In Defense of Criticism

I'm not one to turn the attention of this column to myself - I try to handle by postings as neutrally as possible - but there are certain things going that make me feel I must defend my profession. This will be cause me to examine something I have yet to deal with in my column, and it may ruffle some feathers. So be it.

Last week, this years Academy Award nominations came out.  Now, the main reason I don't cover movies in my column is because I have serious issues with the Oscars. As someone who has studied them for nearly a quarter of a century, I find them to be more self-indulgent and exclusive a club than the Emmys on their worst days have ever been. These problems have been present maybe as far back as the founding of the Oscars, but they have become particularly glaring over the last decade or so. The nominating process seems to consider the average Academy member have the memory of a goldfish, not trusting them to remember as far back as September, much less the beginning of the year. Box office, which used to run in proximity to how films were nominated, now seems a primary obstacle to a film earning a nomination. An action movie or a sci-fi film has almost no chance of getting a nod. If you're a comedy, unless you breathe the rarified air of Woody Allen, David O. Russell, and maybe Alexander Payne, the doors are closed. And don't even try sneaking in if your a comic book movie, whether you're The Dark Knight or The Avengers. (That's the reason Deadpool despite all the award nominations was shut out. Three strikes before it even got started.) The fact that the Academy has widened their doors to welcome more nominated films has changed nothing: all it means is that more of the same get nominated.

Now, I will bring in two comparative groups: Group A and Group B. Group A are my parents. For nearly twenty years, they have done their level best to stay on top of the number of nominated films for Oscar night. Even though we live in New York, where many of these films are released early for previews, its still a really challenge to see some of them, which should tell you about the problems. Now, my parents are not the most liberal people when it comes to film choices. They wouldn't watch a comic book movie if they had no other choice, they loathe the ultra-violent films of Tarantino and Scorcese, and they're not particularly thrilled by what passes for comedy. Nor are they necessarily wild about films that get nominated: they loathed No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker, Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Michael Clayton, to mention but a few. And if a well-reviewed film gets a lot of nominations, and they don't like it, they'll think the critics are insane.

Group B is some friends of mine, who are at the cultural opposite of my parents. They will see a fair amount of movies each years, probably six or seven more than my parents do. And they have also come to the opinion that often the Academy awards are out of touch as well. The major difference being, often do they not see the films, they will ignore the idea of the films based solely on the trailer. When they read critics reviews, usually online, and it doesn't jive with what they believe, they say the critics are clearly wrong. If average who have seen the people post reviews, and they don't agree with them, they say these people are wrong.

Sad to say, I think the majority of members of the Academy share more in common with both groups than they'd care to admit. But, regarding their overall opinions on movies, I find myself feeling more in common with Group A than Group B. Not just because they are my parents: in a lot of ways, they can be just as rigid, and I'm never going to convince them that Mad Max: Fury Road was more deserving of a Best Picture nod than Carol. But at least, they're willing to listen. The idea of unilaterally rejecting films, or more to the point, TV series, because you don't like how they sound in a three sentence description says things about my generation's attention span then I want to admit.

Now, I'll admit I am as guilty of these flaws as anybody else in the world, if not necessarily with films, then definitely with TV.  I have real problems deal with series that are among the most watched on television, ever since I got started with seriously watching TV. I've never watched an episode of The Walking Dead, even though its one of the most viewed series on TV, because I hate zombie movies, and based on descriptions, it sounds like one of the most extended snuff films I've ever heard of. I have no intention of ever watching Game of Thrones because it sounds way too complicated for even the most dedicated fan to try and keep track of, and because it seems even more determined to kill off characters then The Walking Dead is. I never really cared for ER when it was on the air, as it seemed to go against all the rules of what a character-based drama is. And the various police procedurals that Jerry Bruckheimer and Dick Wolf have designed increasingly leave me could because they care more about the darkness without any rewards. I've already said what I feel about Shonda Rhimes and her ilk, so I won't repeat it here

But I don't believe that the people who watch these series are fools and numbskulls. I am willing to admit that there might be some level that would appeal to me if I were willing to give an effort. It's just that my focus is already so divided by the sheer number of series out there that I can't give my focus to all of them. So I make assumptions based on what I have seen and read about them that it would not appeal to me.

Roger Ebert, my north star when it comes to writing criticism, examined film much the same way. He may have spent his love on the independent film circuit and foreign films, but he loved the well-made blockbuster, and he had far more room in his heart for comic book franchises than half the critics writing today. I write for the same reason that he wrote: because I love the medium I follow. I believe there are great series out there, and that it's just as important to love a series like Crazy Ex- Girlfriend as it is The Big Bang Theory.  Maybe you don't like the idea of the summary. But you should still give it a try. And yes, its okay to dislike a series because you don't like the sound of it. But don't call the people who do losers and fools, just like I won't do the same for those who like The Real Housewives. Like all things out there, there is a middle ground. The critics has taken a lot of abuse over the centuries and he'll take a lot more, but don't hate him or her just because you disagree with them.  An open mind is a valuable thing. We need more of them.