Yet Another Critic's Manifesto

By Steven Carter

There are so many negative connotations that accompany the word critic because too many jaded writers get paid too much to bash what they could never create.

The critic judges the quality of a particular form of entertainment, and their primary role is to inform people of the great things that they may otherwise miss.

Some critics (like book naysayer Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times) believe that their job description entails beating a dead horse until its insides come oozing out. As an aspiring novelist/ poet, it infuriates me to see terrible writers writing about how others can’t write well.

A good critic should never focus primarily on telling people what to avoid [because Americans naturally avoid most forms of art anyway, and don‘t appreciate the ones they do embrace (just look at the Billboard charts or listen to the latest pop compilation, Now 87, featuring the newest recycled beats along with teenage pop-stars undertaking their long arduous journey to rehab)].

A good critic should provide suggestions for the reader that will enhance their appreciation of a given medium. If I happen to hear a great band or read a great author, I’ll tell my friends. I’ll let them borrow the book or burn some CD's for them. And if I hear a band that blows (name drops are so tempting right here), I won’t sit there and waste an hour telling my friend how bad it is. I won’t rattle off a list of names to avoid because that negativity adds nothing to someone‘s life. There are plenty of terrible movies, albums, and books out there (that always manage to take negative reviews out of context to fool the consumer). I don’t see any reason to even acknowledge them in the first place.

As a critic (a title I’ll assume for this manifesto), it’s not my job to filter through the trash and smear more filth on something not worth picking up in the first place. It’s my job to find the great works that may slip through the cracks and throw them on top of the heap where they can’t be ignored.

Being a critic is about giving people a chance to appreciate new, exciting things. And I can’t think of anything more positive than that.