READER FEEDBACK

 

by Mark Goldfarb
Ventura's diagnosis of xenophobia and cultural apathy is accurate but he doesn't mention how American film and television media have fallen woefully short of their potential, to become mere tools for advertisers. Ventura does pick up the thread however when he sharpens a point made earlier in the issue by Charles Lewis and extends it to movie critics - incisive journalism 'has a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track' and the same may be said of American readership that accepts journalistic tripe in the same way it considers a Big Mac, fries and a Coke the breakfast of champions. I don't hold critics as the primary party responsible for the failure of Americans to recognize good films beyond their borders. I hardly ever read movie reviews and I have no problem finding foreign flics to watch. Then again, I live in the true north strong and free.

My own theory is entirely different: Americans are not and have never been interested in things Americans don't participate in. That is why foreign films, international soccer, NHL hockey and the Wayne and Shuster show have never received anything close to the same amount of broadcasting space as American football, baseball or basketball. If Americans aren't in it, Americans won't watch it. It's that simple.