Velvet Prisons: Russell Jacoby on American Academia

2019
55m

IMDb RATING

8.9/10

YOUR RATING

Velvet Prisons: Russell Jacoby on American Academia (2019)

Velvet Prisons is an hour-length documentary exploring critiques by
maverick scholar Russell Jacoby on the foibles of the American academy,
political life, and popular culture from the 1950s to the present. This captivating interview examines the fate of publicintellectuals, the neutering of radical inquiry in universities, the need for daring utopian thought, the scourge ofbad academic writing, the inspiring legacy of C. Wright Mills, the blight of pop psychology, the free-wheeling impact of the 1960s, alternative media, and the 'planned obsolescence of thinking' in a proudly anti-intellectual
society. All these issues connect to a larger question: what does the 'life of the mind' mean in contemporary America? It is a question that Jacoby, himself a
stubbornly round peg in the square hole of modern academia, is uniquely
qualified to address. This documentary enables viewers to visit one of the most
interesting intellectual figures of our time, much like earlier films on Noam
Chomsky, Slavoj Zizek, Edward Said and Jacques Derrida.

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Biography Documentary History

This provocative documentary arises from extensive interviews with maverick academic Russell Jacoby concerning the fate of public intellectuals, the neutering of radical work in the academy,... Read allThis provocative documentary arises from extensive interviews with maverick academic Russell Jacoby concerning the fate of public intellectuals, the neutering of radical work in the academy, the need for daring Utopian thought, the scourge of bad academic writing, the blight of p... Read allThis provocative documentary arises from extensive interviews with maverick academic Russell Jacoby concerning the fate of public intellectuals, the neutering of radical work in the academy, the need for daring Utopian thought, the scourge of bad academic writing, the blight of pop psychology, the inspiring legacy of the C. Wright Mills, the impact of the 1960s, resur... Read all

Directors
- Kurt Jacobsen
- Warren Leming
Writers
- Kurt Jacobsen
- Warren Leming
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.9/10

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Kurt Jacobsen
- Warren Leming
Writers
- Kurt Jacobsen
- Warren Leming
Stars

1User review

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 7:05

Velvet Prisons: Russell Jacoby on American Academe

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Featured review

10/10

inspiring documentary about an academic dissident in neo-liberal America

The next best thing to reading Russell Jacoby's provocative books (The Last Intellectuals, The End of Utopia, Social Amnesia, etc) is to watch this appreciative portrait of the man and his feisty work. The documentary is filled with splendid sallies at academic shibboleths and fads in this age of relentless commodifying of everything in sight, yet at the same time underscores how valuable a scholarly life can be. The "life of the mind' truly matters to Jacoby (and some others like him) and the underlying enthusiasm is infectious. He cares about clearly communicating ideas and showing how they are relevant to how we live our daily lives. Velvet Prisons should be required viewing for anyone contemplating a university career in these hard and cynical times. The low budget shows at times but the doc is guaranteed to stir heated debates among anyone who ever spent time on a college campus.