Difference between revisions of "Theater Discussion Night"

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Theater Discussion Night

Next Movie to be Watched:

"Theater Discussion Night" is a monthly event for members to get together to enjoy a range of fictional movies for educational purposes and discuss the movies afterward.

File:Theater discussion night.jpg

The Basics

• What: This event is for the educational watching, appreciating and discussing a variety of fictional movies.
• When: Second Friday of every month at 9PM (21:00) - Please see the FamiLAB calendar for date information: FamiLAB Calendar
• Where: FamiLAB Classroom
• Why: It's just fun to watch movies together and discuss them with people.
• How: We watch them in the classroom with the projector, duh.  :)
• Who: Anyone who wants to come who's an adult (18+). The organizers are Dustin and Lloyd.
• Food: Food and drink may be brought and enjoyed privately or to be shared but is entirely voluntary.

Movie selection process:

1. Movies to be shown are not voted upon by attendees or outside parties. Movies for showing are decided upon by the organizers of the event, Dustin and Lloyd.
2. If someone has a strong desire to see a specific movie they may request it by speaking to Dustin and/or Lloyd. However, no promise can be made that the movie will be shown.
3. The decision making process has other factors involved which may not be apparent to others.
4. All movies being considered for showing are previewed first by the organizer(s).
5. All movies being considered must be legally obtained by Lloyd before being shown.

During the movie:

• Anyone objecting to the movie being shown, in part or in whole, at any of the events may leave the classroom during the movie as it's not mandatory for anyone to stay for the duration of the movie.
• This event is adults only due to the potential for the content of the movies to be of an adult nature (Non-Rated, Rated R, Rated NC-17, and Unknown).

Discussion

Basic Discussion Rules:

1. Please use some common sense when discussing the movie.
2. Please keep discussions peaceful, no arguments are to start. The whole experience is to be educational and enjoyed by everyone.
3. If the discussion is political due to the politics in the movie, please keep it reasonable.
4. Do not bring current day real politics into the discussion unless they're relevant to the movie.
5. Do not bring your ego into the discussion. Nobody is right or wrong in discussing fictional movies.

Possible general discussions could include the following:

1. Compare the ethics that existed in the fictional reality of the movie to ours.
2. Compare the fictional reality to our actual reality we're dealing with currently, is it better or worse.
3. How would the movie reality would evolve in it's future.
4. Compare the technology they have to ours. Is it better, worse, totally fictional, a joke, etc..
5. (Optional:) Compare the types of people. Are they even comparable in intelligence, etc..
6. Are the main characters likeable? Do you identify with the antagonist or the protagonist?

Apocalyptic Movies:

1. In an apocalypse movie, what could've changed to prevent the apocalypse that occurred.
2. What will happen to that world after the apocalypse. (Providing the world still exists in some capacity.)
3. Could one person have been instrumental in changing the course of events.

AI (Artificial Intelligence):

Example Movies: "2001: A Space Odyssey", "2010", "Colossus: The Forbin Project"

1. What type of AI was featured in the movie.
2. What did the AI have in mind for the humans and could it have been changed.
3. What kind of OS could it have been running on or was it totally fictional.
4. Was the AI actually sentient and at what point did it become sentient.
5. Did it have assistance from a human to become sentient.
6. How did the AI evolve over the course of the movie and how long did it take.

Androids (also related to AI):

Example Movies: "Android", "Automata", "Bicentennial Man", "Ex Machina"

1. If androids looked similar to real people would you accept them as other people or just machines?
2. For men: If there were female looking androids that could pass for human (and anatomically correct) would you date them or avoid any romantic involvement?
3. For women: If there were male looking androids that could pass for human (and anatomically correct) would you date them or avoid any romantic involvement?
4. Do you believe androids can achieve sentient status or do you believe they can't obtain that status because they're not organic?
5. Could androids obtain sentient status by being sufficiently complex to obtain a soul?
6. Have you considered the implications of AI in androids becoming equal to or better than humans in intelligence?

Aliens (if applicable):

1. Are they even realistic? Too human? Too alien?
2. Would you accept them into our society if they were real?

False reality situations:

Example Movies: "The Matrix", "The Truman Show", "Dark City"

1. If you were to find out that your perceived reality was fake how would you feel about it?
2. If the situation was favorable to you, would you leave it anyway or stay?
3. Would you try to find out who made the environment you live in or stay away from them?

Additional discussion questions for this list are welcome. Please submit them to Lloyd Black on Slack @lloyd.black

The Suggested Movie List

Movies to be suggested should be primarily from the 80's science-fiction genre but can also range to other eras and genres as well, depending on the content of the movie.

Just because a movie is in the list doesn't mean it will be selected to be shown. This list is just to give options to pull from.

Current movies in the list being considered are in not of any particular meaningful order or priority.

"Unrated" movies will be considered "Rated R" unless other information can be provided indicating what it should be considered.

About the list table:

• Movie titles are linked to their IMDb pages.
• Movies are listed alphanumerically for ease of searching.
• The additional information listed is for those who wish to look for certain ratings and genres.

Already Watched:

(List table is maintained carefully by Lloyd. Please do not edit it.)

Suggesting A Movie

Movies can be suggested but the movie needs to be previewed by one of the organizers to know the nature of the movies before its selected to be shown.

These movies are for the enjoyment of viewing of traditional fictional movies for the masses.

If you have a movie you'd like to be considered, you may suggest it via the below methods:

1. Post it in the Slack channel #theater_discussion and post it as "Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"
2. Send a Slack DM (direct message) to @lloyd.black with the message "TDN-Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"
3. Email Lloyd at lloyd.black999@gmail.com.
4. Or manually email lloyd.black999@gmail.com, with the subject "FamiLAB - TDN" and in the message: "Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"

There's no promise it will be selected for watching, it's just to be suggested.

Lloyd Black organizes which movies are to be selected and the suggestions in general. You may reach him on Slack at @lloyd.black .

Please send suggestions to him and discuss suggestions with him.

If you are unable to reach Lloyd, please contact Dustin via Slack by Direct Message him @dustinbcox

Some restrictions when it comes to suggestions:

• No "Star Wars" movies. "Star Wars" movies have their own night and appreciation group. Please see 'Fuzzy' about Star Wars Nights. We are not directly connected with that event.
• The MPAA movie rating would be beneficial when suggesting a movie so it may be properly listed. However, it's accepted that some movies, such as "direct to video" types, may be "Unrated".
• Historical or "Based on true events" movies are likely to be rejected as this event is for fictional movies only.
• No TV show series are allowed to be suggested, with some exceptions like a long movie turned into a TV movie which was split into segments.
• The event organizers, Dustin and Lloyd, may change TV series restrictions depending on the situation.
• Very short 'made for TV' series (TV movies) are allowed, like 2-6 episode for the entire series, like many 'Stephen King' TV movies. "Rose Red" is a good example as it's split into two segments.

Serious restrictions: Movies that will NEVER be considered are anything dealing with the following:

1. Actual porn. Porn is totally unacceptable for our events, no exceptions are made for this.
2. Any movies that are literal reenactments of real past events. Again, this event is for fictional movies.
3. Movies with an 'unreasonable amount' of violence and gore that may make people extremely uncomfortable. However, this will ultimately be decided by the event organizers, Dustin and Lloyd.

Movie Rating System Information:

Basic Movie Rating Information:

Rated G: General Audiences. All ages admitted. Nothing that would offend parents for viewing by children.

Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Rated PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Rated R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Rated NC-17: Adults Only. No One 17 and Under Admitted. Clearly adult. Children are not admitted.

Not-Rated or Unrated: This means the movie has not been rated by the MPAA or is the "Unrated" version. Viewer discretion is advised.

For "Theater Discussion Night":

Unknown: No rating information was able to be found about the movie after many searches were conducted. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Fine Print

• In no way will this event be for pirating or illegally sharing movies.
• The movie being shown will be coming from Lloyd's laptop computer and the movie, in whatever format, is not available for sharing/copying.
• All movies being shown are for educational purposes.
• All movies being shown are legally owned by Lloyd and come from his DVD/Blu-ray collection.

Some Informational Links Regarding Movies

IMDb (Internet Movie Database) - Popular Searchable Additional Movie information

MPAA Film Ratings Guide

FilmRatings.com (Searchable Movie Ratings)