Martin Deer on ‘critics’, ‘bloggers’ and the state of the film community…
This year, 2013, has been the year of some wonderful outbursts within the film community. It was the year everyone turned on Superman for being an apathetic city destroyer; the year giant monsters vs aliens caused people to freak out over whether you were stupid for liking it or not; and the year one of the greatest cinematic experiences in decades, a technical marvel, was met with “oh, but it’s so vapid”.
For me personally, 2013 has been a strange year. It was the first full year of me writing for this site, with my first article published back in April 2012, and so I expected that this would be a great year for my writing, and to an extent it has been; I’ve written far more for Flickering Myth this year than last, I’ve written for other sites and started my own podcast. However there is a ‘but’, and that but comes in the form of this being my first article since September 3rd. It’s the first piece of writing I have felt compelled to create for a while, and there is a dark, sad reason behind it.
This was the year that I really noticed just what a pretentious, self-righteous, pompous and at times, down right nasty group the film community is. See this year I’ve seen myself, friends and other writers attacked for their views with such venom and hate, such disgusting uses of language that one can’t be anything other than appalled. And what were these views being attacked? Racist remarks? Misogyny? Anti-Semitic statements? No, all of this was in the name of film. Entertainment.
The most despicable of these incidents occurred to someone I don’t know. An article was published on Total Film in August titled ’50 Movies That Are Longer Than They Should Be’, to which there was a very strong reaction. Now, whilst I pretty much disagreed with every film on the list and discussed this with others, the article was attacked, not the writer. Unfortunately, some of the bigger film critics across the pond took great offense to this article and abhorrently picked up their pitch forks and went after the writer. Some were calling for his head, for his career. Grown men who should have known better called him out on social media. Again, what did this guy do, really? He wrote an article that would have been requested of him. A writer trying to make it took an opportunity, whether he agreed with it or not, he took an opportunity for paid work and exposure. These oh so wonderful film critics however did not see it that way. See they are the defenders of civil liberty and social equality, they strive to defend film in all its form, less we all descend in to anarchy and western civilisation collapse around us should one not think There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece. To lower the tone of the article and use a good ol’ English expression I’ve always had affection for; the reaction the writer received was as though he had walked in to the film critic’s house on Christmas Day and urinated on his children.
A friend and I were attacked by two separate film ‘critics’ (important to highlight critics here, they get very upset if you don’t) earlier this year for our views on two separate films. We were referred to, in quite the condescending tone, as “bloggers”. See our views, mine on The Heat being a misogynistic piece of trash and my friend’s view on Captain Phillips being one of Tom Hanks’ greatest performances were labelled as holding no validity as we are “just bloggers”. And compared to a film ‘critic’ our views are meaningless. This view point does hold some validity of course; a qualified General Practitioner is the one you want to believe when it comes to a medical diagnosis, not me having a quick Google search on that itch in your nether regions. But how pretentious, how self-righteous can you get? Of course, someone with a Degree in Film Studies is going to be better placed to compare the directing capabilities of Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese, but film is subjective and unfortunately for you, Lord Film Critic, all opinions are valid.
The primary reason I took a step back from writing, and what prompted me to dial back my social media use too, was when I found myself engaging in pointless, petty arguments about films. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good discussion on just how exactly do the wheels on the Batpod spin round a full 360 degrees, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how a conversation about the destruction in Man of Steel can turn in to an aggressive war of words about how it compares to the destruction in The Avengers. I’m talking about how you just can’t like a film without picking out every little flaw and focusing on it; “oh, I really enjoyed film X, however there are a few issues I’d really prefer to talk about rather than the parts I liked.” I’m talking about the ego of film ‘critics’ who shout and scream they didn’t like a film because, well I don’t know why, bad parenting leading to self-entitlement, perhaps?
I’ve done it myself, I am by no means above all this. I’ve criticised films I enjoyed more than I should have because everyone was to be honest – why not join in? Pack mentality. I still defended those films, but I was agreeing more and more with the criticisms rather than just focusing on what I loved. I’ve also mocked others for liking a film I didn’t, as I did with Pacific Rim, and honestly; what a ****! Who am I to criticise anyone for their love of anything?
So I took a step back, and it was nice. Nice just to go and enjoy films and then email a friend about them instead of taking to Twitter to proclaim that enjoyment only to get several replies from people either telling me they thought it was s**t or that they felt it had a few flaws -that’s great, thanks. Most of all it was nice not to have to see pretentious, over-bearing “look at me look at me” starved of attention self-important writers defend the honour of film by getting their knickers in a twist about something they didn’t like.
I love film; it inspires, educates and breathes the gift of pure wonder in to our lives, but, at the end of the day, it’s just a film. Entertainment. I love writing about film, and would one day love to be a paid film ‘critic’, but if that day should ever come I hope I’d remember that just because I was critiquing other peoples work it wouldn’t make me someone of great importance. I’d not be a Doctor or a Nurse. A Police or Fire Officer. I wouldn’t drive an Ambulance or dive out the back of one to deliver life saving first aid. I’d just be a film critic, probably earning very little money and not really making much of a difference to the world.
Martin Deer
Originally published November 27, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
