Assignment 2

S is for Summer · Post by **S is for Summer** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:57 am

I figured we could use a new thread for the second assignment, as people trickle from 1 to 2.

I'm still trickling. But can I count it as productive that I've posted this?

...yeah, I didn't think so.

Nora Volkova · Post by **Nora Volkova** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:57 am

Some movies to play around with -- some good, some utter crap, but all comment a) on the nature or mutability of reality and/or b) how to control the ways in which other people perceive it:

La Vita est Bella
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Jacob's Ladder
Heavenly Creatures
Lost Highway
1984
A Scanner, Darkly
Freejack
The Sixth Day
The Trip
Cube 2: Hypercube
What Dreams May Come
Memento
Rashomon
American Psycho
Secret Window
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Truman Show
Fight Club
Swimming Pool
The Butterfly Effect
Gaslight
Wag the Dog
S1m0ne
Being John Malkovich
Adaptation
Matchstick Men
Looker
Identity
Solaris
Megazone23
Matrix trilogy
A Beautiful Mind
eXisteNz
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Donnie Darko

For a similar list of type A movies, see this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfuck

taiya · Post by **taiya** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:17 pm

Some of mine are:

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - a short story by Jorge Luis Borges.
The number of the beast - Robert Heinlein
Pinnochio
Who framed Roger Rabbit
Blade runner - the directors cut. It's amazing how that little unicorn changes the whole story.
Pretty much anything by William Gibson.

As for the maternal instinct, I think I'm siding pretty strongly with myth, but somehow that seems controversial...

Nora Volkova · Post by **Nora Volkova** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:30 pm

taiya wrote:Some of mine are:

The number of the beast - Robert Heinlein

Oh, goodness, did I want to be Deety for a while.

taiya · Post by **taiya** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:38 pm

Deety is great. I never managed to get a Ph.d but I was almost tempted to try, just so I could be like her.

I just googled Number of the Beast and am surprised at how many people hated it. It definitely had a strange porn aspect to it, but I loved the female characters and the idea of being able to transport oneself into any work of fiction one could think of. Now where is my Captain John Carter when I need him?

iamcool · Post by **iamcool** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:02 pm

the butterfly effect is awesome!!! ashton kuchters new film is good too

i no its unneccessary but w/e

S is for Summer · Post by **S is for Summer** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:20 pm

How about:
-What Dreams May Come
-The Sixth Sense
-Harvey (never actually seen it, just know that James Stuart has an imaginary talking rabbit friend.)
-Alice in Wonderland

rachelalexis · Post by **rachelalexis** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:26 pm

Harvey is a great movie. Who wouldn't want a six foot tall rabbit as a best friend?

Corey8806 · Post by **Corey8806** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:41 pm

I'm not liking the second assignment so far, it feels so essayish, lol.

sparkybennett · Post by **sparkybennett** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:54 pm

Me neither ! I am procrastinating.......

taiya · Post by **taiya** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:26 pm

I'd forgotten about "What Dreams May Come". I really like the worlds he moved through.

JoannaChildsface · Post by **JoannaChildsface** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:33 pm

I know its really pretentious, but Waking Life has some pretty good themes on truth and reality v. appearance.

Harvey is a great one, but I think it was a play before it was a movie.

About the second part, I was reading some of the articles about Maternal Instinct ( I am an anthropology minor, so alot of it was like review) and mentioned something about it to my friend. She happens to be a mother, and she got like, completely affronted at the idea of it being real. She is convinced that she and her child have a "deep connection beyond just survival". Im not a mother, so I don't really have an opinion. Any of y'all out there parents?
->J

sparkybennett · Post by **sparkybennett** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:15 am

I am

I haven't done the research yet..but personally I feel it is a bond that is developed throughout pregnancy and childhood.
I don't think it is an instinct we are born with.

But I would not be affronted by the belief of maternal instinct. Either way it is a "deep connection"

taiya · Post by **taiya** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:32 am

I'm not a parent and can only go by my experience with my own mother. She seems to have a lot in common with the birds mentioned in one article that let one sibling peck the other to death. So I'm kind of not pro-maternal instinct...

However I do have friends that have children and do feel a deep bond. It's hard to say.

Nora Volkova · Post by **Nora Volkova** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:14 am

"Maternal instinct" as Blaffer-Hrdy defines it was developed as part of the cult of Victorian womanhood in the 19th Century.