Friday, September 01, 2006
Build, Fix, Or Just Complain
There is perhaps nothing easier in the world to be than a critic. People are always going to make mistakes, so all the critic has to do is sit back and wait for them, then pounce. Even better, the critic can set themselves up as the arbiter of what is a mistake or not, so now they do not even have to master the thing it is they seek to critize, they just have to think it's wrong and have the guts to say so. Pretty easy job.
Yet, there is a role for critics in the world, regardless of the endeavor, criticism is a means to improvement, but there are some rules that make it so. I'm going to suggest two such rules, and use myself and comic books as an example.
First, master the topic you seek to criticize. It is fair to say that when it comes to comics, I have some expertise - I own 8000 of the things and have read every last one of them, sometimes more than once. But there are limits to that expertise. For example, my collection is almost solely limited to the superhero genre. I do not like, for example, the so-called "underground" comics that started largely with Crumb and have very little to say about them. I have never been involved in the production or sales of comics - these aspects of the world of comics I know only from what I read on occassion, and conversations I have had with those that have been so involved. So in the end what I have is a fan's expertise, but that does not rise to the level of true expertise. My mastery of the topic is limited, thus my credibility as a critic is limited.
The second rule for criticism is to work hard to make it a part of the effort to improve and not simply criticism for the sake of building yourself up. Like the cliche says, "if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I work really hard when I write about comics to write about what I like and don't like - that's information useful to publishers, it tells them what the fan base is enjoying and not enjoying. What you won't find me doing is writing about how lousy Writer X in the extraordinaily vain attempt to get that particular writing gig - face it, Writer X has the job, he must be better than me.
If I had to summarize this it would be to say that criticism is an important thing if viewed as a creative act - part of improving the creation it criticises. But if criticism is nothing more than an effort at self-aggrandizment, or purging of some emotional wrong, if it is a purely destructive act, then it is pointless, it's not criticism, it's complaint.
Now about blogging....
Related Tags: criticism, complaint, build, fix, create
Yet, there is a role for critics in the world, regardless of the endeavor, criticism is a means to improvement, but there are some rules that make it so. I'm going to suggest two such rules, and use myself and comic books as an example.
First, master the topic you seek to criticize. It is fair to say that when it comes to comics, I have some expertise - I own 8000 of the things and have read every last one of them, sometimes more than once. But there are limits to that expertise. For example, my collection is almost solely limited to the superhero genre. I do not like, for example, the so-called "underground" comics that started largely with Crumb and have very little to say about them. I have never been involved in the production or sales of comics - these aspects of the world of comics I know only from what I read on occassion, and conversations I have had with those that have been so involved. So in the end what I have is a fan's expertise, but that does not rise to the level of true expertise. My mastery of the topic is limited, thus my credibility as a critic is limited.
The second rule for criticism is to work hard to make it a part of the effort to improve and not simply criticism for the sake of building yourself up. Like the cliche says, "if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I work really hard when I write about comics to write about what I like and don't like - that's information useful to publishers, it tells them what the fan base is enjoying and not enjoying. What you won't find me doing is writing about how lousy Writer X in the extraordinaily vain attempt to get that particular writing gig - face it, Writer X has the job, he must be better than me.
If I had to summarize this it would be to say that criticism is an important thing if viewed as a creative act - part of improving the creation it criticises. But if criticism is nothing more than an effort at self-aggrandizment, or purging of some emotional wrong, if it is a purely destructive act, then it is pointless, it's not criticism, it's complaint.
Now about blogging....
Related Tags: criticism, complaint, build, fix, create
