Radio Stockdale

What does this movie, based upon a Phillip Roth novel, tell us about cancel culture on campus? What does it tell us about the difficult choice made by the main character, Coleman Silk, who disowned his African American family in order to pursue success in his careers passing as a white Jewish man? Does the film attempt too much by cursorily including too many of the novel's narrative threads? Should it have more exclusively focused on one or other of these storylines? How does the casting work to lessen the plausibility of the story of Silk's later life?

What does this 1973 film tell us about post Hays-Code Hollywood and the ethics of using child actors in roles such as that of the posessed daughter, Regan? What does it tell us about the interaction between the MPAA and film producers/distributors? What does the film make us consider with regard to the problem of the existence of evil and God? Why would God allow a perfectly malignant demon to exist? What do Fathers Karras and Merrin teach us about duty and self sacrifice? How does the film's setting at Georgetown University illustrate the role of religious belief in a more secular age? How do the characters' reactions to Regan's behavior instantiate these two 'realms'?

What does this retelling of the Godzilla story tell us about the responsibilities of governments in handling emergency situations? How does it reflect contemporary Japanese bureaucracy and does it provide a window into how the Japanese conscience feels about WWII era lmperial leadership in the terminal stages of that war? The film's first half is dark satire, while the later half portrays international cooperation to defeat the threat, efforts led by an up and coming young minister. What does this tell us about keeping governments responsive and resiliant in a global age?

How does this horror/suspense film engage with recent philosophical thought experiments having to do with brain transplants and issues of personal identity? What does it tell us about submersion of identity for social purposes? How does producer/director Jordan Peele utilize awkwardness in white/black relations to build suspense and foreboding in his audience? What did he intend to tell us regarding the challenges that young black males face when interacting with law enforcement? How do the several alternate endings he filmed reveal his own views and hopes on the subject?

What does this film tell us about the human proclivity to use fellow human beings as mere means to larger ends, such as corporate gain or climate change mitigation? Is it realistic to assume a corporation, its employees or society would treat cloned humans as less than human? How does the AI robot, GERTY illustrate codes of ethics for AI human interaction? What evidence is there that GERTY is simply following an algorithm to protect Sam? What evidence is there that GERTY actually has compassion for Sam, and a moral sense?

What does this story, about the court-martial of a black cavalryman accused of rape and murder of a white woman, tell us about justice, fairness, and bigotry in the post-bellum U.S. Army? What does it tell us about the tenuous and inconsistent nature of the American social contract at the time? What message does John Ford wish to send his audience of 1960 with this film? Does he presage elements of the looming civil rights battles of that decade? Does he intend to show us that the military led the way in regard to integrating black Americans?

What does this story, based on the early days of American involvement in the air war over Germany, tell us about the tensions that exist, for commanders, when they try to balance mission accomplishment with stewardship responsibilities they have for the well-being of the men and women they lead? How does it illustrate the emotional and psychological toll that these command responsibilities take? How does the film contrast with later Vietnam era films, as regards cynicism and combat exhaustion?

What is the relationship between violence and civilization? How do the two main characters, Tom Doniphant and Ransom Stoddart reflect that relationship? What does the film tell us about circumstances where it becomes necessary to act with 'dirty hands' in order to preserve civilization? What does this film tell us about America's founding, and the mythologizing of our founders? How does John Ford use the character of the black man Pompey as an object lesson in the inconsistencies between American ideals and practice in regard to civil rights?

What are the concepts of the natural lottery and moral luck, and how are they represented in the film? Does the gritty realism of the film’s opening sequence morally contextualize the choices Capt. Miller and his squad make during the film with regard to POWs? Is it fair of Capt. Miller to demand, with his last words, that Ryan “earn it” as he dies after defending the bridge? Did Ryan satisfy that demand? Is this final demand from Miller representative of a message from members of US armed services to the country they serve?

What does this 1952 Japanese film, about a bureaucrat who discovers he has terminal cancer, tell us about choice, direction in life, and living authentically? What does it tell us about the focus and hard questions that often happen when confronted with one's own mortality? What does it say about the compromises with reality or necessity that most people must make when it comes to the ability to make a living or provide for family, and what does it tell us with regard to obligations of sons and daughters to parents?

What does the 2016 film Arrival tell us about time, and our relationship to it? If you knew your future and could choose, would you live it exactly as it is to unfold? Does foreknowledge of the future course of our lives imply that there is no free will? Would it be wrong to inform loved ones of the tragedies you see for them? Would it be wrong to enter into relationships that you know will end in tragedy? These and other questions are explored in this film.

What does Blade Runner tell us about the role of empathy in morality? How are memories connected with personal identity? What connection is there between the capacity for cruelty and moral agency? Is there religious significance or commentary in this film and in the book upon which it is based? These, and other questions are explored.

What does W.E.B Dubois' concept of 'double consciousness' tell us about the main character Starr Carter, and life as a black American? What does it tell us about recent police shootings of unarmed black men? What does THUGLIFE mean? Is the message of The Hate U Give one of despair or hope when it comes to race relations? How does this theme connect with other recent films and the comedy of Key and Peele, and Dave Chapell? These, and other questions are explored.

What does this film, about Jesuit missionaries in Algonquin territory during the 1600s tell us about rationality and religious beliefs? How does it illustrate the conceptual difficulties that can occur when we attempt to understand cultures whose experiences and outlooks are foreign to us in fundamental ways? How does it illustrate the alliances and power politics of the colonial period, and just how similar in goals and methods were the several native tribes to the European powers with which they allied?

What does this film, about nerve regeneration research, tell us about utilitarian thought and the role of consent in medical research using human subjects? Is the film too far-fetched? How does the history of WWII medical research help to answer that question? What sorts of rationalizations do we find in the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (1932 to 1972) that have resonance with the arguments of doctors in this film? What lessons can be learned for medical research by comparing and contrasting this fictional story with these actual historical episodes?

What does this film tell us about the benefits and risks associated with reviving long extinct life forms? What is the interplay between scientific inquiry and entrepreneurial efforts in the film? What are the competing motivations in such cases? Do such projects as the real-world enterprise "Pleistocene Park" run similar risks while offering their possible benefits? If so, how might they be mitigated? Is it, in principle, impossible to predict consequences of playing with complex systems, such as eco-systems? If so, should we abstain from doing so?