in connection with my comments about "cinematic pietas" Jerry asks: "Obviously Olsen and Pizzato DID agree on certain textual restraints, and thus, had no reason to theorize on them. That was not what their discussion was about. Why does Frank find this so interesting? Is it because he doesn't believe in relative readings?" and i suppose it's a reasonable question . . . what i find so interesting and troubling about the exchange is not that i don't believe in realtive readings but that don't think i'm prepared to believe in absolutely relative readings . . . that is to say, there must be something understood as being IN the text which works to contrain and delimit what we may say in response to it . . . otherwise all texts get reduced to the status of rohrschach blots and all responses are equally valid . . . what i was asking is whether the reproduction--either in films or for that matter in any other text-- of the trope called "pieta" carries with it an already present evaluative position, or whether the trope is, as it were, value neutral, and the claim that it is sexist is merely in the eye or the ideology of the beholder . . . and this still seems to me a crucial question BTW, i never meant to suggest that olsen and pizzato ought to have addressed this question . . . jerry's quite right that that was not their purpose at all . . . but their exchange did have the effect of raising the question in a very pointed way mike frank ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]