{"id":1040262,"date":"2025-12-11T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T08:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1040262"},"modified":"2025-12-11T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T08:33:00","slug":"everyones-a-critic-now-should-they-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1040262","title":{"rendered":"Everyone\u2019s a critic now. Should they be?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Not long ago, critics\u2019 opinions had the power to shape culture. They were serious figures \u2013 cut-throat and often unashamedly pretentious \u2013 personified in the body of \u2018gonzo\u2019 style journalists like Lester Bangs, the politically-defiant Ellen Willis, or the harsh, formidable Anton Ego (the antagonist from Disney\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Ratatouille<\/span><\/em><span>). Critics could shut down a restaurant or ruin a musician\u2019s career in a matter of words, their columns offering the definitive opinion on the things we should like (or shouldn\u2019t).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, in recent years, it feels like the role of the \u2018all-powerful critic\u2019 has fallen from omnipotent to obsolete. In the face of worsening levels of media literacy, online harassment and doxxing \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk\/news\/write-bad-review-taylor-swift-and-get-death-threats-inside-fan-backlash-facing-critics-digital\"><span>with the fandom of a certain pop-star sending music journalists death threats for simply doing their job<\/span><\/a><span> \u2013 many fans have begun to reject the confines of traditional criticism. At the same time, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-movies\/\"><span>the rise of social media<\/span><\/a><span> \u2013 specifically platforms like Letterboxd and Substack \u2013 has allowed anyone to broadcast their opinions, without having to adhere to traditional editorial processes. But what happens to culture if everyone is allowed to define it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Way back in 2016, <\/span><em><span>The New York Times<\/span><\/em><span> published a piece marking the very start of this shift. It was written by AO Scott, a long-standing critic at the <\/span><em><span>Times<\/span><\/em><span> (and self-proclaimed \u201cscold, snob and <\/span><span>a paid hack\u201d). He argued that on the internet, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/01\/31\/sunday-review\/everybodys-a-critic-and-thats-how-it-should-be.html\"><span>everyone\u2019s a critic, and that\u2019s how it should be\u201d<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><span>The article was published during social media\u2019s peak, <\/span><span>when Twitter was still Twitter, Instagram stories were but a few months old and TikTok was an unknown concep<\/span><span>t.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content has-tweet\" data-embed-type=\"media-twitter\" data-script-depends=\"twitter-widgets\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Speaking as an actual critic, the way this site has made everyone obsessed with seeing a film the second it comes out so that they can deliver the Definitive Take on it is exhausting. Not to mention the normalization of sharing scenes from a film while it\u2019s still in theaters.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Conor Williams (@sadfilmcritic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sadfilmcritic\/status\/1953855092584485008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>But since then, we\u2019ve seen social media become a lot less, well, social. We spend less time online reading and engaging with fellow users, and more time scrolling from one ephemeral bit of content to the next. Our shrinking attention spans are only helping to further impact an already hard-hit media industry: in the past year alone, <\/span><em><span>Variety<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>The Chicago Tribune<\/span><\/em><span> and <\/span><em><span>The New York Times <\/span><\/em><span>have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2025\/aug\/26\/movie-reviews-cultural-criticism-erasure\"><span>cast aside their critic-adjacent roles<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201c<\/span><span>Arts institutions are facing challenges and looking for new opportunities,\u201d the Times\u2019 lead culture critic Sia Michel <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/tv\/news\/new-york-times-culture-desk-critics-margaret-lyons-jon-pareles-jesse-green-zach-woolfe-reassigned-1236461249\/\"><span>said of the changes<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cOur readers are hungry for trusted guides to help them make sense of this complicated landscape, not only through traditional reviews but also with essays, new story forms, videos and experimentation with other platforms.\u201d In other words: more TikTok.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For Chris Cotonou, film critic<\/span><span>\u00a0and deputy editor at <\/span><em><span>A Rabbit\u2019s Foot, <\/span><\/em><span>the internet has heralded \u201ca whole new way\u201d of engaging with criticism. \u201c[Social media criticism is] the equivalent of doomscrolling for the snappiest, funniest bit of text and then moving on to the next one,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be entertaining, offering a sort of periphery level litmus test of public taste and opinion\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But for <\/span><span>Laura Snapes, the deputy music editor at the <\/span><em><span>Guardian<\/span><\/em><span>, good criticism still abounds if you know where to look for it. This never-ending sea of opinion means that only \u201cthe strongest critical voices\u201d are able to cut through, she says. \u201cThere\u2019s some really interesting stuff on Substack. That\u2019s what blogs were always like,\u201d she says. \u201cTalent always breaks through. [Whether] that comes from Substack, Letterboxd or TikTok. You just have to find your way. I got my first freelance commission at the <em>Guardian<\/em> from Twitter.\u201d This chimes with Cotonou. \u201cAnyone who is breaking through, because what they say actually resonates with people, is someone worth paying attention to,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Anyone who is breaking through, because what they say actually resonates with people, is someone worth paying attention to<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cRecently I\u2019ve received loads of pitches from 17 and 18-year-olds who can <em>really<\/em> write, and who are interested in being a critic in a more traditional way,\u201d Snapes continues, adding that she feels optimistic about the state of the industry. \u201cI don\u2019t think [that people who think music criticism is too soft] are reading enough criticism. I read and write spicy criticism all the time, so I definitely think it\u2019s still there. Yes, there are some critics who have to be relentlessly boorish, but if that\u2019s stopping you from writing good criticism, you shouldn\u2019t be doing it anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Arguably, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/falonfatemi\/2021\/01\/20\/the-rise-of-substack-and-whats-behind-it\/\"><span>the booming prevalence of platforms like Substack,<\/span><\/a><span> and even those witty one-line snipes on Letterboxd, is helping to bolster diversity of opinion within criticism. These platforms have become a space for writers, who might have otherwise faced barriers accessing an industry that is so defined by nepotism and class. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/about\/news\/new-report-reveals-increasing-inequality-in-arts-and-culture\/\">With a widening gap in the last year between middle-class and working-class people who engage with arts and culture<\/a>, this is an unequivocal positive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cotonou acknowledges that social media can \u201copen up new avenues for conversation and even voices from parts of the world that were previously ignored by mainstream media institutions.\u201d Plus, not only does social media allow a more diverse range of voices to speak, he says, but it also enables audiences and readers to encounter a broader range of opinions. \u201cWe\u2019re all accessing fragments of each other\u2019s cultures and interests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Evidently, algorithms and streaming platforms have forever changed the role of the traditional critic, somewhat diminishing their impact. Equally, though, social media has helped to spotlight critical voices that we previously might not have heard, allowing people with a wider range of experiences and opinions to be part of an otherwise elitist industry. Ultimately, although traditional criticism should \u2013 and does \u2013 still have an important place in culture, there is also something to be gained by giving a platform to lesser-heard voices.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69248\/1\/everyone-s-a-critic-now-should-they-be-culture-social-media-letterboxd-substack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not long ago, critics\u2019 opinions had the power to shape culture. They were serious figures \u2013 cut-throat and often unashamedly pretentious \u2013 personified in the body of \u2018gonzo\u2019 style journalists like Lester Bangs, the politically-defiant Ellen Willis, or the harsh, formidable Anton Ego (the antagonist from Disney\u2019s Ratatouille). Critics could shut down a restaurant or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1040263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-1040262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1040262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1040262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1040262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1040262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}