I thought our discussion was especially thought provoking because we talked about the ways in which films were a constructed world.  I had never thought of movies of having anything in common with the written word.  However, when Dr. Campbell introduced the concepts of semantic and syntactic relationships, something clicked.  The semantic relationships are easier for me to grasp than the syntactic ones.  Though, I have to be careful not to look for meaning that doesn’t exist.  Semantics are interesting because they provide a vehicle within which to explore the visual aspect of movie-watching.  What I’ve seen of “Miller’s Crossing” so far is very dark and gloomy.  The scenes are dimly lit, the characters are dressed in dark colors and the whole tone is just generally morose.  All of this gloom and doom has to have a meaning, but what is it?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that I feel an overwhelming sense of chilling fear.  It’s not the thrilling and chilling kind of fear that goes on in a “scary” movie.  It’s a kind of primal fear.  It’s very disturbing.  In any event, I’m intrigued thus far and can’t wait to see how the movie pans out.