On Tue, 19 Jul 1994, Guy Rosefelt wrote:
 
> Denise,>
> I heartily agree with you.  Movies are foremost entertainment.  Any effort to
> educate or extract a response beyond enjoyment is secondary.  I posted a
> similar opinion on CINEMA-L and got shot down for it too.
>
> Guy
 
Look, this is ridiculous. Does our analysis of what's going on have to
come to a grinding halt if we see that somebody is being entertained or is
receiving pleasure? That ought to be the starting point.
 
We ought to be able to ask "Where does this pleasure come from?" The
answer, as I see it, is that people are entertained by representation that
confirms their worldview, that tells them that their sense of what's true
and just and sensible is JUST FINE. People watch to have their values
stroked. When America saw Fatal Attraction in the 80's, it said, "Yep, I
told you so." That's entertainment.
 
To say that entertainment ought to be exempt from analysis, or necessarily
excludes politics, is to utterly miss what entertainment is. Isn't that a
bit of a problem if you're studying TV and film?
 
Kurt Gegenhuber
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