How to Write Film Criticism Like a Philosopher
Learn to make interesting conversation about the movies you love
Popular movie reviews aren’t criticism. Sites like Rotten Tomatoes can give you a clue about how entertaining a film might be, but usually, that’s all. That’s because the opinions collected on those sites are merely consumer guides — it’s something of a misnomer to call the columnists who write them “critics.”
Notice, too, that the very notion of a consumer guide uncritically underwrites the virtues of consumerism, and, in turn, capitalism, too. Thus, movie “critics” in, say, The New York Times or The Washington Post undermine critical thinking as a rule, because capitalism is the prevailing power in America and “consumer advice” normalizes that power.
There is an alternative to such “criticism,” though, a discipline known in university philosophy departments as “critical theory.” And, at Plato’s Gymnasium, we place a premium on film, book, and art criticism filtered through the various schools of thought found in critical theory.
But what is critical theory and how does one write it? Hopefully, the short explanation that follows can help you get your bearings so you can produce film (or book, art, etc.) criticism that signals much more than “thumbs up.”
