The Picture Dies On Paper: Do Critics Have A Place In Entertainment Anymore?

Today marks the beginning of my tenth year in journalism. That means I've spent slightly less than half my life in this business, which lends me enough experience to say this: I had no idea that when I decided to focus on entertainment journalism three years ago, that I was also taking membership in a group of pariahs.

At least, that's if you believe what you read. I start each morning reading the entertainment news online, and when I get to the reviews, the comments left there would have you believe that entertainment critics aren't very welcome anymore.

"These reviewers are about as useful as falling on a banana peel," writes one person after an Associated Press film review. "They are miserable and their opinion doesn't make or break these movies."

"Is there some training that one must take to become a movie critic or do you just need a computer and a nasty disposition?" asks another.

These are just two of the ones I can print. I can't reproduce the more colorful insults, which include profanity and insults toward a reviewer's sex life. They're the kind of things I would expect from high school students, not mature adults. The fact that all these comments have received high numbers of "positive" votes on the site on which they appear seems to say enough.

Being a critic myself, I can't help but ask the logical questions that such comments engender. Why are we writing when the intended audience doesn't care what we think? Are we masochists for putting up with this kind of abuse? Is that a sign that times have changed and we really ought to just find something else to do with ourselves?

Answering those questions is in itself a matter of opinion. Irony has never been so bittersweet.

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It's one of my personal rules that I never ask questions which I'm not also prepared to answer. It wouldn't be fair to start talking about the lives of critics without telling my own story.

I became an entertainment journalist because there are three things I spend a ridiculous amount of time doing: writing, watching television or films, and working on whatever project is currently on my desk. Sometimes I'm working while watching TV. It's ridiculous, but it's the way that I am, because I'm honestly in love with the entertainment industry and have been since I saw the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day at my grandparents' house when I was six. I knew then it was where I belonged.

I started to have aspirations then and haven't stopped since; I wrote my first published short story in the second grade, my first pilot script at eleven, and decided at fourteen to make screenwriting a full-time ambition. It's given me a unique perspective; I can see from the other side. I've actually attempted what I'm writing about, which makes me conscious of how it feels to be the one being critiqued. I've tried never to forget that while I may be analyzing a final product, that product represents the hard work, invested time, and hopes of more people than most of us are aware.

When I became a critic, I never stopped being a screenwriter, or any of the other things I've been. All it means is that I can't stop talking about what I'm watching.

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There is no recognized set of qualifications for being a critic. By this I mean there's no specific path to follow. No particular school to attend. You do not get a degree that will certify you as a professional reviewer whose opinions should be valued.

However, there is certainly unspoken criteria that is - or at least, should be - invoked. Obviously, to be hired by any professional organization, a critic should have a decent resume, with relevant education and considerable time spent covering their particular field, at the very least. AP doesn't take people off the street to write those film reviews.

Then there are things that can't be quantified. Critics are professional writers, and as such, should have an above-average command of the English language. Their pieces should be well thought out, thoroughly supported, fact checked, and free of typographical errors. I often found myself laughing when, in my days as a script editor, people would send angry emails after their script received a pass from our agency - laughing because many of them not only couldn't support their own arguments, but couldn't remember to capitalize the first words of sentences or use punctuation. Those who can't grasp the basic elements of writing, or spend their time leaving banal comments like "who cares?" or "this sucks," just don't possess what it takes to be professional critics.

Most importantly, critics have to be possessed of an enormous amount of tact. As I mentioned earlier, it's important never to lose the face from the work, to remember that you're reviewing something which many people put time and effort into. Unfortunately, there will be times where regardless, you have to break their heart.

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There's nothing more painful to me than when something I'm reviewing is mediocre, or even horrible. I say that because I have the luxury of being able to choose what I cover, so if I'm reviewing something at all, it's ninety percent of the time something that I am also a fan of. Having to be the one who comes out publicly and says that something didn't make the grade isn't fun, but it's part of my job.

I struggled with this on more than one occasion. One case in particular was a show that I had loved from its pilot episode. Unfortunately, it had declined in quality over the years, and wasn't what it used to be. I found myself trying to make excuses for each poor episode with every review I wrote. After all, not only did I love this show, but I knew the publicists, and didn't want to risk alienating them with what I was saying.

Finally, after the third or fourth week of the season, a friend of mine set me straight. The failings were obvious, and sugarcoating them wasn't going to help. Furthermore, by trying to obfuscate the weaknesses, I was doing harm to my reputation. My audience was coming to me looking for an honest opinion and I wasn't giving them one.

It pained me, but I wrote my honest opinion of that show from there on out. The publicists - people with whom I had by then become friends - saw it. Even though I wasn't giving them glowing reviews, they still respected my opinion and respected me for giving it truthfully. Contrary to my fears, we're still friends today, working on other series together, where they still know they can count on me for a straight answer.

After all, a few bad episodes didn't make me stop loving the good parts of that show. Likewise, a few bad reviews didn't stop them from working with me. As one of them later told me, it simply meant that I had the integrity to be honest, which only made them respect my professionalism more.

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Now we come to the thorniest part of being a critic. Your relationship with your audience, with the general public, is the spine of the work; after all, if people weren't reading, I wouldn't be writing. Their opinions and thoughts allow for great discussions, or even to meet people that you can become friends with. I know several friends of mine who started as readers, and who now toss ideas back and forth with me every day. As of this writing, I'm blessed to reach ten million people every month, all over the world, and I am grateful for every single one of them.

Unfortunately, as with the rest of life, there are some not so kind people out there as well. There are an increasing number of people who - perhaps empowered by being able to sit behind a keyboard with relative anonymity and not have to look whom they're speaking to in the eye - can be ignorant, crude, and cruel. I've come across my fair share of them over the years. I've been insulted, called names, talked down to, and there was one extreme occasion where a commenter suggested I kill myself because he believed I misused a single word in a review.

Where does all this hate come from? I think it's because the role of the critic has simply been misunderstood over the years, on both sides. Readers believe that critics are telling them what's good and what's bad, as if they're somehow superior. I also think there are some critics who believe that's what they're supposed to do. The problem is, no one likes being told what to do. Especially not when you start talking to fans. Fans of anything can be fervent and narrow-minded with the best of them. (I should know; I'm a die-hard sports fan who's actually been involved in a fight or two in my day. I'm not proud of it, but it's true.)

The result is a battleground. There are sites that will censor or delete your comments if they think you're saying even the slightest negative thing about them, even if it's a polite correction. I once had my comment on the passing of an actor deleted because at the beginning of it, I pointed out that the article misspelled his last name. I read one article with a misleading headline, and when one commenter tactfully pointed that out, they received a flat-out rude rebuke from the article's author. I knew then that would be a website I'd never work for.

There are readers who delight in singling out every typo or feeling superior when they think you've confused your facts, and they're not afraid to turn things personal, often substituting insult in place of counterpoint. I once knew a writer who told an incoming class of hires to double-check everything, because readers "love tearing into stuff." It seems like we're just battling for superiority and no one has it.

For my part, I see my role as the presenters see the UK version of Top Gear. They're not trying to tell you what car to buy, and I'm not telling you what to watch. That decision is yours and yours alone. My critique is to allow you to make an informed decision. If you trust my opinion, great, but I'm just hoping to help you enhance yours, or inspire you to have one. The best part of my job is when someone tells me they've started watching a show that they hadn't even heard of before I wrote about it. Their opinion of it might be drastically different from mine, but I'm flattered that mine persuaded them to take the chance at all.

Public criticism is the toughest part of the job to swallow, but at the end of the day, it's important to remember that we all share common ground: we all have a passion for entertainment. We need critics, because it's their opinion and expertise that start the discussion, and there will always deserve to be that discussion, love it or hate it. What we all love is worth talking about.

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The life of an entertainment journalist is not as glamorous as you think it is. Not mine, anyway. People who don't know me well believe that I spend all of my days mingling with the stars and watching TV. One aspiring writer was under the misconception that I just walked right up to famous people and was able to interview them. It couldn't be further from the truth.

This job isn't glamorous on most days. I've been doing it since I was writing on a Smith Corolla typewriter in the bathroom of my college dorm, because that was the only place I could work at 3 AM without disturbing my roommates. These days, I've upgraded - to a five-year-old laptop and a cluttered home office. I work six days a week, sometimes most of the day, and I've missed more than a few social outings with friends and family because there's something on I have to have recapped. Sitting in a wheelchair, with painkillers for my two broken legs and a bag of peanut M&M's, is not the high life.

I don't do it for the money. There are many outlets that use my work that can't afford to pay me for it. The money I do make is modest. I can take care of myself and have spending money left over, but I'm not buying that replica Terminator robot anytime soon. (Damn. I was going to put it on the lawn.) Not when I've got bills to pay and the majority of my business expenses come out of my own pocket.

It doesn't make me more popular, either. I've made friends through my work, but as far as the people in my life on a daily basis, there aren't more of them than there were before this job. Even in the entertainment world itself, there are some people who won't give me the time of day because I'm not recognizable enough to be worth it.

So what's kept me going for the past ten years?

It's the people. Allow me to get schmaltzy here, dear readers, but there's a little misconception out there that most Hollywood types are jerks, and that's just not entirely true. I admit that I've met a few, but ninety-five percent of the actors, writers, producers and others I've talked to have been some of the most amazing people I've ever met. They've given me moments that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. Some of them have gotten to know me, and have become people that I would consider friends. There are no words for what that means.

I've made a lot of great friends along this journey, whether it's actors, producers, publicists, fellow journalists, or even just readers of my work. Even though we might not get to meet more than once or twice a year, we talk all the time, and I know they're there for me. I also know that I wouldn't have them in my life without this.

I want to say a thank you to all those people, for all the things they've done for me, and for being some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I also want to say a thank you to you, dear readers, for listening to what I have to say, for telling me what you have to say, and for going on this journey with me. It's not always easy, but I know that it is definitely worth it.

Here's to another ten years.

Brittany Frederick
DigitalAirwaves.net
Examiner.com
Fanbolt.com
Starpulse.com
Twitter: @tvbrittanyf