Thursday, February 24, 2011

"A Kind Word for Critics" by Francois Truffaut

Truffaut discusses critics, especially in cinema, and makes some comparisons to the relationship between critics and artists.  He has a positive view of critics, and feels there is a nice rapport between movie critics, filmmakers, and the public.  He makes the keen observation that people are often drawn to movies/art/etc. from other places because there is an element of the exotic to them, as well as the fact that people can judge the work for itself rather than being influenced, for example, by knowledge of the creator that has been splashed all over the media in the place where the work originated.  The less involved we are with a particular artist, the less our biases of them cloud our judgment.  

He goes on to look at how antagonistic many artists are to critics, taking what they say very personally, rather than responding to critiques with "openness" and an interest in joining in the discussion of their work.  But also acknowledges how difficult it is to always maintain such a mindset, as artists pour themselves into their work.  He ends with the observation that although film criticism is important, it is only one aspect of the film's success/reception.  At the end of the day, if something strikes a cord with viewers, that's what really matters. 

And, I just wanted to add that I really enjoyed the ad for the Thesaurus in this article, it was quite fun!-- "Put punch into your prose and sparkle into your speech the easy way--with the new Doubleday Roget's Thesaurus..." 

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