Ramble, ramble

03.28.2005

My 105 class is watching Fahrenheit 9/11. And, since it's a class in critical thinking, the reasoning's that I want them to ask themselves this one simple question:

If the goal of the film (or "public discourse" in general) is to engage in dialogue — that both respects the other side and (potentially) leads to changing people's minds — is the film successful?

In others words, does it reach out to the opposition at all? Or does it just preach to the converted? Of course, to answer that question, I want them to consider all (I hope) they've learned about rhetoric, logical fallacies, rules of evidence, etc. during the semester. It's a thin line I'm walking, and I'm well aware of it.

But there must be no sacred cows. Ever. And, frankly, I believe that F 9/11 was a disservice to its own purported cause. Plus, er, if you're going to spend too much energy defending Michael Moore as your cause's chief spokesperson, you've got bigger problems.

Later, I tried to enjoy spring, despite spending most of the time reading about electoral system design. Oh, and a win/loss pair of chess matches against Evil Bill.

I watched Italian for Beginners last night. Eh. Certainly interesting; lacked a bit of "oomph" in terms of story.

Tonight I'm watching The Village (by M. Night Syamala). Should prove quite interesting (I'm told it's about the potential consequences of a hippie commune).

Next on the agenda: Kedma. Who's in?

Posted by Miguel at 11:08 PM

Comments

I thought The Village was a rather stinky cat turd. I wouldn't waste my time.

Posted by: tom at March 28, 2005 11:50 PM

I couldn't make myself watch Village, all I read was that it was a big waste of time, parallel to Alexander. Let me know what you think, N.

Posted by: Nenad at March 29, 2005 07:25 AM

I quite enjoyed The Village. Mainly because of the allegory element to it, since it was more a story about an idea, rather than trying to be entertaining. Quite like other M. Night Shyamalan films. There's a great deal of subtlety not found in most films, but they all tend to focus incredibly well on a single idea.

This one was great: Imagine a community of people who deliberately separate themselves from outside society, how would they do it? how long could it last? what would happen once the next generation starts questiong things? I liked it.

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 29, 2005 10:00 AM