Regarding whether or not audience identification with killers is as cut and dried as the assumption goes, or whether Carol Clover's thesis is correct ... I witnessed a rather interesting proof of Clover's thesis. I was at a midnight screening of Reservoir Dogs (it was never theatrically released in NFLD) and everyone cheered for their favorite character during the opening credits. ( IF you remember, everybody gets their own shot, in slow motion, with their names on the bottom of the screen, to the song "Little Green Back") Obviously Tarantino and Keitel recieved major cheers and applause, but these all paled in comparision to the cheering for Micheal Madsen. A bit creepy I thought, but then again, this is Newfoundland. I took this as an indication of, if not "identification" then certainly preference, for specific characters. As loud as the cheering was for Madsen's opening credit, it was nothing in comparision to when he was blown away by Tim Roth. All this is a rather lengthy way of noting that I believe what happened was not only an appreciation for a psycho-killer (if I may be allowed to call Madsen that), but an equal if not greater appreciation for said psycho's death. Film studies may be a much stronger discipline if theoretical concepts were applied to actual filmgoing experiences. Just my discipline-centric opinion though. _____________________________________________________________________________ Mikel J. Koven Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland [log in to unmask] ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]