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Kristine Butler writes:
"I'd like to elicit a mass brainstorming effort:  I'm working on an idea
concerning films in which a pre-recorded message plays a part in conveying
narrative information (an answering machine, a tape player, etc.).
Example:  in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Pepa's boyfriend
exists primarily as the messages he leaves on her answering machine.
Anything you can think of would be greatly appreciated.  More on this
later.  Thanks!!"
 
Do you mean only *electronically* pre-recorded messages?  There are many, many
 examples of *print* messages having a role in the narrative.
 
Two electronic sources that come to mind are the original film verison of DEATH
 OF
A SALESMAN, which includes a wire recorder, and the giant on-the-wall
 reel-to-reel answering maching in Mike Hammer's apartment in KISS ME DEADLY.
 
Don Larsson, Mankato State U. (MN)