The Internet Didn't Kill Film Criticism

There was a recent NY Times article about the current and future state of film criticism. The article is primarily a response to the recent news that the popular show 'At The Movies' was cancelled after more than 30 years. Although a well rounded article, the point I'd like to make is that the internet has done wonders for all writers, including critics. Having more people lend their viewpoints to movies has not diluted the overall profession, but has actually allowed the better reviewers to rise to the top.

Film criticism is definitely not dead. In fact, it's very much alive and well. I will even go as far as saying that film criticism is more relevant today than it ever has been. The days of greybeard, white men writing reviews and chastising a film for not living up to a French film released 40 years prior are over. The majority of the people that pay to see movies on a regular basis are young adults under the age of 35 and they want to read opinions from people that have similar tastes as them. That's where the internet comes in.

But I take exception to comments made that anyone can be a successful critic on the internet. It's true that anyone can put their thoughts on the internet, but being successful at it is a whole other game. The internet is an unforgiving place where hundreds, if not thousands, of online movie outlets are battling for the same audience. To simply say that anyone can create a website and get their opinions heard is diminishing the efforts of those webmasters that have worked diligently on their websites and put in long hours and a lot of hard work to capture an audience. It's one thing to have a website, it's another thing to actually have people visit your site.

A mere 15 years ago, there were maybe 100 relevant newspapers in the United States, each with their own critic that served as the sole voice of movies for their respective audience. Now, there are thousands of online outlets that feature movie reviews. This is not a bad thing for anyone and in fact, this has given moviegoers an insight into film that they've never been privy to. The people have chosen to go to the internet for their movie reviews because the newspaper can't compete with the various viewpoints and perspectives provided by most online outlets.

As Dylan says, the times they are a-changin' and that's been evident to anyone that writes for a newspaper for several years now. Movie reviewers are no different and if local critics haven't developed their own website yet, they should probably look into it.