>Leo Bankersen wrote: It seems that sentiments around >Bill Clinton, if involved at all, can work out in very different ways. >Could it be that there is a common factor behind all this? Like: the >president has become acceptable as a screen character? > Perhaps because of the always increasing necessity of media manipulation by politicians, the translation of the President of reality into the President of screen-fiction is becoming more and more seamless (i.e., the image in reality and on-screen image are merging). From what I have seen, older films shied away from on-screen contemporary depictions of the President... an example being Capra's MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. (But Historical screen depictions -Lincoln especially- have always been okay.) Perhaps from the combination of respectful distance and the hurdle of the controversy itself the president has been left off-screen... but minor political positions have always been open target, both as frauds and as heroes (MR SMITH again) or even more blatently criminal (Preston Sturges' THE GREAT MCGINTY). erik weems ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama.