Dr. Kinsey’s failing was the failing of modern man; the extraordinary arrogance that proclaims that anything old is bad simply because it is old. I’ll give you that there were some pioneers who did have to fight conventional wisdom in order to make great strides on behalf of humanity but few are the adventurers who really think through the consequences of their actions.
Columbus, God bless him, opened the New World and blazed the trail which eventually led to the founding of the United States – but he also destroyed many ancient civilisations. Does the good outweigh the bad? In that case, I think so. Kinsey opened up sexuality and destroyed a social order. Does the good of demonstrating the real damage done by some societal taboos make up for the real damage done to society by his research? I don’t know.
By studying mans’ sexuality on a purely physical level divorced from emotion and societal bonds Kinsey reduced us to the level of animals – biological specimens to be dispassionately studied and exploited. The film never quite comes to terms with whether Kinsey is a hero or a villian. They’d like him to be a hero but there is a great deal of real villiany in his studies. At least one character perceived the trouble and blasted the doctor for his detachment – it’s all bound up together, sex and emotion.
Hell, go watch the first half. Have some good laughs. I liked the flick and it defintely made me think; more than any film in recent memory.