CrackpotoberFest 1: Premium 47 - Novels as Spycraft 8 / Paranoiac Films 5 - Girl, Interrupted, or, Dr. Strangelove’s Daughter on some MKULTRA Shit

Programmed to Chill

English - May 01, 2024 13:40 - 1 hour - 93.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 183 ratings
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Previous Episode: Premium 46 - the Cathars pt. 4, CIA: Cathars in Action - Esoteric Angleton and the Wilderness of Mirrors

Next Episode: CrackpotoberFest 2: Premium Episode 48 - Paranoiac Films 6: Ghostwatch, or, “Why is everything just two steps removed from Jonestown?" pt. 2, feat. Tanner Boyle

[originally published on Patreon Oct 1, 2022]

Today's the first of four horror (or quasi-horror) films for CrackpotoberFest 2022 - Girl, Interrupted, both the memoir and the film. I discuss Susanna Kaysen and her father, a very interesting figure. I talk about McLean Hospital, Jim Watson, spies at McLean, and Kaysen's later career.

Then, I go over some interesting themes that Girl, Interrupted the film injects into the narrative - some potentially spurious, some maybe not. To wrap up, I discuss the history of MKULTRA projects at McLean and the general area. CrackpotoberFest only gets weirder from here.

Songs:

Knockin’ Round the Zoo by James Taylor

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Downtown by Petula Clark

Angel Baby by Rosie & the Originals