>the other example i would note is how goldblum's character works in
>'independance day': he gets to nod and wink at us the viewer, allowing
>for the performance of cynical detachment, as if to say: 'yeah, we
>know this is all a joke, don't we'.
An old college friend of mine who became a hotshot DC political macher - and who ended up doing some time in federal prison in the House post office scandal - told me once that the secret of Reagan's popularity was just this kind of winking detachment. He could appeal to the alienated masses by communicating an "isn't this government stuff a boring old joke?" - all the while his boring old government was hacking the budget and killing Central Americans.
Doug