Antti Selkokari made a great point in yesterday's Titanic discussion, about recent expensive films showing more and more technological destruction. But the desire to experience the edge of death vicariously--through sublime spectacle--also goes back to the beginnings of cinema in the romanticism and melodrama of 19th-century theatre. Other than the excesses of technology, rather than natural disaster (and Titanic gives us the nostalgia of both), is this desire/fear for sublime death onscreen so different today? Is it also the desire for punishment, as Antti suggests, guilt at the pleasure of technology (while the Third World suffers)? Mark Pizzato Dept. of Dance and Theatre UNC-Charlotte Charlotte, NC 28223 [log in to unmask] (704) 547-4488 FAX: 704-547-3795 ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama.