The Death of The Nobodies
Personally, I don’t read film criticism. There’s a reason for that. It’s boring. According to this article, and a few others, I’m not missing anything. Apparently, film criticism is dying (gasp!) and we should all be gravely concerned with the future of film writing, as it now faces its imminent death.
I’m uncertain as to what exactly is threatening film criticism — besides general lack of interest. Video games? The (evil) internet? Perhaps actual film viewing?
Maybe all of these things.
Ultimately, the best way to increase the popularity of film criticism is to write better articles. The days of hack writers clacking out dialed in columns with the same tired plot summaries, thumbs up — thumbs down, and a pithy pull-quote are over.
The rule of the game now is: it’s got to be fun to read.
Contemporary film criticism is predominately about assessing value. Is movie X worth the cost of admission, the cost of parking, the cost of the concession stand, the cost of social engagement. Bringing anything down to consumer grade level of criteria is sure to weaken the punch of any critical experience.
But that’s not the public’s fault (not entirely). The job of the writer is to engage an audience. There’s a whole of lot of other stuff to read out there, film critics need to be writers before worrying about being critics. It would do all well to remember that 99% of writers go unloved and unread — but keep on writing.
Write better and the audience will come.
Jonathem Lethem is writing a book on John Carpenter’s 1988 They Live, and I’m excited to read it because I know that Lethem’s got a good head on his shoulders and looks at things in an interesting way.
Kim Morgan writes romantic prose on directors, movie stars of old, — even cars, in films that strike her fancy. Half the fun of reading Morgan’s work is seeing what she’s into. I like Cool Hand Luke too, but I want to know why Kim likes it.
Do yourself a favor, go and grab your copy of Kael’s 5001 Nights At The Movies and look up your favorite movie from 20+ years ago. In fact, don’t just look up one, look up at least three.
Chances she didn’t agree with you — or maybe she did. Doesn’t matter. The point of this exercise is that Kael was a writer first. She engaged you with her personality. Like a wacky friend or family member, her point of view on things was fascinating. How many film critics can you say that about?
