----------------------------- Begin Original Text ----------------------------- but most discourses today talk about films as cognitive objects, and i suppose, to put my own questin differently, i'm asking about the epistemic differences between different modes of delivery ----------------------------- End Original Text ----------------------------- I think this is the heart of the matter. When Mike says "most discourses today", he is clearly referring to the predominance of "signification" in the academic community. That view has so dominated our community that we find ourselves in the present contretemps. A generation has grown up and is now teaching which is under the thrall of this, to my mind, extremely limited and literary view of a great and all-encompassing art form. It has, in my opinion, had a reductivist effect on experiencing film. I have no problem with anyone having any view thay please, but to present it as the ONLY alternative in looking at film is extraordinarily limited and inevitably leads to a situation in which the "textual" elements of the film become so central that the VISUAL experience has been denigrated (and even dismissed). Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]