Kinsey
Bill Condon
2004
“It’s true! I fucked a pony! You’re a genius!”
The first time I saw this movie, I definitely wasn’t thinking along these lines, but can there be any doubt that the Alfred Kinsey portrayed by Liam Neeson (and directed by Bill Condon) can definitely be found somewhere on the autistic spectrum? Man oh man.
But I figure that only someone like that could do what he did, digging so deeply into the personal lives of many, many, many people and turning them into data points. I find it fascinating that someone so far removed from the way other people feel and experience could be that effective at getting people to open up as much as Kinsey did. But maybe it couldn’t be any other way?
I mean, the guy is really clueless when it comes to feelings. But that probably means that he’s willing to ask things that other people just wouldn’t be able to ask. It reminds me of a certain person I know who met Ornette Coleman on a train because he didn’t know better than to walk up to him and start talking to him because he was Ornette Coleman (who does that?). Worked out pretty well for that guy, too.
But if the movie is to be believed, Kinsey has a serious effect on people’s lives– I like how Condon shows the results of Kinsey’s work in helping people understand the sliding scale of sexuality and in helping people who identify homosexuality in themselves not to feel diseased.
Can anyone speak to how Kinsey actually behaved? Was this an accurate portrayal?
Fletch
Jeremy
Zack!
joshuastough
pfe115
vkoneonefive
I love that Liam Neeson, but I felt the documentary was all-in-all much more satisfying. It addresses Kinsey’s strategies for encouraging forthcoming interviews and shows why his scientific training and commitment was ideal for this first-of-its-kind study. There is stuff on the personal life and character of Kinsey, too, but somewhat de-emphasized compared to the movie.
The great legacy from Kinsey — that the medical and/or moral concepts of normal and abnormal obscure the scientific study of (and thus the phenomena) of sex.
Good perspective, thanks. Is the doc on the Kinsey DVD, or can I find it elsewhere?
PBS American Experience Kinsey 2005 I believe it is for sale and of course there are many different resources connected to the PBS web page. I personally thought it a great documentary among many really good efforts. One of their best.