To: Matt McAllister, via Ron Hoffman Ron Hoffman's reply to Matt McAllister's request for filmic examples of non-verbal communication got me thinking about Pudovkin and Kuleshov's famous experiments on the effects of montage, or "constructive editing." Barrelfulls of meaning have been ascribed to actors' expressions and bodily comportments, some of which MAY have been the results of expertly- handled editing. This is not to deny the reality of so-called "body language," but merely to broaden the scope of the enquiry to include montage-suggested [ie, viewer-imposed] examples of body language. This discussion feeds into earlier discussions on the extent to which "texts" may be considered autonomous, ie, can be said to "contain" certain meanings, while other meanings are "outside" of the text, in some realm called "context." I am reminded of Agnes Moorehead's "expression" in CITIZEN KANE, an expression that - assuming there is one - might be the key to the whole film.[though, as the reported concludes, you can't explain a man's life in any simple way.] Kane's mother is sending him off to live under the guardianship of a banker, ostensibly to get him away from his father, whom the young Kane seems to love dearly. I have tried in vain to "read" her expression at this pivotal point in the film. It is the context that gives meaning to expression, but the context here is ambiguous: 1) there are indications that she loves young Kane, which might mean that she sends him away because his best interests are served by being "where you [Kane's father] can't get your hands on him," ie, he'll be treated better and he'll get a good education [the clear implication is that his father mistreats him]; and 2) she can't wait to get rid of him because she just doesn't love him; she's perhaps incapable of love and so unable to teach HIM how to love. Perhaps the conclusion to this rambling post is that context should always be taken into account when analyzing bodily modes of communication. Cheers, Marty. Phil Dept. University of Guelph ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]