This week’s blog was about the impact of social media on film criticism. Famous film critics, Will Leitch and Dana Stevens have put their significant thoughts forward on the subject. I always wonder how much the film criticism can impact the performance of a film. I has the potential to create both, a negative or a positive vibe on the film the audience are about to watch. How good is this for the film industry? Well I personally think it depends upon the audience. Being a huge film buff myself, I have never subscribed to any film criticism ever and I just watch the films I want to watch – good or bad.
Now, the phenomenon of the social media taking over the critic industry is something I have not thought of before. I was maybe unaware of this the whole time because, as I mentioned earlier, I am not a follower of film reviews. But yes I do agree, today social media has given the liability for anyone to post their opinion on any produce they come across. I feel it is too late to change this fact and the only option for the critic industry is to react spontaneously or ahead of the the public.
Will mentioned that he requires so called the “processing” time for him to reflect before sending the message across. Well in my opinion, it is absolutely right to continue what he does as long as it justifies his work ethics. This will definitely portray the difference between a professional and an anonymous review.
When an art is being produced, the viewer has every right to like or dislike it. But one cannot imply his notion to a third person. Just because my best friend liked a movie, It not necessary that even I should like it or vice verse. I feel the same goes for the situation above. The anonymous, mostly one liner reviews on twitter is just the personal reflection of the host and cannot be accounted for anything more. On the other hand it is the duty of critic to display unbiased reviews. Matured audiences will understand this fact and will react accordingly. I feel audience today is becoming more broad minded and there is still followers for the critic industry.
nishanthrd 
Nishan, I enjoyed reading your blog post. You made some excellent points regarding the views of others and their rights to opinions of an art form. I completely agree with you, and I think it’s important that people keep in mind that an opinion is personal. You mentioned anonymous criticism or reviews, it would be interesting to see how it would effect the film culture and industry if all reviews and criticism were to be made anonymously.
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I thank you for going through my blog. Equilibrium is very important in this world. Let me put it in a cinematic way – A hero can be created only if there is a villain. What I am trying to answer to your last 3 lines is that, we need both of these kinds of reviews to run our show. Be it either the professional or the anonymous version, we cannot succeed even if we lack one of those. In addition to something I have not even mentioned in my post, I sometime find anonymous comments more artistic!
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I definitely believe that criticism can manipulate the performance of a film. As you can imagine the director or the main actor, reading or hearing some bad criticism, that can go either way. Either they are encouraged to work harder or end up being discouraged and giving a mediocre performance. This also applies for anyone wanting to just watch a movie that someone is criticizing.
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