In the good old days, you used to run out to get your newspaper to read about the upcoming films in theaters. Normally, you’d go to your local film critic’s article and read it from beginning to end, where that person would discuss the film and give you an educated opinion. Nowadays, you go to YouTube and listen to talking heads, normally barely out of high school, spewing their “hot takes” at the camera, complete with silly computer effects. Legendary film critic Leonard Maltin has taken notice of this, and is sad with the current state of film criticism.
Speaking to Screen Daily, Maltin says, “There’s no shortage of good and intelligent film critics. There’s a lack of interest and there’s a dilution of criticism in general because of the internet and social media.”
While some modern film critics may look at this and scoff, the truth is he is absolutely right. It’s hard for people like Leonard Maltin to stand out in the crowded online film world when he’s outnumbered by tons of amateur critics. “On one hand one has to applaud the democratization of communication. There are no gatekeepers, so everyone can… write as they please. But the flip side of the coin is there are no standards being upheld, that’s risky, that’s dangerous,” he continued.
So, if modern film critics aren’t a great representation of what film criticism used to be, then what’s missing? Maltin answers that by saying, “When people ask me what qualities critics should have I have a stock answer, it should be equal parts passion and knowledge, and the knowledge comes from experience. If you’ve never seen silent films, or foreign language films, if your education with film begins with ‘Star Wars’ then you’re handicapped.”
There used to be a true art to film criticism, but now it seems as if everyone only cares about a Rotten Tomatoes score to determine the worth of a film. Instead of reading Leonard Maltin, or someone along the lines of the late, great Roger Ebert, we watch people in front of a camera only loving or hating films, instead of providing nuanced discussion.
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