How many critics actually do work in the field they critique?

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Many of the French New Wave started out as film critics. American examples would include Peter Bogdanovich and Paul Schrader. Graham Greene worked as a film critic and did some film writing, most notably The Third Man. Pauline Kael did some studio consultancy work.

It seems like almost every novel reviewed in a UK broadsheet newspaper is reviewed by another novelist, though there are exceptions.
 

Mac H.

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But film critics are PART of the film industry.
Just like racing commentators are part of the racing industry.
Just because they aren't jockeys doesn't mean they aren't a part of the industry.

So the real question is how many film critics are film producers as well. But even then we could argue that it doesn't count - they must be film directors as well. And screenwriters. And dialogue coaches. And every other category.

Perhaps we should just accept that they perform a useful role, without worrying that they aren't simultaneously working to create what they are reviewing.

After all, they aren't gods .. just people who some film-goers choose to listen to. In that way, they are no different from talking with your friends about what films they might like.

Mac
 

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I'm not sure what is being asked; for one thing, a critic is not the same as a reviewer.

Moreover, there's the question of audience; who is a review or a critique for--the audience/reader, or the filmmaker/writer?
 
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veinglory

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Some are, some aren't. There are advatages to be an insider, and to being an independent audience-member proxy.
 

lucidzfl

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With the advent of the web, and web critics, you're seeing a lot of people move from being critics/reviewers to being screenwriters and producers.
 

LOG

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I just kind of dislike it when you have people come along and giving 'professional opinions' on a work that they have never had any experience in. Like a book critic chewing out a novel, although they've never written one themselves. Even if they are right, it still just seems kind of wrong to me. Now when you have Stephen King going after Meyer I'm more likely to believe and trust his word, he's been writing novels for years.
 

Judg

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Movies and books are created for an audience. That audience has a right to have an opinion on what's being offered and to express that opinion.

For me, the point of a critic/reviewer is knowing where they're coming from. I've used certain critics as negative indicators: if they loved it, I know I'll hate it, and vice versa. Still useful information. When I've found a critic/reviewer whose tastes (not expertise) I trust, then I will give their opinion a great deal of weight. I don't care what their background is.
 

Kate Thornton

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Movies and books are created for an audience. That audience has a right to have an opinion on what's being offered and to express that opinion.

Yes - I don't have to be a baker to know a good cake when I eat one. Anything created for a consumer can be reviewed and judged by that consumer with legitimacy.

Of course many things are not created for consumers - art, for example, is created for or by the compulsion of the artist. That's where you get the services of a critic (someone with an understanding of all the aspects of the endeavor) to tell you if they like it and give a recommendation.

But commercial products - like movies, popcorn, commercial fiction and mass-produced anything, can be reviewed/judged by their users with legitimacy.
 

Deleted member 42

I just kind of dislike it when you have people come along and giving 'professional opinions' on a work that they have never had any experience in. Like a book critic chewing out a novel, although they've never written one themselves. Even if they are right, it still just seems kind of wrong to me. Now when you have Stephen King going after Meyer I'm more likely to believe and trust his word, he's been writing novels for years.

Look at it this way; I'm an expert reader. I have years of experience, and training in how to read literature. I am, quite literally, a professional reader. A lot of my expertise was gained in academe; I know others I think are better, more expert readers, who weren't trained in academe, but damn, they're good.

Often, we call those people editors.
 
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