The Pleasure Principle

Directed by Penny Lane

A silent short film commission for New York City's legendary Film Forum. Jeremy Bentham is considered the founder of utilitarianism, the moral philosophy which says the best actions are those which provide the most pleasure to the greatest number of people. For Freud and Bentham, the pleasure principle is life’s motivating force. Lane went looking for “The Pleasure Principle” in offbeat educational films, from behaviorism and neuroscience (Pavlov’s dogs trained to drool at the sight of a lightbulb, lab rats outfitted with pleasure-producing electrodes triggered by the pressing of a lever) to YouTube tutorials on wireheading (the artificial stimulation of the brain via electrical current to experience pleasure), meditation and tantric sex.