Favorite Documentaries?

[Luke]

I like Michael Moore. You either hate him or love him.

His best film is Canadian Bacon.

Michael Moore was the worst James Bond.

[dsheinem]

"I like blue" is not an argument.

NO YOU DON'T

See professor? Now we have two opposing views. That is an argument.

"I like blue" by itself is a statement. "I like blue", "No you don't!" creates an argument.

Now excuse me as I need to take a picture of a tree that is slightly skewed to tell the tree it's terrible.

The problem we're having about "argument" is a classic one, by the way. Generally the ancient/original use of the term was "something people say to make a point" and the more modern sense is "people disagreeing and exchanging claims/support to see who wins". I take a very broad view of argument, but I certainly understand the value of a smaller one as well. So while I'll hold to the correctness of my definition (which is closer to an Aristotelian model), I also know that there's value to more formal models.

I teach about all historical understandings of argument/argumentation, for the record.

The larger point is that camera angles and other formal choices DO (intentionally or not) work together to influence how the audience perceives what's on screen. Some angles are typical to particular genres and types of subjects and work through familiarity, some are not. Some are intended to highlight or emphasize, others are used to confuse, disorient, or obscure, etc. These choices, when stacked on top of one another (as a series of "statements" if you like) work to construct an "argument" from most understandings of that term other that the most narrow (e.g. "two people disagreeing").

[Luke]

You live in a world where everything someone says is an argument. Sucks to be you.

I'll never think my wife is arguing with me when she says "I'm going to buy some celery".

[dsheinem]

You live in a world where everything someone says is an argument. Sucks to be you.

I'll never think my wife is arguing with me when she says "I'm going to buy some celery".

Some truth to that, lol!

This was one of the books that we taught from as Grad students in Iowa:

Your wife is clearly "arguing" that she is so sick of you that she'll make a trip to the store just to go buy celery.

[Luke]

This was one of the books that we taught from as Grad students in Iowa:

Your wife is clearly "arguing" that she is so sick of you that she'll make a trip to the store just to go buy celery.

Reviews:

I thoroughly enjoyed using this book in my AP English Language class as a Junior in high school.

The first chapter was great though; it is the other 900+ pages that were a disappointment.


...

AP English in high school *smirks*.

My wife would probably say "I'm so sick of you. I'm going to the store to get a bottle of wine and some popcorn".

No kidding, her favorite dinner is wine and popcorn. Her popcorn is something amazing though, so there's no fault in it.

JESUS CAMP should be in the mail tonight. Really looking forward to watching it...hopefully with popcorn.

[dsheinem]

Reviews:

I thoroughly enjoyed using this book in my AP English Language class as a Junior in high school.

The first chapter was great though; it is the other 900+ pages that were a disappointment.


...

AP English in high school *smirks*.

I can see the book working for an AP English class. We used it for an "intro to writing and speaking" class for first year students who weren't able to place out of the course.

[Luke]

I can see the book working for an AP English class. We used it for an "intro to writing and speaking" class for first year students who weren't able to place out of the course.

You'll enjoy this, and will explain why I smirked at "AP".

I was accepted into the NC School of Math and Science, but wasn't allowed into AP classes despite my near 4.0 GPA. The reason? According to the person who accepted the students into AP classes, "AP isn't for Niggers or Yankees". Not shitting you. Lenoir, NC, racist since racism existed.

A lot of the kids in AP classes shouldn't have been there in the first place, as they couldn't speak proper English to begin with. People who say "I ain't got no" aren't excelling at the English language.

Worked out for the best. I got to make some great friends with the "Niggers and Yankees" and most of the AP kids haven't left Lenoir.

[TSTR]

^Sounds about right re: Lenoir.

[Ack]

I like Michael Moore. You either hate him or love him.

His best film is Canadian Bacon.

I agree with this, but I find Canadian Bacon to be absolutely hilarious. Especially the jokes about Canadian beer sucking.

Look, yes, Moore's films are intentionally biased and edited in ways to serve his generally left-wing ideology. He's still an excellent filmmaker, and while I don't agree with many of the arguments he presents, I will concede that he does an excellent job of presenting his arguments even if he is doing so through intentional(and in my opinion heavy handed) manipulation of the viewer. And yes, his films are propaganda, intentionally so, but even if you despise his views, they're interesting to watch from a technical standpoint as you analyze how he has constructed his works to support his views.

[BogusMeatFactory]

@luke

Awesome, can't wait to see what you think of Jesus Camp. Also, eat some of that popcorn for me, cause you making me hungry!

@everyone else

I honestly feel like I am hanging around a bunch of early twenties year-olds straight out of a college philosophy course. "Everything has meaning, but it is our perception of the meaning that makes it important." "I can not prove that anyone exists but myself, as I am the only one that can prove that I think."

Let's just take a moment and think about how frustrating life must be if the world was one big argument. Make a decision for yourself and let's move on to talking about more awesome documentaries like....

The King of Kongs: For a Fistful of Quarters - Chronicles the harrowing blow-by-blow battle between two men competing for the world record in Donkey Kong. This is the epitome of just a fun movie to watch. I remember forcing my wife to watch it and she was being stubborn and when she came out of it, she thought it was one of her favorite films....enough for her to see it twice, which is a big deal.

Young@Heart - A documentary about old people who love to sing and dance to popular modern music. How could you go wrong?

@Fastbilly

Yes..Canadian Bacon is his best film.