Saturday, April 30, 2016

Rant Against Irresponsible Film Critics

Everyone nowadays is a wannabe film reviewer/critic/wit who will, at the slightest involuntary trigger, tell you exactly what he/she thinks are the flaws of a film and how they should have been rectified/ addressed. Every student of the humanities, in particular, seems to forget that films are a genre totally disparate in its coordinates from that of literature. They are particularly judgemental about films adapted from or based on literary works, forgetting that each has its own parameters of success and would not easily translate into the other genre unless certain modifications were made. That it takes years of thinking, planning, training, coordinating, shooting and reshooting, editing etc to compose a film. And that one irresponsible (biased/ misinterpreted/ dismissive) review can make or mar gullible readers' impressionable minds. And encourage or discourage a possible genius of a director who is tentatively making his /her foray into a challenging arena, Remember John Keats?

There should be a panel of reviewers, I feel, for any respectable and self-respecting form of media. And a kind of etiquette for penning a review. It should not read like a malicious, manipulated, melodramatic morass for self aggrandisement. It should be open-ended, like any great work of art. Because a review itself is a respectable genre, It should suggest without being didactic and guide instead of misleading or brainwashing. Remember, 'with great power comes great responsibilty'.
And power, ideally, should not be vested in a dictator.

Ideally.

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