"up to the challenge"??? . . . hmmm . . . maybe -- but maybe the challenge IN PRINCIPLE isn't all that great [though it's specific local and political ramifications are endlessly challenging] . . . . . . to wit: western culture [and i'd venture a guess this is even more widespread than that] has a ancient tradition of distinguishing between the civilized and the barbaric, and acknowledging the presence of the barbaric within the civilized [cf. BACCHAE, etc., usw.] . . . call it the demonic, the id, werewolf, vampire, witch, etc. . . . it is always recognized and rejected but with a grudging sense that--as conrad puts it--there's something in that darkness that beckons us to follow . . . now, to say that the green mask [in the movie that i have to admit i've not seen] provides access to that power or drive or whatever . . . that it works the same way as the bacchae or the congo or certain drugs . . . is merely to find in this film another articulation of a longstanding [eternal??] issue . . but . . . . . if krin gabbard is right, and that articulation is coded or marked in this film in a way that has specific racial/cultural conotations [something i can't speak to not having seen the film] that is certainly worth exploring and discussing . . . but unless there's something going on that has not been brought to the surface in the exchanges thus far, i don't know that the larger thematic is challenging except to the extent that it raises yet again a challenge that most of us has lived with and dealt with pretty regularly mike frank ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]