July 2014 – The Frame

The death of film criticism is proclaimed every year or so these days, as moviegoers continually declare film critics irrelevant, and box office receipts seem to be totally unrelated to critical consensus. Whenever the topic comes up, one point generally made in response is that the best way to get value out of film criticism is to do a little research and find a few critics you like rather than trying to use manufactured consensus like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, which have their issues in terms of actually representing critical thought.

The most common piece of advice along these lines is to find critics who share your taste. That way, when they like something, you know you’re likely to like it, too. Conversely, you could find critics who generally like the opposite of what you do and then you can just see what they don’t like and avoid what they do. Both of these options are taking critics in their consumer guide role, and the point of reading them is to figure out what you should watch. That’s fine, but it’s pretty limited in terms of the usefulness of criticism.

Another thing I see with some frequency is to find critics you disagree with, not just to choose your entertainment contrary to their recommendations, but to provide yourself some argumentation. Reading a critic who disagrees with you can not only challenge you to see things you might not’ve otherwise, but can help you hone your reasons for liking or disliking something – that is, he/she may not convince you to change your mind, but you’ll come away with a better understanding of why you like or dislike something. This is a little more thoughtful, but tends a bit too much toward the negative/argumentative to me.

My advice: Don’t bother finding critics who agree or disagree with you. One merely reinforces your own biases, the other is only likely to set you more firmly in your ways as you defend your position (even if you only do it in your own head). Rather, find critics who make you think, and who specifically make you think about film in a different way entirely.

After my post on Phillip Lopate’s introduction to American Movie Critics, Ryan McNeil over at The Matinee expressed an interest in reading the book himself and doing a joint series on it. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to discuss the book with another film fan while reading it, so that’s what we’re going to do. Ryan posted his take on the introduction and Vachel Lindsay, the first writer covered, earlier this week, so I’m posting this short piece on Lindsay’s section to catch up, and then from here on out, these posts will be conversations between me and Ryan. Look for the first one of those within the next few days.

In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the two pieces of criticism included from Vachel Lindsay. Lindsay was primarily a poet, but was also an enthusiastic supporter of the movies, writing the first American book about film aesthetics in 1914, a time when movies were still considered impossibly low entertainment and very few people seriously considered film artistic in any way. In the two excerpts in American Movie Critics, one from that 1914 work The Art of the Moving Picture and the other from a sequel written in 1925 but not published until long after his death, he rhapsodizes about the Action Picture and Douglas Fairbanks. According to Lopate’s little introductory bio, Lindsay also has chapters in his book about the Intimate Picture, the Film of Splendor and more, but it’s great to have this section on the Action Film, since action films represent the type of film most enthusiasts of the time pointed to as the major thing movies could do much better than the more established arts, yet they’re also the kind of dime-a-dozen thrill that detractors decried as the lowest of all forms of entertainment. Lindsay doesn’t deny the cheap ubiquity of the genre, but rather finds his way to praise that in itself, urging his readers to “close the book and go round the corner to a photoplay theatre. Give the preference to the cheapest one.”

Month: July 2014

How to Find Your Film Critic

American Movie Critics: Vachel Lindsay