resolved: we should watch this movie.

February 9, 2008 8:14 PM

[high-school-debate-filter] "Resolved" is a documentary by One Potato Productions about high school debate. Where can I find/see this? The trailer is available on One Potato's web site but I can find no information on where to see the movie itself. Help!
posted by negative1 to media & arts (9 comments total)

I couldn't either, but I was just able to add it to my Netflix list. Timely, considering we just saw The Great Debaters this week.
posted by jvilter at 9:00 PM on February 9, 2008

Sounds like Netflix is the best bet, as I could find no leads on eBay, Amazon, or Google.

Also, minor derail, but is that really what a debate class is like? It looks more like Duckspeaking 101. The speed makes them incomprehensible, which I think kinda defeats the purpose. Isn't it supposed to be about persuasive clarity?
posted by Rhaomi at 10:30 PM on February 9, 2008

Rhaomi: Competitive debate is done in three arenas - parliamentary (mostly a collegiate phenomenon), Lincoln-Douglas (mostly high school), and policy (both college and high school). Resolved focused only on the last format. Yes, it is like that. The former two formats are not. The concept of "persuasive clarity" to policy debaters does not necessarily mean speaking slowly and like a idealistic politician. To those "in the know", the speaking is rather easily understood (although the video format necessarily makes it more incomprehensible). You'd be surprised with the insightful arguments that some high school and collegiate debaters can come up with. I would never say that all debate is a rendition of The Great Debaters, but there's more critical thinking done than you'd realize by watching a movie. There's a reason that debate is considered highly by college admissions personnel and why Al Gore's political machine was mostly made up of former debaters.
posted by saeculorum at 11:12 PM on February 9, 2008

Thanks for the quick answer, saeclorum. I checked out Wiki's article on policy debate and was pretty impressed. I thought it was amazing that anybody can lay out a complex argument that quickly. It's like another world with it's own language and syntax, very strange. A real shame that the movie in question is harder to get a hold of.

(Imagine highlighting and a small green checkmark next to your answer, by the by)
posted by Rhaomi at 12:53 AM on February 10, 2008

Just to be clear here...

You can indeed add it to your Netflix "save" list, but not to your queue. This means that the "release date is unknown; availability is not guaranteed." In other words, it's not out on DVD yet and though they suspect that it will be at some point, they can't be absolutely certain about that and, in any case, don't know what the release date would be. However, if/when it is available, they will be happy to place it in your queue for you.
posted by Clay201 at 6:02 AM on February 10, 2008

This is not an answer, but I emailed one potato productions asking about availability. I also asked one of the principal debaters if he knows of a way to see the movie.

so this is all to say, I'll get back to you if I hear anything.
posted by Flamingo at 10:19 AM on February 10, 2008

i emailed the production company about 2 months ago :(
maybe i should get someone from craigslist to visit their offices :)
posted by negative1 at 10:57 AM on February 10, 2008

Okay, my friend (who is in the movie) says that it will be playing on HBO "sometime in the spring". He has no idea about DVDs.
posted by Flamingo at 11:46 AM on February 10, 2008

As a previous debater and coach, I'd like to add a little aside about shotgunning and speaking waaay too fast. The first high school I went to debated policy without speed reading, and the second I went to valued fast talkers. It was a clearly "up north" thing vs. "downstate" thing. If you can speak clearly and at a relatively normal if slightly quickened pace, you can more deeply get into your issues and create stronger arguments. In faster debates, many times the deciding factor relates to point A, subpoint 1, little a - the incorrectly defined the word "the" and didn't respond to my argument.

I prefer the kind of debate where real arguments are happening in a way that might realistically happen in real life.

PS: I'm so adding this movie to my queue!
posted by santojulieta at 7:56 PM on February 10, 2008