I'd like to generally support the views of Mike (last name not given), Leo Enticknap, and Darryl Wiggers, who make many good points. We all know that film studies is a discipline, like all arts, with both practical and theoretical applications, yet whether we like it or not, the public will always value the practical over the theoretical. We can still defend our ivory tower positions as we wrestle with theories that "average" folks do not understand nor care about, so that in another few generations screen studies will be granted a level of prominence similar to, say, art history or economics. And still people will care more about movies, and paintings and recessions, than they care about the theories behind them. Those of us who are film academics should indeed be worried over preserving our roles as educators in both the practical and the theoretical aspects of cinema. With state education budgets being slashed and Hollywood profit desperation rising, we are vulnerable to being labeled irrelevant even as we are helping the culture to become more media literate. And if we are to show our relevance, we'll need to appeal to the common people as well as our peers. We may know the ideological value of theory and appreciate its applications, but at the end of the day we have students who've paid up to $125,000 to get a degree, and they need the privilege of a job in addition to the power of their education. And very few of them will ever find jobs involving film theory. Besides, consider just how many film Ph.D.s are being hired anymore to simply teach theory, and for that matter, consider how many film Ph.D.s are being hired as professors at all. Those of us who have film teaching jobs are damn lucky. To act as if engaging in theory is more important than the practicality of teaching for a living is a delusion at best and an insult at worst. Dr. Timothy Shary Assistant Professor of Screen Studies Traina Center for the Arts Clark University Worcester, MA 01610 508-793-7285 ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org