The Hollywood-Hitler-Spielberg Con

[davemarc]

At 02:29 PM 6/10/96 PST, you wrote:
>Mon, 10 Jun 1996 17:05:11 -0400 (EDT) davemarc wrote to hag:
>
>>I suggest being more careful about distinguishing between propagandizing a
>>la Goebbels and directing/producing a la Spielberg.
>>
>>davemarc
>
>My question:
>
>Is davemarc threatening our blunt-spoken hag for daring to
tell--truthfully--that 
>Spielberg is a master of filmic propaganda techniques--esp. the
manipulation of 
>myths and images of childhood danger for gratuitous scary effects (different, 
>qualitatively, from, say, Stephen King's much more honest use of childhood 
>terror).  
>
>There's a sinister chill to that "I suggest  . . ." (which I'm sure
davemarc didn't 
>mean to sound quite so sinister)
>
Threatening?  Sinister??  No...I'm just trying to be reasonable.
"Manipulation of myths and images of childhood danger for gratuitous scary
effects" is not necessarily propaganda.  Even though one *might* be able to
find *some* similarities between Spielberg's work and something Goebbels
might have done, the differences are so profound as to make the "equation"
quixotic if not downright wiggy.  

As for Spielberg's work being less "honest" than King's, I have no idea how
one would start to determine that.  

davemarc