The word “CRITICISM”, at its core, means the disapproval of something by way of negatively putting forth his/her’s opinion whilst lacing out a focal-point for an argument which in literary & technical terms, justifies or tries to justify the reviewer’s point of view vis-à-vis the public’s.
It’s a word that is lopsided towards the negative aspects according to the dictionary lingo but in the world of cinema – it can be negative also & positive also.
When critics like a film – they rave about it, shroud it with heaps of praise & adjectives & coming out with intelligent focal points and quotations whilst marveling the way film was unfolded & the filmmaker has treated his subject matter. When it’s the opposite, they pan it with the same kind of thought process, energy & zest.
But I have to ask – HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO LISTEN or CARED TO LISTEN WHAT HE/SHE HAVE TO SAY vis-à-vis HIS MAIN OPINION ON THE SUBJECT MATTER, ably supported or contradicted by the star system or the ABC rating system, which makes it all too reductive & simplistic in the first place itself.? Have You.?
Some might say, “Film Criticism” is the greatest, damnest literature art in the face of this universe.( IT’S TRUE.! I AGREE.)
But the real conundrum with the nature of the job is such that, these people get judged by what they said about a movie or opined about a movie vis-à-vis what they explained in description in his main review, with tons of knowledge in the specialized field, viewing films which elevates their taste, which normal audience in either case never might have had the opportunity of and never cared to listen to as a matter of fact.!
Thousands of professionals get chopped & changed in this field every now & then, especially in print journalism, simply because what the publishers want is a reviewer or a writer, who matches his thoughts & beliefs with his particular demography or jurisdiction but not someone who writes the best possible review’s in the first place itself (I’m showing the flipside of the coin. Doesn’t mean it’s being practiced everywhere but somewhere!).
It’s virtually impossible for a critic to get accepted in all classes in the community, simply because not all of the readers approach or might have approached the art in such a serious manner.
For some, cinema is merely momentary created for the sole purpose of entertainment only but for film critics it’s their passion, their living, more or less the food for their lives.
Film criticism will never prosper in the country to its fullest level because what the public want is somebody “who says good” about the films they actually liked and “bad” about films they did not.
Publics opinion differs from time to time but the critics will always maintain a consistency in their write-ups, regardless of what the majority thinks about the subject matter & what the box-office results have shown.Being a social critic myself, I find it really annoying when people judge critics with what they said about the movie aka the tone of the review vis-à-vis what they wrote about the movie in description in other words – the music of the review.
Always believed, its best to eliminate star systems or thumbs up, thumbs down system because poor critics gets judged by that simple gesture as opposed to all the analytical things & the interpretative things which he laid out in his main review, things that can be thought provoking or appear invigorating but only if you had the will & the patience to sit through and read the particular review instead of turning yourself into “I said this” “You said this” “You did that” “You do that” sort of argumentative mode.
This is the classic psychology lurking behind all these phenomenon’s.
“People likes or dislikes a particular review because they, in their prejudiced subconscious, is searching for those points and quotations in the review, which justifies their believes and actions but NOT THE REVIEWER’S.!”
This phenomenon is known as “selective listening”. You tend to take away the stuff which you care about or seems interesting to you and skip the portion which you don’t wanna care about or disinterests you completely.
People start throwing up – “Go make a film yourself you snob”, the publishers gets upset – “You don’t know how to please an audience” & all of a sudden the reviewer gets sacked or fired from his job, for the ridiculous, surreal reasons which are totally out of his controle or authority in the first place itself rather than anything else - “FU&# IT!”.
He has done the best homework, the best analysis & submits the best possible review with intelligent counter-points and striking focal points and after all this – gets judged by, simply because a quarter of a million population didn’t get it or didn’t care to listen as to what he has to say.
This is how the corporate world runs at the moment. Negligence, Cynicism & blind-eyed approach to others feelings and emotions have become the norm of the hour, whilst staying put to one’s own personal interests, feelings & beliefs will superimpose the human psyche at-least for the next millennium or so.
It not only explains films, auteur’s and film criticism all-alone but also a heck of a lot of other things as well.
Divorces, Terrorism, Infidelity, Miscommunication, Social Networking, Human relations, Public disputes, Violence in the streets, Gang rape & homicides, Syndicate building, drug addiction, depression, alcoholism, Isolation, Suicides… NAME ANY.
For the moment though one can only hope & pray for a better tomorrow. Arrivederci!
