The
Integral Movie and TV List has been updated and is available on Internet Movie Database (IMDb) at:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls074613980/.
On the
list you will find all the movies and television series that have tested positive for having integrally-informed elements to varying degrees according to testing criteria developed during research on the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.
According to this research, a cinematic work is deemed to be integral if elements of the integral stage of development are represented in the cinematic form, style, structure, content, and/or are embedded in the material as a presence or atmosphere. These representations of the elements of the integral stage of development can include: The exploration and integration of multiple evolving dimensions and perspectives of lesser and greater depth and span; the concretion of abstract and interior dimensions and perspectives, such as time and interiority, in the service of evolutionary growth and development; an evolutionary story, event, and/or character progression that is given greater than or equal emphasis to conflict resolution, with progression developing vertically through at least three stages or levels of development; the evolutionary impulse as a driving force or causality pattern; the valuing of truth that is qualified by evolving perspectival fields; and/or a Kosmo-centric circle of care and concern that suggests an awareness, integration, and embracing of all of existence.
Recent updates to the list include the following titles:
Movies New to the List:
Citizen Kane (1941) - This cinematic masterpiece has hints of the emergence of integral cinematic style and structure into a more main stream form as it traces the evolution of an individual life and explores how our primal wound can both propel us up the ladder of human development while also undermining and regressing us at the same time. While the film's main character falls far short of the higher stages of development, the filmmaker, Orson Welles, potentially elevates us the audience into a higher level of perception as we are cinematically raised up into the integral dimensions of a deeply integrating and witnessing consciousness.
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) - Beautiful animated trilogy of shorts that explores the journey of an individual life that dances across the thin line between life and death, time and timelessness, and form and the formless. The film is both raw and elegant and wondrously captures the main character's evolutionary dance from egocentric (self-absorbed) to Kosmocentric (unitive) levels of existence.
The Giver (2014) - A heart-felt integrally-informed psycho-social science fiction film that dramatically explores a post-catastrophe society that has tried to engineer a better world by suppressing the human shadow and de-evolutionary forces from the developmental arc. This suppression ends up also burying many positive and higher emotions and the heart of the evolutionary impulse itself, and an old man who holds the memories of what the world lost gives a young man those memories in hopes of helping him evolve into the catalyst for the re-awakening of the heart and soul of the world.
Share (2014) - "Share" is a subtle and elegant integrally-informed dramatic short film exploring the impact of transcending the boundaries between subjective and intersubjective domains across multiple dimensions of being and becoming. The film's creator is a long time student of Integral Theory and one of the early integral practitioner's who have been attempting to apply Ken Wilber's Integral theories to media.
The Cobbler (2015) A deeply flawed but cute mystical comedy with an integrally-informed undercurrent of the main characters evolution from egocentric to Kosmocentric circles of care and concern.
TV Series New to the List:
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) Wonderful and deep yet light-hearted integrally-informed animated TV series that explores the evolving and spiraling dance between the separation and the union of the multiple dimensions of our being and becoming.
The Legend of Korra (2012-2014) - Another integrally-informed animated TV series from the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, set in the Avatar universe many years later with a new, this time female, Avatar, expanding and deepening their exploration of the evolving and spiraling dance between the separation and the union of the multiple dimensions of our being and becoming.
More movies and TV series are added to the list as more are tested so check back periodically to keep abreast of the research.
For more on the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts visit the Integral Cinema Project at: www.integralcinema.com.