Resolved (documentary on HBO)

[TAsunder]

Did anyone else watch this? I'm not sure if it was the first airing recently or what. It's a documentary about high school debate teams. I knew friends on the debate team many years back but I had no idea it was such a strange, in-bred system of micro-machine-guy speaking.

I thought it was quite excellent. I'm not normally interested in the wacky intellectual activity genre (spelling bees, scrabble, etc.) but this one was both fascinating and, in my opinion, relevant to current politics. More importantly, perhaps, the students participating do not seem at all socially inept and on the path to serial killer behavior despite the fact that the activity itself resembles word salad serial killer talk.

Those of you who do enjoy the spelling bee type genre would love this too.

The camera angle on Samuel Alito was kind of strange, though!

[realityboy]

I saw it. I was surprised at what an actual debate was like as well. The whole thing seems a bit odd. I just watched The Great Debaters last week so the contrast between those debates and what the sport is now is just so huge that it doesn't even seem like the same activity at all.

I'm not sure if this was the first airing or not, but HBO is running documentaries every Monday throughout the summer. Last week it was Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and next week it's Hard Times at Douglass High.

[TAsunder]

The Polanski one was quite good as well, but I liked this one more.

I haven't seen The Great Debaters but it seems to me that forensic clubs are closer to what most of us would consider a debate.

[JoBeth66]

We stumbled on it the other night & I was fascinated - we missed the beginning, though. I'm guessing the speed talking developed as a way to fit more arguments into the allotted time limit. I have to say, the whole "highest body count wins" concept kinda made me laugh. Whoever gets the nuclear war wins the debate??

[bdjncox]

I was on the debate team in high school and college - the machine gun approach used to drive me crazy. Their whole goal is to put out so many arguments that you fail to cover one or more in rebuttal. Then they can claim that you didn't refute it since you can't bring up new arguments in rebuttals.

God, that's been 15 years ago... I'm setting this to record so I can remember all the fun.