When I first set out to complete this project, it was my goal to make some sort of positive commentary on the change in film criticism. I felt that so far there were only really negative things being said and I really believed that this isn’t the end, but hopefully just the beginning of something that could develop into the something just as romanticized and “sexy” as film criticism once was. Don’t get me wrong–I love the idea of the film critics from the heyday of Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael–but I also think that we have already progressed somewhere past this golden era. As an admitted nostalgist, I would also like to return to the “way things were” in the twentieth century. However, in trying to hang on to something that was once beautiful, we’ve been left with a degenerate leftover of that time. Blogging and new forms of media are not the change, but I think they are part of the bigger change that inevitably must happen. All in all, I think that it’s much better to have a positive outlook about these changes than just a negative one. Why be bitter and angsty when something even better may derive from all of these changes?
This particular project didn’t just build on the film courses and other coursework that I’ve completed while at Tufts, it actually forced me to attempt to do many new things as well. While I’ve done lots of research papers on literary criticism, I’ve never endeavored anything that made a commentary on social studies or related to topics such as agenda setting theory. In the end, this project has been just as interdisciplinary as my Tufts education and has even included things not included in the scope of my previous studies. In some ways, I would like to go back and choose a topic that related more to my particular area of expertise, i.e. was more theoretical, but I also value that this project has taught me another way of studying film.
A point not to be overlooked, I’ve also come to really appreciate how much this project has encouraged me to be more socially aware of the film scene. Since I was following newspaper reviews and blogs, I developed a sense of how to navigate these different forms of media. Also, my own blog version of this project (http://filmcriticsmfilmcynicism.blogspot.com) made me savvy in the blogging medium. I not only critiqued the new form of criticism, I engaged with it on its own terms. For me, this was a rewarding way of participating in the debate on film criticism. As Harrry Knowles has proven, anyone can be the next big thing if they just put enough heart into it.
