Randomly generated tiny thoughts

[Joel Cohn]

1.  I guess that the recent references to 'trailer park people' were made
with tongue well into cheek, but the term still has a snobby, if not
elitist, ring to it that's a little unsettling.  Anyway, if we're talking
about the U.S.A., where a lot of the trailer parks are, one possible
response is that the question of what it takes to get such people into a
theater is inadvertently self-answering:  look at the trailers that you see
before the main feature - these are presumably designed to appeal to some
kind of lowest common denominator, and they consistently push celebritoid
stardom (to put it in snobby, if not elitist, terms), and things that go
bang.  Not commodities that Japanese films have to offer in such intense
doses.   And if they did, how many of us would still be on this list?

2.  Reading some of the recent postings, I have been struck by how much
attention is devoted to elements that film shares with other forms (plot,
character, theme, symbols, cultural/social/historical context, gender
issues, etc).  All of these need to be addressed in depth, of course.  But
what about camerawork, editing, lighting, sound track, and all the other
elements that make film film?