From: Veeramany.Sthanumurthy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Veeramany Sthanumurthy)
Subject: Re: kaaval theivam
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:18:51 GMT

In article <9208120316.AA11792@ha06.eng.ua.edu> bkannan@ha06.eng.ua.edu (Balaji Kannan) writes:
>
>Veeramany.Sthanumurthy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Veeramany Sthanumurthy) writes:

[I thank BK for taking the straight and shallow road in
spite of my cheap shots. :-)]

>>>           Care to elaborate?? Don't make sweeping statements!
>>>           Yes, Tamil cinema is traditional. But then so are the people!!
>
>>Ah! But, this is quite confusing, you *must* elaborate.
>             
>                 1)  What is wrong with cinema-related discussion???

Nothing. The only point being that even here nobody seems to question
the uniform lack of quality of the cinema they seem to be discussing.
Don't ask me to prove it. Poster after poster has testified to it.
There is nothing wrong with discussion *itself*, only the focus of
it. [Why I didn't contribute is a valid point. But, not relevant,
IMHO to the discussion itself.]

>                 2)  What is SO peculiar about Tamizh cinema that it
>                     it has to be trashed? If there is something 

Not peculiar. Just relevant to SCT. This type of argumentation is
quite bogus. (Why not trash black-and-white movies without soundtrack
being shown in Kyzyl?)

>                 3)  Cinema by and large mirrors society. Tamizhs are a 
>                     conservative and traditional people. Not necessarily
>                     oppressive; though conservatism and tradition may
>                     trample on "individual" rights. Moreover, one shouldn't 
>                     overlook the fact that there have been directors who have 
>                     used bold themes and infused a certain progressiveness
>                     [KB, Bhaarathiraaja et.al] in most of their movies.

Good points. Well taken.

>                 4)  Formulaic movies are made in all languages [not just Tamil
>                     and Telugu. The formulas themselves may be different].

[See 2. above]

[5 & 6 are fine: about "possibly" educational value of movies and
 Universal truths :-)]

>                     newsgroup discussion? Rocket-Science? Operas? Fast-food?
>                     Bikinis? I'd like to know.  

Your tastes are fine. Remember relevance.

>          To those that expect me to elaborate on "Tamizhs are a tradition- 
>          loving people", I assumed that people have either lived in T.N 
>          [long enuff] or know about Tamizhs to understand what I mean. Sorry,
>          I don't have the time to write stories on *that*. If that leaves one
>          confused, then so be it. 

[I have left in the relevant portion from my post - so that you
can see how your characterization differs from my intent.]

To repeat: You said "Tamizh cinema is traditional. So are the people."

I asked you to *elaborate* on this chain - whatever scheme it is a
part of. As for your implying that only people in TN are Tamils and
nobody else, well, if that is your position a discussion with you
(at least about Tamil :-) is quite out of the question.

>>                           [rest of the stuff deleted]
>        
>          anbudan,
>          BK

paNivudan
Sthan.

PS. I admit that I have nothing to add to this discussion. I
just wanted to point out that there were points made by the
original poster which were not without merit however contemptible
(and full of it) his tone. To give knee-jerk responses to his 
tone without regard to his intent or content is equally contemptible.

PPS. My comments are only about the comments the poster has made.
I don't know the poster from Agastiyar. :-)
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