A Professor's Guilt

Actual e-mail recieved 20 minutes after class.
Subject: Depressing class?

Dear Film 175 Students,
I feel worried that I may have totally depressed you this morning,
not so much about PERSONA, specifically, but about the world in which
we live and what it means to be a human being. A couple of things I
should have said.

1. I read somewhere the other day that, in fact, fewer people are
being killed (at least as a percentage of total population) around
the world today than ever before in the history of man. The problem
is, of course, that we are at the same time more intensely bombarded
with images and words describing those who are being killed than at
any previous moment in history. It is possible, however, that we are
making some progress in controlling the less positive aspects of
human behavior, in both physical and psychological terms.

2. Although the message (if it can be called a message) being
delivered in PERSONA may seem rather bleak and depressing, the very
fact that Bergman created a brilliant work of art about these issues
or questions is, in a very real sense, a positive act and a
suggestion that he feels that human beings, both individually and
collectively, can somehow deal with their problems and make the world
a better place. Otherwise, why bother to make the film at all?

We'll cheer ourselves up with THE GRADUATE on Tuesday. Have a good weekend.
Sincerely,
JBS