In the first days of theatre, the Greeks split their plays up into two different narratives: tragedy and comedy. The tragedies were characterized by hubris, the will of the gods, and having to choose between the lesser of two evils. The comedies, on the other hand, emerged from Dionysian revels, and came to hold a satirical mirror to the mores of the age framed by lax morals. So it continued on through to the days of Shakespeare, except for those weird ones like Cymbeline where people die but mostly everyone ends up happy. Nowadays, of course, we can’t help but split our theatre into a myriad of genres, from suspense to thriller to horror to humor to action. Still, like with rock music, there’s always a good deal of value in the classics.

This issue, we deal with those favorites of Aristophanes and Sophocles that you know so well from those masks hanging over every opera house you’ve ever been in. We plumb the sad mask for all its worth with in-depth looks of horror flicks, Taxi Driver and Dexter, among other cheery topics. After that, we lighten up a bit with analyses of The Simpsons, Friday Night Lights and celebrity journalism. We’ve also added a new feature this issue, “One Man’s Trash,” where one contributor glorifies a trashy film that Hollywood’s done its best to forget, while another excoriates a cinematic coprolith. Some old favorite features are also returning, as John Garcia shares “What We Hate About Film” – animation in particular – and Emerson professor Hannah Johnston reveals some of her film favorites.

We here at Latent Image consider media participation – be it watching a film, following a TV series, or even surfing the Web – to be a spectator sport. If you’re interested in offering up some of your opinions on the background noise of your daily life, send us a line at latentimagemagazine@gmail.com. We’re always accepting submissions for our next issue. We here at Latent Image thank you for reading our magazine, and whether your tastes run towards the heavy or towards the light, we hope you enjoy it.

- Justin Searles, President