Discover more from The Process

Quality documentary filmmaking requires a shitload of R&D. This publication is a window into that work with a view to creating high-production value feature films.

Over 8,000 subscribers

The Reformers | Recommended Viewing Order

Start The Reformers (2023) series here.

Michael Nayna

Jun 20, 2023

The Reformers is an exclusive Substack release with accompanying text and additional scenes that play out like a director’s cut of my work documenting the infamous Grievance Studies Affair.

Below is my intended flow for the series, I suggest revisiting this document between each part.

Enjoy.

The Reformers | Part One

May 7

Watch now (14 min) | As social media matured throughout the 2010s, I observed a dynamic interplay between the emerging technology and our socio-religious world. I watched as moral communities formed into competing networks that used media to reify their worldviews and proselytise with an escalating fervour. A particular moral community emerged as the dominant force and bega…

Read full story

The Reformers - An Accompaniment

May 11

Watch now (31 min) | Today I’d like to take you on an important side quest that I pursued while working on the film. Readers who have followed my work for a while will be familiar with my three-part series about the Evergreen State College. For those of you new to my work, I consider this an essential accompaniment to the series, and I’ve reworked it into the more consumabl…

Read full story

The Reformers | Part Two

Michael Nayna

May 7

Watch now (15 min) | When we left off, Peter and James were brashly workshopping papers I thought were too farfetched to make it through the peer-review process. For readers unfamiliar with academia, “peer review” is where professional academics critically analyse each other’s research. It’s designed to weed out low-quality work.

Read full story

The Reformers - Deleted Scene

Michael Nayna

May 18

Watch now (4 min) | In the deleted scene above, Peter proposes a thought experiment to his philosophy class. He asks his students how they would have gone about discrediting the pseudoscience of phrenology at the height of its popularity. This not-so-subtle dig at the identity studies departments is an interesting way to think about how theories can flourish into fields wi…

Read full story

The Reformers | Part Three

Michael Nayna

May 14

Watch now (13 min) | During a late-night conversation with Peter, he told me about his experiences with the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy of Portland State University. He told me that student activists had “weaponised institutional mechanisms against me”

Read full story

The Reformers | Part Four

May 21

Watch now (19 min) | We ended part three with a montage of seven acceptance emails landing in the inboxes of the team's faux scholars. Amidst the flurry of success, James said to me, “I think we’ve figured them out, there’s no limit to what we can get published.” However, his optimism was short-lived. A Twitter account by the name of

Read full story

17 Comments

Dagny

Jul 6Liked by Michael Nayna

Brilliant work! You've started the Great Unraveling!

Expand full comment

Rusty Bee

Jul 25Liked by Michael Nayna

Thank you Mike, I only recently found your work thanks to Bret and I am glad you made these episodes to help shed light on this illness. I have been a fan of Bret's since 2017 and James and Peter ever since they went on Rogan. I am currently working my way through New discourses which I must admit is hard work as most of this is new to me but learning. The more I learn the more I see it all around me and how they are using it to manipulate the people esp here in OZ. I watched on during covid in total disbelief, thank God I was in NQ so no lockdown and I am self-employed so no Jabs. I am almost certain I got covid in Vietnam in Jan 2020 and flew back with in on the 17th Jan. When we landed in the GC people with hazmat suits boarded our plane, did some stuff up the front and got off without saying a world, at the time covid wasn't even in the news. Crazy times not sure how anyone could have done Victoria I would have been burning buildings. It's absolutely mental here atm and shows no signs of getting better, I'm not sure if you are following this Voice craziness or not but damm what a shit show. Anyway, keep up the good work and if you find a new country for a building designer and teacher (wife) let me know. I prob I have 2-5 years max here before I go insane.

15 more comments...