Mike Frank sends this message from his friend: ORIGINAL MESSAGE: I find that many American movies of the last twenty years or so, which depict an encounter with supernatural phenomena (e.g., Close Encounters, E.T., Contact, maybe 2001) tend to suggest the possibility of the supernatural offering an experience of transcendent redemption: In each of these movies something fantastic arrives from far away, from the future, or from another dimension, equipped with superior intelligence, technology, and --more important--sensitivity, and releases the characters in the film, and thereby the audience in the theater as well, from the intolerable or meaningless or repressive existence they have known. By contrast, encounters with the supernatural in American films of the 1930s and 40s like It's a Wonderful Life and The Wizard of Oz seem to convey the message that in fact American life as we know it is just fine, and that when it comes down to it there really is no place like home. Can you suggest any additional films that would serve as good examples of this contrast, or, if necessary, films that tend to undermine it and show that a desire for transcendence was as common fifty years ago as it seems to be today? In addition, do you know of any secondary texts that explore this topic, or related topics? Michael Sugarman In reply, I would say that a natural choice in support of your topic would be THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. But I would also suggest that encounters with extraterrestrial Others have more often depicted them as superior, but hostile, even hungry cannibalistic creatures, whose technological superiority is not balanced by "common human decency." In fact, it seems that recently--since the wall has come down--the big, bad ET has replaced to some extent those vicious Reds as our favorite nemesis. With notable exceptions of course, like ET, CONTACT, we seem to battle and resist visitors from outer space. Just something I have seemed to notice. D. Scot Hinson Wittenberg U. ---- To sign off SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]