The Dying Race of Film Critics

Have you seen Back to the Future? Have you ever thought of comparing the fading photograph of the McFly children to the role of the film critic in contemporary American culture?

Connecticut College alumnus and film critic Charles Taylor, class of ‘83, has clearly given it some thought.

He made this clear on Thursday afternoon during the English Department’s Lorna F. McGuire Lecture, “Film Criticism in the 21st Century.”

Stephanie Zacharek, Taylor’s wife and a fellow film critic, also spoke at the event. Each lectured for approximately fifteen minutes and their presentations were followed by a half-hour question-and-answer session.

The moments leading up to the event saw professors feverishly trying to open windows to introduce airflow into the stifling atmosphere of Blaustein 210. When it became clear this task was more difficult than anyone had imagined, Professor Ken Bleeth of the English Department introduced the two speakers.

Charles Taylor graduated from Connecticut College (where he was a writer for The College Voice) with a degree in English. He has gone on to write for publications like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Slate, Newsday and Salon.com among others.

Stephanie Zacharek recently left her job at Salon.com to become head movie critic at Movieline.com in addition to contributing to New York Magazine and other periodicals. She has garnered significant praise, including a comparison to legendary New Yorker movie critic Pauline Kael.

Zacharek began to address the audience of students, faculty and friends by explaining that she and her husband had not discussed their notes with one another before the presentation. She apologized in advance should “any overlap” occur.

“I’m part of a rare and endangered species,” she said, “a working film critic. Film criticism is thriving and dying at the same time.”

She explained that in the last few years print publications have been firing movie critics, which has resulted in an abundance of opinions that can only be expressed with the aid of the Internet. The cost of free web content is often felt by writers who receive no compensation for their work.

Several times throughout their speeches, both Zacharek and Taylor used the word “democratization” to refer to the current state of affairs on the Internet with regard to art criticism. It became something of a buzzword, something around which their arguments revolved.

“Making a living as a critic is no longer something to strive for, and most bloggers can’t make a living of it,” said Zacharek.

She went on to explain that there is a disturbing trend among some bloggers to gloat about the explosion of their medium while print media are floundering.

“Movie critics are a luxury,” she said. Then lightheartedly referencing her own salary from her web writing gig, she added, “But they’re an affordable luxury.”

She continued to discuss pay.“Writing for free ends up costing the writer more.”

She explained that criticism is first and foremost a writing job – and writing is time-consuming. She said that one of the great challenges of her profession is to evaluate a movie and to write about it in a way that is relevant to her audience. This changes with time.

She argued that as mainstream Hollywood movies become less thoughtful and interesting (offering as an example the recent Miley Cyrus vehicle The Last Song), it becomes increasingly important to remain honest in reviews.

“If we don’t, she said, “it’s going to be the lunatics running the asylum.”

Again touching on democratization, Zacharek said, “We live in a world where there’s so much noise. It’s our job to cut through the noise and not add to it.”

When she had finished her fifteen-minute presentation, Charles Taylor approached the lectern. Taylor certainly looked the part of a nine-year veteran of Salon.com; he wore dark-rimmed glasses and a matching blue tie-and-pocket-square combination.

He began by thanking some of the handful of professors gathered in the audience and apologized in advance for repeating “much less charmingly” some of the things his wife had just discussed.

Taylor seemed much more at ease addressing the assembled group than did Zacharek, and his points were much more focused and clear. He asserted his love and gratitude for the Internet and addressed the idea of democratization that had previously been discussed.

“In the name of shaking up the alleged dictatorial rule of Old Media, we come to confuse the belief that everyone has a right to his or her opinions with the belief that all opinions have value. Admitting the obvious, that they don’t, is a particularly loaded thing for a film critic.”

He then discussed Francois Truffaut’s idea about the specific nature of cinema and movie criticism: everyone goes to the movies and everyone has an opinion. The public seems to think there is a level of expertise involved in opera or theater criticism that is absent in film criticism.

For this reason, people feel comfortable second-guessing and even criticizing movie reviews and reviewers.

“The most damaging thing people can say about film critics is that they don’t represent the views of moviegoers. I think it’s time for movie critics to cede that point. If we represent the views of moviegoers, there’d be no reason to have film critics.”

Taylor returned to his democratization theme and introduced a new phrase, his voice dripping with disdain: “citizen journalist.” A colleague of Taylor’s champions the idea, but he feels differently.

“The citizen journalist will take over and bring a fresh perspective to reporting, starting with the pieces that are being ignored now. We all know that next week when he’s getting his taxes done, this guy is not going to go to the ‘citizen accountant.’ And I would guess that most of you, with what you pay for your education here, are not going to sign up for a course taught by a ‘citizen professor.’ You want some degree of expertise.”

He introduced the idea of elitism as an essential part of artistic and cultural criticism.

“It’s the kind of elitism that movie critics have got to start to heed. I don’t mean the elitism of where you went to school or where you live or how much money you have. I mean the elitism conferred by talent and polish and the ability to write in a way that encompasses both nuance and passion.

“To quote a line from Working Girl with Joan Cusack, she says, ‘Sometimes I dance around the apartment in my underwear. That doesn’t mean I’m Madonna.’”

He continued, “The sheer volume of information out there makes it hard for good writers to be heard above the chatter.”

Referencing “the chatter,” Taylor said there is a “ghastly combination of the fanboy and the pundit” on the rise, aided by poor-quality blogs that cut out the reason criticism developed: the audience.

“The problem is that we have critics who are talking to one another instead of to a larger public,” he said. The goal of the critic is “not to get people to think like you, but to get them to think.”