Hmmm...I hesitate to enter this debate but it has some bearing on some upcoming work that I am doing on film censorship. I guess as a non-lit crit type, and as someone with both a humanistic and social science orientation, I cannot wholly dismiss the relationship of aesthetics to politics or society. What this means from me personally is that I will choose not to "fawn over" Griffith although I am able to recognize his aesthetic or "technical" contributions to the medium. I guess what I do think is important is to discuss Griffith openly and honestly in his full context, that to comment on the obvious tension between his stature as film innovator and his politics --- I don't see these as wholly unrelated. In closing I might add that I do not advocate the censoring of this or any other film mainly because of the generally negative consequences of this action. It is my contention that the banning of BOAN assisted in wiping any traces of race from the Hollywood screen for a good 50 or so years. Just my two cents... Dianne