Films and Feelings

I n the early 1960s, American professor and psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg developed what is now considered to be a fundamental cornerstone of understanding humans and morality. He introduced a model by which human beings start out determining what is right and wrong based on which course of action elicits the least punishment. Successful movement through this model sees a person gradually becoming motivated by principles , not simple reward or punishment, and Kohlberg anticipated that a person did not achieve this stage until adulthood, if ever. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)     This is interesting because t he media likes to cast children as vessels of uncompromised goodness that adults could only ever hope to emulate. T heir purity forms the bedrock of much of American conversation. Because the future hinges upon their innocence, efforts to preserve their unblemished state can go to any length. You can justify any number of actions as long as you are doing i...

    For those of you who are keeping track, yes, I am still traumatized by last year's effort to watch a new movie every day of 2022 . Thank you for asking.     In this state of malaise where selecting one film to watch out of the thousands I have not yet seen feels like passing a kidney stone, I  am often left to determine which movies will most advance my education on film as an artform. This gets me thinking about the inherent intellectual worth of any given film.  Billy Wilder directing Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine on the set of The Apartment        This is obviously a very subjective measurement. All films bring something to the table, but I also think that newly enlisted film scholars will get a lot further a lot faster familiarizing themselves with filmmakers like John Ford or Billy Wilder than [ unspecified studio puppets ] . If you're looking to advance your film education, there are a few films worth bringi...