As though, if it's good, criticism cannot explain why: it is something innate about us. If it's bad, criticism should fuck off: it's for fans of the genre and it's doing the thing it says on the tin, et al.
Oh I'm splitting hairs too a bit with the OP, or maybe making a bit of an example out of it I should say. But only b/c I think there's a persistent idea out there that "lowbrow" or genre stuff is somehow elemental & thus can only properly be considered outside of criticism-
I'll have to go dig up that review again and remind myself if he did end up taking a crack at it anyway (in my experience they usually do, despite the preamble lol).
I'm not saying anyone should recapitulate why it's ok to like lowbrow things (I think we should probably take that as a given!). I just think if you like a lowbrow thing and your job is to be a critic, the work is to talk about why. A happy shrug is not the job, I've got friends I can ask for that.
Tight script! Great physical comedy out of the leads! Creepy mummy mouth sinew! Oded Fehr aura farming in every scene! Thankfully I think these things are more universally agreed upon now.
It's a move you see critics go to a lot & if I had to guess it's b/c they think it gives them a bit of "see I'm just like you" cred ("I uncritically like stupid shit too!") but it's just a missed opportunity to tease out the reasoning behind what they and their audience were struggling to articulate
yeah dude definitely filed a lot of those
always much more interesting for a critic to try to make the case for the merit of ostensibly lowbrow things rather than just say "iunno sometimes I like things that are bad I guess"
Totally aside from the point here but I don't think this was a good bit of crit by Ebert. I love The Mummy—and I think it's a matter of the script, acting, direction, (and yes, the mummy, who holds up pretty good today!) all actually being pretty good! I would've rather he tried to articulate why.
lol oh man praying for them, is there a gofundme or something 🙏💔
Many people are saying this! giantbomb.com/articles/nic...
weird direction for a Once and Future King adaptation but I'm open to it
happy first day of Dogs Sticking Their Heads Out Car Windows to those who celebrate
we (architects) do!
asked for further comment, mr. obama added, "Geodude was real, and strong, and now he's load-bearing masonry"
pffffffffffffff
bernaner
it feels good to be able to lend your knowledge to others youraislopbores.me
checks out
ok this is so much fun
A screenshot from youraislopbores.me featuring a text prompt asking for a drawing of an umamusume and a crude drawing of a person with a horse head.
Incredible things are happening on youraislopbores.me
when another boy has a delightfully zesty Louwill Lemon Pepper BBQ Wing™
The road to Magic City Monday is paved with good intentions: defector.com/the-road-to-...
Hakuhutt
joking I know, but I do think this guy has! The video shows a lot of screengrabs of writing on the subject. It just seems to be this convention of the form to treat ideas as if they're being reinvented from first principles anyway
Look obviously I agree with the main thrust of the vid and people should keep hammering these points. I just think the video essay format has this tendency to center narrating essayist in a way that can come off as solipsistic.
(side note: I'm also not quite sure this part is true? I feel like I recall reporting that there remain a lot of people who do engage w/ CoD primarily via campaign, multiplayer's popularity notwithstanding (and that would make sense too, wouldn't it? Because why else would they keep making them?))
only citing myself here because I happen to have myself easily available at hand, but I think you can get a sense from my writing here that these were not novel ideas in 2019 either:
video essayists never beating the allegations
(much has been written about military shooter multiplayer, and Call of Duty's specifically, as a delivery vehicle for propaganda)
