It's the Thought That Counts

This letter smells of sour grapes, and I’m not sure I’d go so far as the author does in his critique of Slate’s film critics. But the guy’s got a point: today’s media not only devalues idiosyncrasy, intelligence and personality in writing, it frowns upon anything that pushes boundaries, veers too far off the beaten path or otherwise risks alienating the readers and/or advertisers. But especially the advertisers.

Is criticism dead? Of course not. Everyone’s a critic, and the internet proves plenty of people are willing to write about what they love or don’t love with little or no recompense. However, criticism as a profession sometimes seems to be withering faster than its print media host organism, which is withering pretty darn fast.