On Sun, 27 Oct 1996 11:48:29 -0400 Mike Frank wrote: > in other words, can't a formal or rhetorical analysis of the films serve as well > as a historicist account to explain the differences in reception? I wasn't (I hope!) suggesting the two were incompatible, and I certainly acknowledge that a textual approach to these two films can (and already has) produce many plausible accounts in the differences in reception. But the question that sparked this discussion off (I think) asked why "Psycho" WAS well-received, and "Peeping Tom" wasn't; thus we are dealing with issues of reception that were in place 36 years ago, not today. There was a broad concensus among serious critics in 1960 that "Peeping Tom" was reprehensible, and now, most of them regard it as a masterpiece. So I don't really think it's viable to rely on the idea of self-generated meaning within a film text, as (in this case at least) such meaning is influenced by the historical specificities in which such a 'text' is 'read'. Leo ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]