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10.4 RICK DOBLE'S STORY OF AN ABUSIVE TEACHER IN GRADUATE SCHOOL, MR. EARL WYNN, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL

The following is an example of intellectual abuse by a teacher in the Department of Radio, Television, Motion Pictures (RTVMP) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (UNC).

At the end of a movie making class in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), my teacher, a Mr. Earl Wynn, decided he did not like the content of my movie although he had approved the script before I shot it and I followed my script closely. However, he had no quarrel with my skills at shooting the movie, the photography, writing the script, editing, adding sound, etc. He gave me a minimal grade not because of the quality of the movie, but because he did not like my subject matter. My movie was quite creative and used a number of techniques that I only saw decades later in MTV videos such as stop motion photography, two dimensional animation and processed music. One of my fellow students said it was the most creative short film he had seen out of the department. I had gotten the grade of A in all my other classes. I was so angry, I got Earl Wynn to look at the movie and tell me why he did not like it; he was unable to say -- he had no specific criticisms. As a result of Earl Wynn's intensely negative reception, I did not pursue a career in film making, as he had soured me.

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