Isn't that what having a hypothesis is all about. As long as the researcher is open to the possibility that the evidence will disprove the assumption then I don't see the problem. It's surely preferable to a wholly inductive approach. Mike > to adam, and onlookers, a subversive question: > > for all i know there may be a powerful connection between cinematic > excess and consumer wallets . . . but why BEGIN a research project by > presupposing this and then asking whether there's any evidence to > support it? . . . the whole point of scholarship [in any field] should > be to determine what counts [within a given discourse] as an acceptable > answer to a significant question . . . the point is not [or certainly > should not be] to posit an answer and then search in obscure places for > whatever shreds of information might count as evidence > > i hate to pick on adam, who as a ph.d. student is no doubt simply > emulating those whom he sees as defining proper procedure for his field > . . . it's precisely the discursive premises of the field itself that > this query calls into vivid question -- a question that i find extremely > embarrassing > > thoughts? > > mike > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > On Behalf Of Adam Fish > Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 4:40 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [SCREEN-L] Class in 50s Cinema > > Film Scholars, > > I need to make connections between the late-1940s-1950s rise of the > consumerist class, the class of the producers/directors of the > musicals/epics/spectaculars of that era, and/or a class explanation > for what appears on screen in the 1950s. I am connecting 1950s class > to cinema production culture and/or screen events. Can you recommend a > book or person to talk to? Was all the musical and spectacular excess > of the period an accurate representation of buying power or > aspirations for future commodity excess? > > Yours, > > Adam Fish > UCLA: Anthropology, PhD student > Current TV, VC2 Producer > > ---- > For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: > http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html > > ---- > Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex > podcast: > http://www.screenlex.org > > Dr. Mike Chopra-Gant Course Leader - MA Mass Communications, BSc Cultural Studies 020 7133 5050 [log in to unmask] SKYPE: mikechopragant Companies Act 2006 : http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/companyinfo ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu