Critics

I'm going to swear off rottentomatoes.com for a while. Recently, I saw The Nanny Diaries and Stardust, two movies which I wholeheartedly enjoyed, and partially because I thought they had artistic merit. However, both of these movies got lukewarm and even negative reviews (along with some good ones). I started to question my trust in "the critics" or "the reviewers."

It always bothers me when people are overly critical of a movie or a book that I like. It's usually a movie that's funky, different, and maybe even silly or "unsophisticated"--but creative. I interpret their dislike as a sort of snobbish disapproval. I had a thought today. Could it be that these critical people fear creativity? Is their intense criticism of others' work indicative of a paralyzing criticism that has been first directed at themselves? What takes more courage--being a critic or being creative?

I think critics have a valid role in society--without them, artists might not know how to improve their work, and audiences wouldn't know where to go for good literature or film. Critics often shed light on the deeper meaning of a work by putting in the time to analyze it. They teach us how to more deeply enjoy our movie-watching and book-reading at times. In grad school for literature, my role is like a critic--to analyze and sometimes evaluate what I see or read.

However, I think being a creative person in our society takes more bravery than being a critic. Creative people have to take risks; they have to get past their fears of criticism from others. They have to stop criticizing themselves enough to be creative, too. They are brave--and because they are brave, we benefit. And then we tear them apart. I'm not saying critics aren't smart, capable people. But do they ever wish they made movies or wrote novels? Do they dream of being creative? Or do they satisfy themselves with cleverly criticizing the shortcomings of creative people? Are they compensating for their non-creativity?

In the book The Artists' Way, Julia Cameron talks about this phenomenon: "blocked artists" over-criticize creative efforts because they are jealous of them and fearful that they couldn't do the same. I know I feel a pang of jealousy whenever I hear of a an actively creative person, especially one I know or who is close to my age. I desperately want to do the same, but, of course I am too critical of myself to even start. If we would stop criticizing other people's creative efforts, we might stop criticizing our own and free ourselves to start taking risks.

I don't think any artistic work done by human hands is going to be perfect, but I want to honor people that do them. I want to try doing them myself, and give myself safety to be imperfect. I want to learn from people who are doing it, and let myself enjoy their work without nitpicking it. That doesn't mean not raising valid points of disagreement or critique; but it does mean finding the best in every movie or book and allowing myself to be a little freer. I think I'd rather be creative than a critic; it seems both happier and more helpful to others.