Charles Derry, Professor of Film, Department of Theatre Arts, Wright State University wrote: Why does an American university use British spelling? > ... I often find the PR machines of Hollywood peculiarly offensive, > selling and hyping the worst components of their own films, diminishing > that which is interesting and unique, in favor of highlighting the > easiest sale. That seems like an easy statement for one who hasn't risked millions on a film. > When Spielberg was hoping for an academy award for Schindler's List, he > gave interviews in which he widely announced that he could never again go > back to making a film like Jurassic Park. After he got his Academy award, > presto, he decided to make a Jurassic Park sequel and out comes The Lost > World. If Spielberg was himself disingenuous, must we now see this > insincerity in Schindler's List itself? Why would one assume that Spielberg spoke dishonestly? He is entitled to change his mind. I've read off-center remarks about SL, but never an implication that Spielberg's goal was a ploy to make Academy members feel glorified as ambassadors of a humanitarian community. > ... one of the best professors I ever had once said ... "If we were to > discover a letter indicating that Shakespeare thought HAMLET was the best > comedy he ever wrote, would that affect our judgment of the work as > perhaps the greatest tragedy of all time?" The answer, I think, is no. True. And one would commit serious misinterpretations if he or she did not know that Shakespeare's intention deviated from the theme of the play. > And as hard as it can be, we need to struggle to separate the work from > the hype. Nevertheless the analogy to Shakespeare seems odd. - Josh ---- 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]