One of my professors said during our first meeting that his goal was to change the way we thought about the world. "From here on out, when you watch movies, you will de-construct them in terms of social processes and causal mechanisms."
Today one of my friends and I were chatting when we noticed we were thinking in terms of causal mechanisms. We were talking about Star Wars in terms of incentive structures and the institutions which the Empire had built to quell dissent, which played into a causal process by which the rebellion could mobilize opposition. I suppose if we had thought long enough about it, we could have come up with a way to quash the rebellion through social alienation or institutional incentives, too. Fortunately we caught ourselves being political scientists and stopped.
Argh! Am I now condemned to see the world in terms of institutional development and political interaction? I guess it could be worse... At least I can still enjoy my favorite films.
In fact, thinking about them in this new light might give them added dimensions. Come to think of it, this may be an exciting new way to envision the world ... Or I am just a nerd.
That's probably it. Just a nerd.
3 comments:
quell. wow i've never heard that word before. good job for being smart!
Ha ha, what a nerd.
I'm kidding. When I was in my etymology class, I couldn't say or hear a word without trying to break it down into its Latin and Greek bases, prefixes, and suffixes. I loved doing it, too. Guess that makes me as much of a nerd as you.
My vote is just a nerd. But then again, I spent half an hour today telling a lady why the musicals of Stephen Sondheim are far superior to the ones by Andrew Lloyd Webber and how melodic hooks are cheap ways to get into people's heads, especially when your lyrics are stupid. So you see, we all have our nerd areas. I prefer to call them "areas of expertise."
Post a Comment