from the files of Dr. Greenwich
Rec#11.29.19
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Course TDBS 514: A Six Week Seminar Exploring Crew Selection and Preparation for Far-Out Missions
Assignment 5 + 1: Advanced crew selection criteria and other considerations regarding ship harmony, violence, and sex: A preliminary assessment for three upcoming missions. Phase I
ANTON: Welcome all. I’ll keep this short, no more than a thousand words, I promise.
As our heading indicates, this virtual mission will last 5 + 1 weeks. That’s 5 weeks of individual and group consideration of the material we’ll cover herein…and 1 week for group discussion and refection before we begin Phase II of our mission (which we’ll talk more about later).
In this mission we’ll be employing our usual alchemical mix of movies and, with the help of our little green friend, the double-double helix method of hyper-reflection. A review of Doc’s “secret” mix here and here will bring all up to speed or, at least get us on the same page as to our methodology.
Ok, as for the objective of this mission; it’s a preliminary investigation and consideration of three of Doc’s most challenging film-philosophy courses, each one based respectively on the following three films:
1. The Ninth Configuration (1980)
2. Experimenter (2015)
3. Kinsey (2004)
What type of course shall we build using The Ninth Configuration as our starting point?
This film offers so much we could take it in any number of directions: war, violence, craziness…humor and healing…religion and Christian belief… iconography and film semiotics…salvation and redemption…life after death…even space travel and loneliness…there are so many directions we go with this one…including keeping the whole shebang, and simply offer The Ninth Configuration the starter for an advanced DIY film philosophy course. Perhaps we could call this course: A Student-Guided Exploration of The Ninth Configuration: Create Your Own Film Course Based on Blatty’s Masterpiece (Student’s Choice)
Now, how about our second film, Experimenter?
What type of course shall we build starting with this one? Something to do with humanity and psychology…psychosocial investigations and revelations about ourselves, in and out of the laboratory…human dynamics and types…free will and the agentic state as captured in motion pictures.
It appears a common theme emerges from this one, enough to settle on the following working title: Psychosocial Investigation of the Human Animal: A Hard Look in the Mirror Beginning with Experimenter. What movies might well serve us in this class? Something to think about.
As for our last film Kinsey, what type of advanced course might this film spawn beyond the obvious overarching topic of sex?
Something to do with sex in the cinema…perhaps a history of sex in the cinema, Midnight Cowboy to Internet Pornography: A Cinema-Based Study of Ethics, Aesthetics, and Personal Preference in Matters of Sex. This as our working title, what other films might we review in this cinematic “sex ed” course? Perhaps some classic pioneering porno, like Deep Throat (1972) for instance? Might this be too much for a general audience?
Indeed, what shall we deem appropriate to watch in this course on cinema and sex education? The harder stuff could be left for homework…by vote or consensus we could decide what’s too graphic for classroom consumption. Indeed, this would make a great assignment: When does sex on film become too graphic for the general public, and for one's own personal comfort level?
Of course students could always opt-out on any film or assignment they are not comfortable with, while an excess of such opt-out would be prevented with clear forewarning of the kind of course one is taking: For instance, this course is for mature adults ready to explore oft-ignored, traditionally taboo matters involving human sexuality…
What’s “normal” in human sexual behavior…what’s ethical…what's beautiful...what's true? We could cover matters of privacy and invasion thereof in the computer age…what does history and cross-cultural study tell us about human sexuality…what does our evolutionary history tell us about ourselves, including our closest living primate relatives...how about sex as procreation vs. recreation…sex and love-making…sex and romance…sex as service and commodity…healthy sex and pathological sex…sexual conditioning on the screen and mirror neuron activation…sex and neurochemistry…sex and exploitation of both men and women…sex and politics and political correctness…trends and paradoxes…demands and double standards…
Yes, all things considered, this may be the most difficult course of all, as each here must also look into the mirror…take a good long look at one’s own sexual self…proclivities, interests, tendencies, etc…social/cultural biases and norms, changing language usage and rules of conduct…influence of technology…and on and on.
I would be highly suspect of anyone who says they have all this sex stuff figured out, or all of anything figured out for that matter. As everything, including many things that are critically important, now demand our utmost attention in these rapidly changing times.
What might drug education look like to suit the changing conditions and demands of the times?
What might religious/spiritual education look like to suit the changing conditions and demands of the times?
What might sex education look like to suit the changing conditions and demands of the times?
What we’re ultimately advocating and promoting here is proactivity when it comes to critically important matters in our lives…
Fortunately, as foresight would have it, the three courses involved in this assignment will not be offered for at least another two years. Thus ours is not to provide any final say at this point, rather just offer some initial insights.
That said, we're at our limit for this report.
Any questions?
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Rec#11.29.19
Rec#11.29.19
