The Keys of Critic

Many people check what film critics say or how many stars they put on movies to decide what movie the people should watch. If a critic says, “Home Alone contains an educational content for children to become stronger to survive in the collapsed society,” parents would let their kids watch the movie. As a result, the kids learn how to set traps in their house and experiment the effectiveness of the traps with their family members. From the above example, the parents pay attention only to “educational for children” but do not read the main part of the story “to beat bad people.” If a critic says that a movie is great, educational, or he/she put five stars on the movie, people would watch the movie without reading the rest of the summary; therefore, not only critics need to understand contents and meaning of films, but also do critics have to have a sense of distinguishing what movie children should or should not watch for the children to grow in the right way.

 Critics should look for how the society becomes better. In politics, there are critics from different religious or political backgrounds. Many critics tend to make positive comments to the groups of which the critics support or believe in to make good reputation of the group. On the other hand, these critics may accuse other groups, which compete against their own groups, to create negative image of the groups. For example, a critic, who supports Democratic Party, may write about how capable and hopeful vision Obama has for the U.S. future without mentioning how bad the U.S. economy goes in the present. The critic may only mention about Bush’s overuse of national budget to military without mentioning other works he has done for the country. People read newspapers or magazines everyday to know what is happening in the world they are living in. If critics write articles, which support only one side of the political parties, the critics may lose their trust from the people. In order for critics to gain trust from viewers, the critics have to have broader mindset to respect and study the ideas of other political parties or religious groups rather than to follow and support only their own groups. These successful critics will be able to assist the society to become better. “Living for the sake of the society” may be the good motto for critics to keep in their minds when they criticize anything.

Through taking this course, I hope that I can understand what the critic really means and criticize music, film, politics, religious, or all other categories in the way that can explain effectively. My goal throughout the semester is to be able read articles or watch TV shows from critical point of view. Popular culture still means too broad for me to understand what it really means. I, therefore, want to study more deeply about the history of how music, films, or media has changed throughout the decades.