The Thinker 1989

Directed by Max Almy

In The Thinker, Almy satirically envisions the evolution of human intellectual thought—from ape to yuppie—as a television event, with an emcee providing the play-by-play commentary of a sportscaster. Classical, Medieval and Renaissance theories flash by as catch-phrases. When this accelerated history leaps forward to arrive at contemporary man, accompanied by an animated explosion of media and consumer images, his contribution to the history of thought is a litany of advertising slogans and pop cliches that devolve, full-circle, into ape-like grunts.