<<I get nervous when I sense that the formal aspects of film are being invoked as a kind of detachable (or disposable) consideration . . . they seem to me to be implicit and central to any theoretical or critical perspective.>> Allison- I share your anxiety. I see these artificial demarcations as part of a deplorable trend, visible in virtually all human endeavors these days, to "balkanize" and "polarize" every conceivable concept, from politics to history. At the risk of sounding Marxist, I believe that synthesis rather than rigid separatism is necessary to make sense of whatever world one is discussing. Over-specialization, often I fear in the service of self-aggrandizement, has narrowed us in subtle and overt ways. What is needed is a clarity of statement that all things are interconnected and that the broadest possible range of knowledge is as necessary in academic circles as it is throughout life. Gene Stavis- School of Visual Arts, NYC