Think about the fuss raised by films like "Our Daily Bread", "Grapes of Wrath", "Marty", "Salt of the Earth" which showed living conditions closer to what they really are/were like. Big political foofarra! HUAC involved; blacklisting, or rumblings of it. Compare these to films like "How Green Was My Valley" in which the Welsh mining hovel is romanticised into something akin to the master suite in Robin Hood's Nottingham Castle. Hollywood didn't then (doesn't now?) want anything in its films that could be interpreted as "socialist". Think of the antithesis: "Topper", the Busby Berkley films of the 1930s (We're in the Money):films where the wealthy who play for a living were held up to audiences as models to aspire to. On the other hand, I can think of a few Hollywood films where the living conditions were more realistic: Four Friends, The Deerhunter, so this is not a universal trait. But I'd like also to extend the question. Why is it that all American houses in sitcoms seem to be designed with a front door that enters directly into the living room, and a staircase that comes down into the living room? Why is it that central characters in TV and movies can always find a parking spot directly in front of the building they are going to enter? Why does it never rain in movies unless someone is feeling miserable, or being burried? It might be fun to collect a master list of such questions, print them up, and offer them to teachers as fruitful topics for investigation in media education. Better than memorizing the names of the lenses. If anyone is interested, I'll do the collecting, and post it back to the list when it's done. Please send your suggestions either to me directly or to the list using the subject description: "Hollywood questions". Chimo, Chris Chris M. Worsnop Consultant, speaker, workshop leader Assessment, writing, media education 2400 Dundas Street West Unit 6, Suite 107 Mississauga Ontario, Canada L5K 2R8 Email: <[log in to unmask]> Phone: (905) 823-0875 (please note correction) ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]