----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I have been watching, and videotaping, the American Cinema series. Although the series as a whole doesn't seem to be self- critical about American Cinema as a pervasive voice on society both in the U.S. and abroad, the idea that American Cinema has influenced a great deal of the world was mentioned in the first installment, if memory serves me right. I don't recall any real sociological analysis of a "world view" being created in American Cinema, or how U.S. films have affected people in other countries, but the technical and aesthetic aspects of U.S. film making and how it has affected film makers in other countries was mentioned, both by folks interviewed in the program an and by the announcer/narrator of the first episode. AFter reading many postings on this subject and watching each episode as it has aired, I have come to regard the series somewhat differently than I did initially. It does seem to work as a general introduction to film making, esp. in regards to different genres. It is not all-inclusive, certainly, and biased in some areas, but friends of mine who are non-film buffs have certainly learned a lot of information about genres, the history or development of the Hollywood system of film making, and come into contact with directors and films they might not normally have ever had any desire to read about or watch. Doug Simpson