All is Full of Love
Join us for J.F. Martel's new online class exploring the films of Stanley Kubrick. Starts March 28th. Read on to receive the Patreon and subscriber discount.
Dear readers,
In just 10 days, J.F. Martel returns to the Mutations learning platform to host a five-part series, “All is Full of Love: The Films of Stanley Kubrick.”
Join us beginning on March 28 for a poetic and philosophical deep dive into the films of one of the twentieth century’s greatest filmmakers:
In this course, comprising five weekly lectures and as many group discussions, J.F. Martel, author of Reclaiming Art and co-host of the Weird Studies podcast, will attempt to extract from Stanley Kubrick’s work a vision that speaks to our modern predicament. The goal isn’t to uncover some secret intent or agenda on the filmmaker’s part, but to locate and build on the work’s inner logic. As Kubrick himself once said, “I have found it always the best policy to allow the film to speak for itself.”
Kubrick, like all of us, faced the radical mystery of being. Naturally, his films may be interpreted as a response to the mystery. What does A Clockwork Orange reveal about the human will? The Shining about death and the mind? Eyes Wide Shut about love and sex? What happens when we approach these artworks as the hominids do the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey — that is, not as historical artifacts to be subsumed in a specific time, place, or personality, but atemporal objects that challenge us to think beyond our epistemic condition? True to the spirit of Reclaiming Art and Weird Studies, this course will treat Kubrick’s films as enigmas to ponder under the auspices of strangeness and wonder.
Some of my favorite episodes of Weird Studies have been J.F. and Phil waxing poetically on various films (like their latest episode, “Towards a Weird Materialism: On Expressionism in Cinema”). So I’m delighted that, as a class, we will practice “sticking to the image,” approaching each film like the hominids approached their numinous black monolith.
Like the monolith—and like the screens that both the writer and the reader find themselves gazing into, presently—the moving image becomes a scrying mirror through which we can observe the workings of soul, darkly.
Registration note: Patrons, Substack subscribers, and Mutations alumni (those who have taken the previous courses on the platform) receive a significant discount (save $25). Remember to use this link at checkout.
Pay-what-you-can registration is also available. Just reach out about receiving a link. No one will be turned away.
That’s all for now. See you in 10 days for “All is Full of Love.”
Don’t see the $25 discount link