Film and the visual arts. I Wonder if anyone here on SCREEN-L has strong feelings about the relationship between film studies and the studies of visual culture and the visual arts. Although it is often stated that these are closely related and overlapping areas this belief does not seem to inform much of the activity in these fields. As an example, two times this spring I have listened to nationally recognized art theorists make broad generalizations about the visual arts that required ignorance of contemporary independent film, since strong filmic example exist that are directly counter to their theories. When pushed, both thinkers agreed that film was very important but admitted that they had not made viewing film a priority nor had they let it influence their theoretical work. I do not think that these are isolated instances nor do I think that film scholars are innocent either. I am alarmed by this willingness to marginalize film in art discourse and the willingness to marginalize other visual arts in filmic discourse. Does it not signal both a critical and professional crisis? Does a lack of interdiciplinarity -for lack of a better term- lead to dubious scholarship in each area and serve to keep film isolated in the sense that it is not really considered a visual art? Finally, doesn't film suffer from a brushing aside of attention to the most complex issues of visual signification that fuel critical activity in the visual arts? In a limited sense I am playing devils advocate but I am also trying to understand what I see as a regrettable disreguard for a body of contemporary filmic work. Does this have resonances for anyone here? -D.H. ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]