorce before I came here, I decided to settle down and stay in Evansville. I had a great time teaching there. The students were great. The academic freedom was great. My speciality in teaching was in American literature. I didn’t get into composition until a couple of years after I started to teach. Once I started to teach composition, I taught it from the heart. USI hired me after I delivered a paper there about the teaching of composition. I taught there part-time for 19 years and also had a brief stint at UE in the mid-90’s.

What made you decide to stop teaching?

I didn’t really decide to. The school I taught at went out of business and at 60, I couldn’t think of starting over. I had some money saved for retirement and figured I would go into writing. Then came the illnesses.

You say you started writing professionally a bit late. What spurred you on to get into it?

It wasn’t really on purpose. After teaching, the cancer came. Then the diabetes came. Then the depression came. Now, though I am finally writing short stories.

Tell me about Hollywood Values

I got sick and tired of all the Hollywood bashing. The motto of the book is we watch the same movies, but we don’t see see the same movies. My goal was to show what the movies are really about if you pay attention to them. I just wanted to show that there are great movies coming out of Hollywood and I focused on movies that were produced in the last 20 or so years. I offer what I call accurate readings of movies coming out of Hollywood.

Is it a book you would read before or after you watched the movie?

Either way. A lot of people have e-mailed me about it. High school students seem to be reading my essays about Dead Poets Society and Patch Adams after seeing the movie. A lot of people who have gotten the book say that reading some of the essays have made them want to go back to the movies and watch them again.

Who is the book targeted towards?

Anyone that watches movies. I know that is kind of broad, but it’s really for everyone that loves movies.

How did you eventually get a publisher interested in it?

I didn’t even try to get it published by a regular publisher. It’s completely print-on-demand. A lot of self published books get a bad reputation that they are badly written, not peer reviewed and not grammatically correct, but that’s not necessarily true. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to grammar.

How’d you get the out about your book?

I use my Web site primarily. You can also order it from places like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?

I watch a lot of movies at home. Most recently, I loved Chocolat: better than the book. Bridget Jones’s Diary was a great movie that was also better than the book. Some of the most brilliant movies are foreign. For example a movie called Breaking The Waves was a great expose of how evil religion can be.

What do you think about blogging?

I’m actually thinking about starting a blog because I have a lot of things to say. I don’t quite know what niche I would fit into. Perhaps areas like the art of thinking, getting rid of prejudices or arguing against certain viewpoints. My big trouble with political correctness is that it equalizes. A lot of ideas are wrongheaded and should be gotten rid of. Sadly, people won’t. If I got into blogging, I would probably be controversial because of my opinions. My blog would be constantly attacking wrongheaded ideas and promoting the right-headed ideas.

The Basics

Name: Steven C. Scheer

Describe yourself in one sentence: I love life and I love the wonderful things that humanity is capable of.

Age and occupation: 66. Retired professor of English and writer.

Hometown: Budapest, Hungary.

Favorite place to spend time online: I mostly spend my time with e-mail.

Favorite local business: Bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Borders.

Favorite local hangout: I love sitting at coffee shops.

Best restaurant: I like Italian food, so I’d pick Biaggis.

Place you always tell visitors to check out: I like to take people to USI, UE or Angel Mounds.

Question you’d ask if you were doing this interview: What is your favorite book?

And what’s the answer? Impossible to answer. I love so many.

You can purchase a copy of Hollywood Values from Amazon.com.