March
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What is Film Criticism? (Essay)
As well as film reviews, some readers might like to engage with various aspects of film criticism and contemporary cinema. Below is a link to a 6,000 word paper titled THE ORIGIN, PURPOSE AND FUTURE OF FILM CRITICISM
It reviews the history of film criticism; its links to cultural criticism; approaches to film writing; and controversies surrounding criticism, It debunks arguments that contemporary film criticism is in crisis and shows it as a vibrant medium of engagement with film literacy.
Feedback and comments will be much appreciated.
CineMuseFilms 
Well done, Richard. I found this essay compelling, logical, and well written. I learned some things and have some new ideas to digest. I especially appreciated the distinction between pre-film readers vs post-film readers as the audience relates to the type of review/critique. Also, identifying the film culture vs the fan culture adds a depth of understanding of film criticism that I had not considered.
Now I must ask, which of the explanatory models do you utilize in your critiques? I would anticipate that yours tend to fit into the humanist, social scientific, and ideological modes. I’m not sure I understand the distinction between social scientific and ideological, however. Those two seem organically intertwined.
I see the changes in film criticism closely mimicking the changes in book criticism, and for all the same reasons you point out. Armchair critics, most of whom rely upon mostly textual concerns, abound. Everyone has an opinion and, given today’s democratization of platforms, lots of people feel compelled to express those opinions, which is not an entirely bad thing. But it is important for the consumer to understand and to distinguish between lay and professional criticism.
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Thanks for the feedback Linda. As a writer you see how closely film criticism follows literary criticism. Both use hybrid models of explanation and frames of reference; in practice, you draw on strands from a variety of sources. The ideological approach leans on social values: for example, 99 Homes (2016) explores the post-GFC world in terms of human greed and desire for redemption. A social scientific approach could use the same story to explore power relationships and abuses in institutions and systems of capitalism. In reality, they are a smorgasboard of ideas and insights. The benefit of deconstructing them, as done in this essay, is to become aware of the options available for writing about film. None are right or wrong, they just have different uses.
As you correctly say my reviews are hybrids of several approaches and you have spotted the ones that I find most useful in understanding a particular film. My aim is to go beyond textual description to understand a film as a cultural artefact that is telling us something about the world we live in. Big call I know, but fun trying.
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You accomplish that very well in my humble opinion. 😉
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It’s going to take a time or two to absorb the essay but well done on it. I must admit that, without criticism, I’m not entirely sure how I;d select what to see. There are some critics who’s opinions I value, even if I know some of their prejudices and can aim off for them; others I pick at randomly and often take something, a throwaway possibly and use that the follow my nose. I think, with the vast bulk of words flowing on the net these days, developing a discrimination is crucial to making the most of what is, I think a fabulous opportunity to learn about stuff that might otherwise escape ones notice.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts here TanGental.
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When I have the time I will definitely be sitting down to have a read of this, sounds juicy.
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Let me know if you find anything interesting or useful in your role as a film reviewer.
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I certainly will mate, its not something I have done for long, but I do believe it is a skill, and of course the more you practice, the more you research, the better you’ll get. I’m always trying to improve myself so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into this. Will certainly let you know what I think mate
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It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve read academic film papers, so it took me a few days to get through this. But it’s very well written and I am glad I did, it has a lot of interesting points.
One thing that has been a pet peeve of mine, that you only touched on a bit, is that it is not quite a dichotomy between academic and amateur/online critics. Actually, a lot of film critics, even in print media, and even before the internet had no academic training in film at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with that…. but…
The film criticism I enjoy the most mixes knowledge, insight and enthusiasm for film in a well written format. To me it’s irrelevant whether this comes from someone who is an autodidact amateur or a paid writer for a fancy magazine, or an academic.
As a kid I used to watch the Siskel and Ebert TV show every weekend (2 Chicago film critics) and they knew their stuff and loved the movies, and would get into fun debates about movies. I was so sad when one of them died and was replaced by some guy who used to write food reviews, had no background knowledge in film and seemed to me was pretty ambivalent towards movies.
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Thanks for the feedback. You are right in saying the academic-amateur dichotemy is gone. Its now a continuum. In my view, the so-called ‘crisis in film criticism’ was/is a manufactured response by those who could no longer claim academic privilege or authority in the new highly diversified world of online publishing. I think its wonderful that anyone can write and encourage all film lovers to journal and share their own reviews. When you write down your thoughts and feelings about a film you own the memories in ways not possible by simply relying on your brain’s ‘random access memory’.
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I can’t wait to read this!
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Let me know if you find anything useful in it, and thanks for your interest.
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Will do
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Every time I click the link it leads right back to this page. Chances are, due to my dimming brainage capabilities I shall not remember to return of the morrow, so do chuck a link my way on the Cloud so I can try and get there as I’m keen to see what you’ve penned sir – Esme explaining that ‘brainage’ is a troposphere word that absolutely counts upon the Cloud
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It has nothing to do with “dimming brainage” Esme but a broken link which I have now fixed. For your royal convenience, here it is: https://cinemusefilms.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/film-crit-paper.pdf
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Thanking you sir.
– Esme putting time aside later in the day for just this x
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