On this developing desensitization issue in recent Hollywood movies, readers may want to look up Geoff Brown's review of TWISTER in yesterday's (July 24) LONDON TIMES (also available in Web format). Brown commented upon the tendency within this Spielberg-Crichton product to treat human beings as playthings for special effects dominance. It is a feature characteristic of other contemporary films. Perhaps this tendency may parallel Kracauer's thoughts in his "Mass Ornament" essay involving the fetishistic usage of human beings? As we live in an era paralleling tendencies within the Fascist epoch of exploiting human beings within uniform structures and attempting to disavow difference of any type, a return to reconsidering some of Kracaeur's ideas may be valuable - as long as we consider later reworkings amd redefinitions of the concepts. Tony Williams ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]