There is this prevalent prejudice against zoom amongst many film snobs and I would like to know from whence this came.

I suspect the pooh-poohing of the zoom may be akin to the DISCO SUCKS sentiment that rocked the 80s -- people are embarrassed about their erstwhile enthusiasms for horribly outdated fashions and technologies -- in this vein I *still* giggle whenever I hear that Hammond organ playing in those groovy Doors songs, and the mantle of gravitas that Jim Morrison dons while gazing myopically into his own navel and not into the future, where he might have seen how deeply cheesy that organ was going to sound circa 2004. That organ is only used now to summon up nostalgia for those gloopy California 70s in which blondes in macrame bikinis were glazed golden by sinking suns.

Why has the zoom been consigned to the Kitsch Korner? And why all the zoom-bashing?

There is some masterful zoomery in Robert Altman's pictures of the 70s. I'm thinking Nashville (though I haven't seen it in a long time and can't drum up any particular shots). I'm also a big fan of the Heavy Cheese and Zoom Heavy Oeuvre of Nicholas Roeg -- I have been unable to find another Roeg fan out there who shares this particular predilection. The last time I saw a really good zoom effect was the trusty ol zoom in while dollying backward effect in La Haine, a French movie about Parisian projects and street gangs, shot in black and white, circa early 90s.

Anyway, I'm here to encourage all you film snobs to give up the zoom-bashing, and I'll try to find some particularly good examples for you.