Hang On

John Ford: The Searchers.

For me, the purpose of criticism is to understand how something functions or falls apart, and then to apply this understanding to my own work as well as I can. "And then" is the hard part.

I mention this because I see people on Youtube who love to criticize bad movies, but I can't see the appeal of criticizing only bad movies. I have no doubt that for any film maker, taking apart a bad film can teach a lot, but I've also read that both Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa studied the films of John Ford. Anyone who sat down with a stopwatch, a pen, sheets of paper, and a keen eye, could learn by watching Ford, or by watching any number of technically good directors. Not everything in a good film can be analyzed, but many things can be, and anyone who takes the time will gain something valuable.

The same is true of short stories, plays, essays, poems. Anyone who needs to learn will find an education right there on paper.

Sometimes, when I watch these people on Youtube, I question their motives. Do they want to learn, or do they want to feel superior to the films they review? I have no idea. I can only say that when I read a bad story, a bad poem, I feel, not superiority, but a sense of hanging by my fingertips from a teetering ledge. I could fall. I could easily fall.

Please let me hang on.