Film Criticism and Digital Cultures: Journalism, Social Media and The Democratisation of Opinion

Description

The critic is dead.’ ‘Everyone’s a critic.’ These statements reflect some of the perceptions of film criticism in a time when an opinion can be published in seconds, yet reach an audience of millions. This book examines the reality of contemporary film criticism, by talking to leading practitioners in the UK and North America - such as Nick James, Mark Cousins, Jonathan Rosenbaum and Richard Porton - and by covering a broad spectrum of influential publications - including Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Cineaste, indieWIRE and Variety. Forming a major new contribution to an emerging field of study, these enquiries survey the impact of larger cultural, economic and technological processes facing society, media and journalism. Historical perspectives on criticism from ancient times and current debates in journalism and digital media are used to unravel questions, such as: what is the relationship between crisis and criticism? In what way does the web change the functions and habits of practitioners? What influences do film industries have on the critical act? And how engaged are practitioners with converged and creative film criticism such as the video essay?In the face of transformative digital idealism, empirical findings here redress the balance and argue the case for evolution rather than revolution taking place within film criticism. Cover Half-title Endorsement Title page Copyright information Table of contents List of illustrations Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction Preamble Approaching Film Criticism behind the Desk Approaching Film Criticism in the Field Approaching Film Criticism Synthesis and Analysis 1 The Death of the Critic in the Digital Media Age The Death of the Critic? The Digital Media Age Technology Participation Commercialisation Conclusion 2 (Film) Criticism Ancient Criticism and Aesthetic Judgement Modern Criticism and Socio-politics A Selected History of Film Criticism A Six Schools Approach to Contemporary Film Criticism Conclusion 3 Film Critics in Print Variations and Correlations Monetary Concerns and Myths Print Matters: Respected Space Print Strictures: Homogeneity Experts and Niches Conclusion 4 Film Criticism Online The (Return of the) Amateur: Fan-boys and Cinephiles Ethics and Ain’t It Cool News The Digital Critic Immediacy and Slow Criticism Tweeting on The Tree of Life The Myths of Participatory Culture ‘Flaming’ Anonymity Gatekeeping Conclusion 5 ‘Other’ Film Criticism A Brief History of ‘Other’ The Picture Essay and Creative Criticism The Podcast The Video Essay Academic Critics Skillsets Legality Conclusion Appendix Filmography Bibliography Index