When I selected Everyone’s a Critic as my studio for Semester 2 of the second year of my Bachelor of Communications (Media), I was a film buff who wanted to develop my skills as a writer. The concept that I wanted to interpret more profoundly was the evolving role of social media in the criticism industry, and the way in which those who have access to social media platforms utilise their voice as critics. Ultimately, I learned about authority in critical writing and was able to establish my own voice as a writer, enabling me to cultivate confidence in my opinions and style. This has further accredited my ability to curate my writing and question the art of “curationism” in a society so saturated with curators.

It is clear that social media is a platform that enables anyone with an iPhone to check-in, tweet, gram and yelp their opinions and experiences to anyone, and it was this semester that I learned to question what makes me qualified to critique a restaurant or the customer service that I have received at a store. Sure, I may have certain social media applications installed on my phone and sure, there is a “recommend” or “review” feature on each of them, but in comparison to professional critics, how valid or sustainable is my opinion? Bashing a company, film, employee, brand, TV show, book, or eatery on social media isn’t criticism. We eventually learned through screening City of Gold (2015) how important criticism can be and our abilities to change peoples lives through our voices. In the documentary, Jonathan Gold, an internationally renowned critic, was able to improve the quality of life for small businesses by critiquing their cuisine. Ultimately, the role of the critic may revolve around constant analytical thinking and the ability to take a stance on even the most trivial subjects, however it was integral for us to understand and distinguish between writing from a critical perspective, and writing from a criticising perspective.

Another aspect of the role of the critic, which goes hand in hand with establishing my voice as a writer and questioning what enables me to critique subjectively, is authority. This topic makes me reminiscent of the workshop that we had with Alex Heller-Nicholas, an incredibly talented critical writer, during which she asked us “who the hell are you?”. That question resonated with me and amidst a mild existential crisis I found an incredibly valuable lesson: writing with authority often begins with writing with conviction. I struggled for most of the semester to discover my “voice” as a writer, and it was only when I started writing about topics that I was passionate about and/or interested in that I assumed the voice writer I wanted to be. My “Eureka!” Moment came in the critical review that I wrote on Lick The Star (1999, dir. Sofia Coppola). I took a feminist perspective and was able to cut from the fabric of myself as a person to fashion the version of myself as a critical writer. I had to teach myself to write with the self-assurance that my words would articulate my opinions and with each piece I wrote, my voice became stronger and more assertive.

The word “curation” is textbook defined as the ability to “select, organise, and look after the items in a collection or exhibition”. This definition feels outdated for the modern society that we currently live in. It would seem that anyone with a Pinterest board or an Instagram feed is a curator; selecting, organising and maintaining the features of their online presence, establishing a following and managing the content that represents them as an individual, or as a brand. Curationism is the ability to control the themes and subjects of the material that is associated with the core values of the curator, and in one way or another, we are all curators. When we were given this topic to discuss, I initially scoffed at the thought of referring to myself as a curator for owning something as trivial as a blog, but upon further consideration, the notion of curation made a lot more sense. It was only when I felt comfortable with my authoritative voice that I could also feel comfortable curating the content that I published in order to maintain the persona of the voice that I had worked so hard to establish. The role of the critic had now extended past self-doubt and self-exploration, and had delved into self-awareness.

This semester I learned that the role of the critic is ever-changing and complicated. I, however, watered it down and simplified it to three simple lessons that I learned on my journey to critical self-discovery: Contrive, Canvass and Curate. Contriving is the phase in which I looked at criticism as a modern art accessible to all, and attempted to understand what makes me qualified or competent enough to critique subject matter. Canvassing was the point at which I was challenged with establishing my voice and perspective as a writer. Finally, I learned the skill of curation, and developed the ability to organise and exhibit as a reflection of myself. Everyone’s a Critic granted me with the skills, confidence and competence to write and critique, and I am extremely proud of the progress that I was able to make through this studio.