A VENTURE IN RACISM

The creators of “Adventures in Babysitting” have what I call the Al Campanis Syndrome: a myopic and condescending way of seeing, portraying, and dealing with non-whites that is an almost inescapable consequence of this cultural conditioning and ethnic/racial group consciousness, no matter how liberal they think they are. Would anyone deny this film is being aimed and marketed to appeal to a large white suburban audience? The demographic handwriting is on the wall.

So don’t tell me categorically that the charge of racism is unfounded. Or that the film’s detractors are just a bunch of nit-picking sourpusses who don’t appreciate good, mindless entertainment. Nothing that comes out of the Hollywood sausage factory is devoid of a peculiar world view, or what the Germans call Weltanschauung --including this supposedly innocuous comedy.

RICKEY C. MANTLEY

Los Angeles