Embarking on this course at the beginning of the semester, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what I thought a critic was. And whilst I knew I wanted to be a writer, I had thoughts of self-doubt over whether I wanted to be a critic per se. I thought, ‘Who am I?’ to tell audiences my opinions on a book or TV show or fashion collection. It wasn’t until we were deep into the content of the course that I realised that I wanted to write cultural criticism all along. In a time where leaders and corporations are trying to censor journalists, I believe that the role of the critic has never been more important.
The role of the critic in the digital age was a topic that came up frequently during this course and why wouldn’t it? We’re studying for an industry that is changing more rapidly than ever before and it’s both exciting and scary. With the rise of the Internet over the past couple of decades, you could argue that the role of the critic in society and culture is becoming less meaningful with each blog that’s created. However, in a time where the President of the United States is trying to censor the media, and stories of corruption (such as those of the ‘Panama Papers’) and greed (the still growing Harvey Weinstein scandal) are being leaked, we need critics to voice the opinions of the world.
Throughout the semester I learnt that critiquing is an art form, a formula of sentences, words and questions that weave together to make a polished piece of work. As well as the crucial grammar lessons we had, I learned a lot each week by not only having my writing edited and analysed but also hearing my peers work out loud. It’s so easy (especially in University) to only read your own work that’s due for submission but the boardroom style environment of each class made it feel like we were already working editors, writing for a publication. Listening to other people’s ideas, pitches and final pieces was motivating and made me broaden my horizons in which criticism I do read.
To truly understand what it means to be a working critic in the digital age we were fortunate enough to have a range of guests come in and talk about their experiences. Alexia organised for us to have chat to Simran Hans and Philippa Hawkers, two freelance critics from the newspaper world during the MIFF season as well as an incredibly interesting class with Yossi Klein, the editor in chief of ‘Bread, Wine and Thou’ and two sessions with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, the editor of ‘Sense of Cinema’. Getting to hear the opinions, advice, and writing techniques of four very different guests gave me a broader sense of what the critic is and how to apply the ideas to my own writing.
Thanks to social media platforms, anyone can self appoint them selves as a curator or creative director. This blurs the line between expertise and amateurism. In investigating this, it’s easy to see why bloggers and Instagramers get a bad rap. One thing (out of many) that I learned from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas was that you have to earn the respect of your reader. You have to prove why you deserve to share your opinion with them and this is something I believe all critics should keep in mind. It’s easy to climb up onto your pedestal and become a nasty critic but ultimately you are commenting on someone’s work, their sweat, blood and tears. You have to earn the right to comment on someone’s work via constructive opinions, referencing to other texts or movements and constantly thinking, “Who am I to be commenting on this?”
In a world of ‘fake news’ and Facebook echo chambers, as a society we must become more aware of differing opinions. As technology moves forward, more of our feeds will become personalised than they already are and rather than opening a newspaper and reading through multiple opinion pieces, ads and features, we will simply scroll through our little screen and think that the rest of the planet is thinking like us. This is an incredibly ignorant and damaging view and it is the role of the critic to make sure many sides of a story are heard.
This course has equipped me with technical writing and editing skills that I will take with me into my career but most importantly, it has ignited the fire within me and reminded me of the reason I wanted to become a journalist. With enough evidence, references and guts, you can critique anything. Art, science, fashion, or politics and (hopefully) persuade some minds and maybe even change the way an individual thinks, buys, or votes. The role of the critic isn’t going away anytime soon, if anything, we need critics in 2017 more than ever.