Antagonistic Positions Research Articles

All Films Are Political

The polemic initiated between Cinethique and Les Cahiers du Cinema involves, like most polemics, a few ridiculous and paltry aspects that we won't even mention. Its very origins, from what the arguments of the two reviews allow us to guess about them, seem too obscure and ignoble (fear of competition at Les Cahiers? Ill humor on the part of Cin'thique faced with publication by Les Cahiers of Eisenstein's theoretical writings; and the adoption by the latter of the theses of Change, the rival review to Tel Quel whose ties with Cinethique seem close?) for us to dwell on them at any length. What is interesting is that this polemic has induced both publications to state, each from its own side, the bases of a true theory of cinema criticism. And, curiously, while one would expect to see violently antagonistic positions facing off, we find on the contrary, confirmation of the proximity, often extreme, even the coincidence of the points of view that are expressed. This naturally leads each of the editorial staffs to congradulate itself on these convergences, as if it were a question of a rallying to its own assertions. Yet it is right under the circumstances to point out the prior appearance of Cinthique's first

III.—Secular Straining of the Earth in Relation to the deep Phenomena of Volcanic Action

The application by Dr. Johnston-Lavis of the theory of the secular straining of the Earth, with which my name and Mr. Davison's is connected, to an explanation of the deeper phenomena of volcanic action, is ingenious and suggestive. It will, therefore, I trust, be of some use if I am allowed to discuss and criticize the principles and propositions that appear to me to be necessarily involved in the views put forth by Dr. Johnston-Lavis. Before doing this, I feel it incumbent upon me to point out that Mr. O. Fisher's position with regard to the question seems to have been misunderstood. So far from occupying an antagonistic position, he has done much to mathematically develop the theory; and it is only when we come to its practical application to the explanation of geological phenomena, that he, myself and Mr. Davison differ.