Why must it be a "standard film language"? Where Metz, Levi-Strauss and the boys went wrong, or at least where my current research in sociolinguistics is taking me, is that semiotic analysis is culturally specific. I.e. the signifiers and siginfieds (as well as their interrealtionships) differ from culture to culture and from group to group, therefore the can be no single unifying pricipal. _____________________________________________________________________________ Mikel J. Koven Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland [log in to unmask] ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]