Battalion/Thursday, December 5, 1985
Page 2/The
Opinion
Art vs. smut
X-rating doesn’t denote pornography
Film is art, be
lieve it or not.
Despite the re
cent fare of mov
ies at the local
theatres, film is a
valuable art form,
just like painting,
sculpt ure, music
and literature.
There have been Pollmey©r
hundreds of films ■ ■■■
that are considered masterpieces. A list
of classic films would include “Citizen
Kane,” “Persona,” “Birth of a Nation,”
“Potemkin,” “Seven Samurai, The 400
Blows," “S'A>," “Hiroshima Mon
Amour,” “1 he Craduate,” “The Red
Desert,” “That Obscure Object ot De
sire,” “Rope,” “Breathless,” “M” and
“ 1 he Bicycle Thief.”
A list of classic films would not in
clude “Red Dawn,” “Debbie Does Dal
las." “St. Fhno's Fire,” “Commando,”
"Bolero,” “Missing In Action,” “Missing
In Action 2,” “Invasion U.S.A.," “Deep
Throat," “Rhinestone," “Rambo: First
Blood II,” “Rocky II,” "Rocky III.”
"Rockv IV" or “(hunt: The Wrestling
Men ie."
This semester a new club was formed
to bring some of the better films to cam
pus I his semester the Student Art Film
Societv showed several classic films, in
cluding “Seven Samurai,” "Persona,”
“ Fhe Trial” and “Breathless,” showed
various short films, held an exposition
of local amatuer video works and
brought guest speakers talk about film.
Fhe Student Art Film Society is funded
by membership lees and donations in
stead of box office receipts.
Tonight and Friday night at seven, in
room 103 of the Soil Crop Sciences and
Entomology Building, the Student Art
Film Society will be showing their last
film for the semester — an X-rated film.
“ Fhe Canterbury Tales,” is a film by
Piet Paolo Pasolini based on the literary
work by Geoffrey Chaucer. If you’ve
ever read “ Fhe Canterbury 'Tales” you
would realize that it would be impossible
to make a movie that was true to the text
and not X-rated.
When “The Canterbury Tales” was
released, it was surrounded in contro
versy. In 1972, Pasolini was booed by
the audience when “The Canterbury
Tales” won the top prize at the Berlin
Film Festival. Many critics hailed Paso
lini as being an insightful director while
other critics chided Pasolini for making
pornographic movies.
Pornography is described as being
writings and pictures intended primar
ily to arouse sexual desire. It would be
foolish to say the primary purpose of
“ The Canterbury Tales” — the book or
the film — is to arouse sexual desire.
Chaucer’s book was an mack on the
church and society of 14thcentury En
gland. Pasolini used Chaucer’s work as
the basis for his attack on the church
and society of 20th century Italy. In
“ The Canterbury Tales” —book and
film — the various characters, a cross
section of 14th century society,tell sto
ries that would parody the thencurrent
social and moral values. Even though
600 years have passed, the hypocrisy
and narrow-mindedness is still promi
nent.
Sex is used for many purposes. In
movies like “Debbie Does Dallas,” “Bole
ro” and “Deep Throat,” sex is used to
arouse sexual desire so that people will
pay money to see the film in the hope
that they will be aroused. ln“'l he Can
terbury Tales” sex is used to make f un
of society’s embarrasment towards sex.
The word “pornography" has its roots
in the word “prostitution.” “Debbie
Does Dallas,” “Bolero” and “Deep
Throat” are sex to make money, there
fore they are pornography. “ The Can
terbury Tales” uses sex to make a
statement, therefore it is art.
The Student Art Film Society is using
sex, in the form of showing an X-rated
movie, to attract more members and to
expose the general public mart films.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
Inside view of spy-bargaining
The toughest
tiling about catch
ing a spy is seeing
that he gets the
punishment he
deserves. As soon
as one is arrested
his attorney starts
bargaining for a
lighter sentence in
exchange for the
fink’s revealing
how much information he turned over
to the other side.
“Hello, Justice Department? This is
Mat O’Hara representing Collard Cos
mos, the weasel who sold the plans for
the Stealth bomber to the Bulgarians.
What kind of deal are you of f ering us?”
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Soul Invest Journalism Contercnc e
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Mic helle Pcnve, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Halleit, Ka\ Mallett, News Editors
hi avis Tingle. Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
I he li.iu.tlmn is ,i non-pEotii. «*<•//-su/>/w>nif/# m n «*/>«/-
\n i itfici.itcd .is .i t sa vin' to 1 c\.is ,\X:M and
Hi \ nn-CnllcKc St.itio:i.
Opinions cNprcssctl in I he liutt.ilion me those o! the
hlitori.il liomd or the mil hot ,iinl do not necess.irih rep
resent the opinions ot / t \.i> .\Sc\t .idininistrmors. Lit ult\
tn the liomd ot Regents.
I he limtulion also serves .is .i l.ihor.itors newsp.ipei toi
.11,drills in ir/jiiiliiiK. rdllillf, .in,I phonal.i/iln , l.isscs
nil tiin I hr Drp.iilnirnl ,,l Cniiilllnnir.illiilis.
tin- li.iiInti,in is piildishrd Moml.n ihionyh hid;,,
during I e\.is \X \/ re^nl.n semesters, except loi holidnx
mid exmninmion periods. Mml subscriptions me $H).73
pa semester. Sdd.Xo pa st hoot \em mid S.'lj per lull
w.u \d\ ei tisinff r.nes tinnislied on letpicsi.
Out address I he Battalion, if Hi Reed McDonald
Huililnui. Texas A&\1 L'nivcrsit\. College Station. TX
.Second class postage paid at College Station. TX
“We don’t negotiate plea bargains for
spies, O’Hara. Your guy sold out his
country and the government intends to
hang him by the neck until he is dead.”
“You better think it over. Except for
the Stealth bomber you have no idea
what secrets Collard walked away with,
and we have no intention of telling you
if you keep demanding a pound of
flesh.”
“We’re not talking about some two-bit
code clerk, O’Hara. Cosmos is the big
gest fish we’ve caught in years. We in
tend to put him in the freezer for life.”
“What if I were to tell you that my cli
ent is willing to name over 120 people in
the U.S. government who are still on the
KGB payroll?”
“O’Hara, did it ever occur to you that
we may not want to know who they are?
The more spies the government uncov
ers, the worse we look in Washington.
Every time we arrest somebody, Con
gress wants to know why it took us so
long to flush him out. We reject your of
fer for the list of KGB agents, and we’re
still holding the position that Cosmos
has to serve a minimum of 20 years.”
" “Would it whet your appetite if I told
you my client smuggled blueprints of
‘Star Wars’ in Nancy Reagan’s cosmetic-
case when she went to Geneva?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Here are the films of Gorbachev
switching cosmetic cases with Nancy at
the airport. My client knows the whole
story and will tell you how he did it for a
reduced sentence.”
“The law is the law. Every person in
this country must be punished accord
ing to his cririie. In this case Cosmos has
to do at least seven years for compro
mising the security of the nation.”
“Apparently you don’t realize what a
predicament you’re in. You people have
spies coming out of your ears and spies
coming out of your socks. If you don’t
show mercy to Cosmos I’ll advise him to
remain mum about the nuclear subma
rine codes that he has stashed away in a
pumpkin in the northeast part of the
United States.”
“What sub codes?”
“I can’t say because we might have to
sell them to another country for legal
expenses if you make us go to trial."
“O’Hara, we have an open-and-shut
case on your client committing treason.
No matter what information you say he
can turn over to us he still will have to
rot for 30 days in the county jail.”
“I can’t believe my ears. Collard made
one lousy mistake of selling his country
down the river, and when he says he’s
sorry and offers to make amends, your
response is that he spend a month be
hind bars.”
“What do you think Cosmos should
get for cooperating with us?”
“It wouldn’t bother me if you charged
him with one count of failing to curb his
dog.”
“The government can live with that.
We were af raid you were going to hold
out for the Congressional Medal of
Honor.”
Art Buchwald is a columnist for the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Mail Call
Texas'
of the
Letters id the Editor should not est eed .'UHLwords in length. I he editotinl sltilhm
right to edit letters loi st\le untl length hut will in.ike e\er\ ellnri to ni.iiiiliiill
intent. Ent h lettci innsl be signetl .ind ninsl hit little the .idthess .mil lele/i/ioncii
writer.
to spe
Apologies for The Batt
EDI FOR:
Recently following a weekly meeting of student leaders hereom
I had the opportunity to speak with Rhonda Snider, editor of Ihefii
ion.
Texas’ 19t
Year will pre;
ning philosoj
dav at Texas /
Z Melkme NT
uale of Texa
teaching in a
ing, Sharing,
|()1 Rudder 1
During our conversation Rhonda reluctantly mentioned her
that the night before, while visiting at a Student Senate meeting,shtll
received a rather cold reception from several of the senators in then
Knowing the long-standing rivalry that lias existed between Sludenili
eminent and The Battalion. I think she was possibly wondering if lb
a tradition she was yet unfamiliar with, that is, hissing The Batialinm
resentatives at meetings of the Student Senate.
1 assured her that this was not the case and that neither niy.self nnila
I Sharon Bn
gate adviser i
ucation, said
currently iea<
wilier literacy
High School
will compete
titer of the
spring.
I The nrogr
the College <
open to the pi
t ie Johnson, speaker of the Senate, knew of such goings on. However,(■
later recalled our discussion I realized that what I told her mightnotbj
been entirely true.
To a large portion of the student body an indignant outlookoiii
Battalion is probably considered “good bull.” After all. The Batialiu: §
time and again printed letters and editorials that are not repiesenialKl
the campus consensus. |lH^ exas
’for the Braze
By ME
S
1 will be the first to admit that on more than one occasion Ihavty
campaign,
U
pat iK ulat h chafed by opinions expressed in the pages of 1 he Ballil Director R<
that were <ontrar\ t<> my <m n It occ ut icd to me that the thmighiiil,,fWedncsd.n .
negative attitudes being traditional at \XM was not fat fetchedbi|HJh e 1 Enitet
plausible f 1()n uhuh ,a
E • .areacommun
\i ilm 1 feel c<>m|)clled to apologize n> Rhonda and the#allMTl ie Uxas
The Battalion and to express a personal sentiment ax well. If thereiiiH}' e S es () * en
ists a degree of hostility between A & M students and The Battalion, ltl; Ult '‘ lu '‘ l
it is lacking Sufficient justification. Aside f rom possible argumentsvvitlix
philosophical nature of journalism there is little reason to com pi
this year's Battalion. As college newspapers go, l he Battalion Isainiiid
best. While boasting a circulation ot ovei 22.<)()(), I he- Battalion isaiwj
the tojj ten student newspapers in the country.
Lastly, I w ant to express my appreciation to Rhonda and the pro
leadership of The Battalion for their superb relations with Student (if
eminent and other campus organizations dm ing this semester. Frotitli
efforts our programs and events have received more than adequate™
age.
Sean Royall
Student Body President
i
Un-American ad-tivities
Opet
8 p.m.
EDITOR:
This letter is being submitted in response to the ridiculous letterp
lished in Mail Call on Nov. 25 dealing with the GIA recruitment ad.
The CIA is an agency of our federal government. Alan Semberadei
implied that the members of this agency lie, cheat and steal. Hmveverl
offered no facts as a basis for these implications.
I believe that making criminal implications without offering fktualtl
dence is very unfair and, since it was against out government, un-Aiiitf
can.
Chad Abney ’89
3 [
Gigi
Sho
Flatten, don’t flatter
EDITOR:
goo
I am hoping that most, if not all, of the students chanting "PoorIt;
sips” did so simply because they have not been Aggies long enoujl]
know better. Not only do we have more class than those fans fromoij
schools who resort to such poor sportsmanship, but imitation is thes
cerest form of flattery — and we do not want to //niter the teasipsjusil
ten them.
7
C. David Stasny ’74
Anne Stasny ’84
Not among the chosen few
EDITOR:
V
I was shocked to read in a somewhat biased Austin Antakiwiui
man front page (naturally) article on the eve of our game with theUnil
sity of Texas that we had a fourth-year “student” at Texas A&Mwhn*
“downright ashamed of what goes on . . . and doesn't like that peopled
tify 'Texas A&M with the Corps. Since there are only 2,000 cadetsiiu?
dent population of 36,000,”
What this so-called “Aggie," fourth-year student, doesn’t undewj
that the reason A&M exists today and its graduates have such anoutsiai|
ing worldwide reputation is because of the Aggie Corps of Cadets.
Graduates of this institution — and in almost every case formerci!
— are leaders in every facet of the American business/industrial wtir
in medicine, research, engineering, agriculture and in key positionsinj
branches of state and federal government.
John Makely (the fourth-year student) is a name 1 shall renienibef'
and I see over 100 resumes a month — and shall certainly not countt
amongst the chosen — those few good men and women deserving to]
known as Aggies!
Jay Biskey
Austin, Texas
Class of ’59, Cadet Colonel
World-class dining?
EDITOR:
I am writing in reference to Sbisa. This is the third case of food poir
ing I’ve had since the beginning of fall ’84. After the first two, 1 genet
stopped eating on campus, except when 1 needed a quick meal.
Now, I am going through the same thing again! Flow can Sbisa mi
tain a reputation of good food at reasonable prices if they keep getting:
dents sick? How many cases go unreported because students think it's#®
a 24-hour bug?
I think a lot more work is needed to make Sbisa a world-classdW
hall.
James Tomlinson ’87
Si
ft
202: