United Notions: A Refined but Earthy Novel Blended with a Film Script That Dissolves the Split Between G, PG, R, and X

Casey Devereux is a popular film professor who would like to smash the outdated movie rating system. He despises it because it leaves no place for showing sexuality linked with love. The system packages sentimental themes as G, so-called sex and unlimited violence as PG through R, and loveless sexuality as X. In fact, as Casey notes, we witness several hundred thousand scenes of violence but never see a single scene uniting sex with love in any movie. Heather, one of Casey’s former students, makes her move to win him when he ends a previous relationship. She talks her roommates Donna and Christina into taking Casey’s class. The Three Musketeers, as Casey calls them, are a witty, lovable, and gifted trio dealing with the immaturity of men who lack commitment. One pursues his hundredth hookup while another one who’s drunk is almost busted for his misbehavior at the college chapel. Casey’s classes stun his students and create a firestorm of controversy while also challenging the hookup culture of the campus. Casey falls in love with Heather and collects the roommates’ stories for a movie. He acquires a fortune that enables him to make the film, which starts and ends atop a mountain with the first scene filmed in darkness and the final scene at sunrise. For the first time ever in a movie, sexuality is linked with love and shown as sacred.