Photo by Myke Simon on Unsplash
According to Google, criticism
can be defined as the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the
basis of perceived faults or mistake. However, for art, the definition of
criticism is somewhat different. For a literary or artistic work, the analysis
and judgment of the merits and faults is criticism. It is not only about
judging, evaluating, or analysing the work, but also about exploring new
aspects of the art form. It can’t be denied that film is an important part of
our society. Films are used by politicians and leaders as a tool for
propaganda, and many times they are used to share the complexities of society,
myths, and ideology. So, it is a powerful medium. Films are important, and so
are film critics. More subtly, art criticism is often tied to theory, and it is
interpretative and aimed at establishing its significance in the history of
art. Film criticism follows a similar approach.
Due to the democratisation of the internet and the emergence of new
media, every user has become a film reviewer because of their free opinion.
Which is totally fair, on the go what else are we looking for? A movie that
will entertain, a movie that will be worth the money spent. And that should be
expected from critics. But that is a very little part of the job; the remaining
area is way bigger than that. A critic has a crucial job when it comes to film,
rather than just reviewing the film and commenting whether it is worth watching
or not.
Let us be clear about the fact first that criticism in film is not only
showcasing the worst part of the film or given content but to analyse it and
make it visible in the eye of the audience what effort it has taken. It is true
that we go to the theatre to watch a film and entertain ourselves, and no one
sees whether the framing was great, cinematography was decent, or the sound
designing was awesome, but these all matter to us consciously or unconsciously.
And there comes the job of the critic to pinpoint the things that we haven’t
noticed or the effort that has been put into making that perfectly crafted
scene. It is true that film critics need to point out the worst thing or the
mistakes, on the upper hand it helps the filmmaker or makers to learn from the
mistakes which no one has noticed. And there comes what we call ‘Constructive
criticism’.
Some might say that film critics do nothing but hate the film, but a
little glance at the history of the film will say otherwise. Film critics can
inspire new forms of art; it helps to create a revolution in the standardized
way of making films. It many a times challenged the status quo. It is pretty
much evident from the French new wave that emerged in the late 1950s. This
movement is characterized by the rejection of traditional filmmaking techniques
and conventions and putting belief in experimentations. They adapted a new
style of editing, cinematography, and narratives, and it was considered the
most influential movement in the history of cinema. In this movement, film
critics played a very crucial role; new wave critics studied the work of
western classics and applied new Avant-Grande stylistic direction. And this era
gave some awesome critics who turned into filmmakers, one of which was Jean-Luc
Godard. Film critics can inspire new forms of art; it helps to create a
revolution in the standardized way of making films.
Film critics also help to visualize the great art that we can’t have
recognized. We might also see the great film director Alfred Hitchcock; whose
film was just a mild art of entertainment at that time. But later on, the film
critics analyse his work and demonstrated how his work was very scientific and
innovative. Well, another good example is Martin Scorsese, who was just a mere
independent American film director, but a critic like Roger Ebert took the
charge and wrote about the great work and made it visible to the audience. And
that way, we came to know about the great director. There are thousands of
fishes in the pond, but between the identified and reachable fishes, some good
fishes remain ignored, and critics help to identify that good fish from the
shoal.