Truth Stream Media’s Melissa Dykes digs deep into the little-know subject of voodoo medicine and ultimate death by fear.
Says Dykes, “This has to do with the power of our beliefs and how those beliefs can physically affect the systems in our body.” She elaborates by taking us back on a historical journey to the work of Walter Cannon, chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School, whose research helped form the basis of much of the modern understanding of our physiological response systems involved in linking emotions, such as fear, to illness. Here’s her report.
Here is Part II of a new documentary called Overlooked: Lost in The Shining Hotel. This is a mesmerizing analysis of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King.
Created by the husband and wife team of Aaron and Melissa Dykes, this doc explores The Shining as much more than a murder mystery. We come to see it as a dark, epic allegory drawing many parallels to key incidents in American history and our broader relationship with the world.
Kubrick was meticulous, reading hundreds of books in preparation for each of his films. Likewise, Aaron and Melissa Dykes, the creators behind Truthstream Media, have an expansive vision for this series. They intend to finish five separate installments, each with a unique focus.
This second episode, subtitled The Management, explores the corporate officers of The Overlook who hire Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) as caretaker for a isolated, bitter-cold winter. Comparisons are drawn between The Overlook and other palatial Western hotels, like the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix and the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite. We also learn about early revels and games, like roque, underpinning the movie’s punchline “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
(Please note: We did not bring you Part One of this series when it was released back in December. Frankly, we didn’t find the opening installment as sharp or well-focused as this followup. Still, if you’re a big fan of Stanley Kubrick or of Truthstream Media, or if this installment has whetted your appetite for more, here’s a link to the opening segment on YouTube.)
