THE Permanent Crisis of FILM Criticism

mattias FILM THEORY FILM THEORY the PermaNENT Crisis of IN MEDIA HISTORY IN MEDIA HISTORY film CritiCism frey the ANXiety of AUthority mattias frey Film criticism is in crisis. Dwelling on the Kingdom, and the United States to dem the many film journalists made redundant at onstrate that film criticism has, since its P newspapers, magazines, and other “old origins, always found itself in crisis. The erma media” in past years, commentators need to assert critical authority and have voiced existential questions about anxieties over challenges to that author N E the purpose and worth of the profession ity are longstanding concerns; indeed, N T in the age of WordPress blogospheres these issues have animated and choreo C and proclaimed the “death of the critic.” graphed the trajectory of international risis Bemoaning the current anarchy of inter film criticism since its origins. net amateurs and the lack of authorita of tive critics, many journalists and acade Mattias Frey is Senior Lecturer in Film at film mics claim that in the digital age, cultural the University of Kent, author of Postwall commentary has become dumbed down German Cinema: History, Film History, C and fragmented into niche markets. and Cinephilia, coeditor of Cine-Ethics: riti Arguing against these claims, this book Ethical Dimensions of Film Theory, Prac- C examines the history of film critical dis tice, and Spectatorship, and editor of the ism course in France, Germany, the United journal Film Studies. AUP.nl 9789089647177 9789089648167 The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism Film Theory in Media History explores the epistemological and theoretical founda- tions of the study of film through texts by classical authors as well as anthologies and monographs on key issues and developments in film theory. Adopting a histori- cal perspective, but with a firm eye to the further development of the field, the series provides a platform for ground-breaking new research into film theory and media history and features high-profile editorial projects that offer resources for teaching and scholarship. Combining the book form with open access online publishing the series reaches the broadest possible audience of scholars, students, and other readers with a passion for film and theory. Series editors: Prof. dr. Vinzenz Hediger (Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main), dr. Trond Lundemo (Stockholm University), and prof. dr. Weihong Bao (Berkeley, Uni- versity of California) Advisory board: Prof. dr. Dudley Andrew (Yale University), prof. dr. Ray Raymond (CNRS Paris), prof. dr. Chris Berry (Goldsmiths, University of London), prof. dr. Fran- cesco Casetti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Yale University), prof. dr. Thomas Elsaesser (Universiteit van Amsterdam), prof. dr. Jane Gaines (Columbia University and Duke University), prof. dr. André Gaudreault (University of Montréal), prof. dr. Gertrud Koch (Free University of Berlin), prof. dr. John Mac (Yale Univer- sity), prof. dr. Markus Nornes (University of Michigan), prof. dr. Patricia Pisters (Uni- versiteit van Amsterdam), prof. dr. Leonardo Quaresima (University of Udine), prof. dr. David Rodowick (Harvard University), prof. dr. Philip Rosen (Brown University), prof. dr. Petr Szczepanik (Masaryk University, Brno), prof. dr. Brian Winston (Lincoln University) Film Theory in Media History is published in cooperation with the Permanent Semi- nar for the History of Film Theories. The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism The Anxiety of Authority Mattias Frey Amsterdam University Press This book is published in print and online through the online OAPEN library (www. oapen.org). OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initiative to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The OAPEN Library aims to improve the visibility and usability of high quality academic research by aggregating peer reviewed Open Access publications from across Europe. Cover illustration: From Speak Easily (1932), courtesy of Everett Collection / Rex Fea- tures. Cover design: Suzan Beijer, Amersfoort Lay-out: JAPES, Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978 90 8964 717 7 e-ISBN 978 90 4852 447 1 NUR 670 Creative Commons License CC BY NC (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) M. Frey / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2015 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise). To the permanent memory of my father Table of Contents Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 1. The Birthing Pains of the First Professionals: Promotion and Distinction 25 2. Second-Wave Crises of Proximity and Distance: Relating to the Industry and the Audience 41 3. The Institutional Assertion of Authority: Sight and Sound and the Postwar Cinephile Challenge 61 4. From “I” to “We”: Filmkritik and the Limits of Kracauerism in Postwar German Film Criticism 81 5. The Anxiety of Influence: The “Golden Age” of Criticism, the Rise of the TV Pundit, and the Memory of Pauline Kael 101 6. The Spectre of “Democratization” in the Digital Age 125 Conclusion. What is the Good of Authoritative Critics? 141 Notes 147 Bibliography 171 Index 187 7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank series editors Vinzenz Hediger, Trond Lundemo, and Weihong Bao as well as the anonymous reviewer for their enthusiasm for this project and their expert comments on the manuscript. I extend my gratitude to Jeroen Sondervan and the Amsterdam University Press team for their professionalism and efficiency. Colleagues at the University of Kent were instrumental to the development of this work. In particular, I thank the members of the Cultural Criticism research group and the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Film and the Moving Image co-directors Cecilia Sayad, Peter Stanfield, Antonio Lázaro-Reboll, and Núria Triana-Toribio. The students in my Film Criticism module inspired me with their inquisitive appreciation of the subject. My family and friends provided support, nourishment, and welcome distraction as I researched and wrote; I cannot thank them enough. I dedicate this book to the permanent memory of my father: never a critic, always calm in a crisis, forever ad- mired, revered, and beloved. In this book all translations are mine unless otherwise noted. Earlier and different versions of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 appeared respectively as “The Critical Question: Sight and Sound’s Postwar Consolidation of Liberal Taste,” Screen 54.2 (2013): 194-217 and “Filmkritik, with and without Italics: Kracauerism and its Limits in Postwar Ger- man Film Criticism,” New German Critique 120 (2013): 85-110. 9 Introduction The aims and status of arts and culture criticism are currently up for revision and under attack, according to a whole host of indicators. Numerous articles and academic monographs offer jeremiads on The Crisis of Criticism or mourn The Death of the Critic.1 Regular symposia and conferences dwell on the many, sometimes promi- nent film journalists made redundant at newspapers, magazines, and other “old media” in past years;2 Sean P. Means lists 55 American movie critics who lost their jobs between 2006 and 2009 as pithy obituaries of the profession.3 The reasons provided to explain the current situation include the worldwide recession and, more funda- mentally, reluctant and increasingly apathetic consumers of print media. These developments have brought forth serious questions about the purpose and worth of criticism in the age of WordPress blogospheres and a perceived democratization of criticism. Gerald Peary’s 2009 documentary For the Love of Movies: The History of American Film Criticism is a disaster movie; it begins with the following epigraph over a black screen: “Today, film criticism is a profession under siege. According to VARIETY, 28 reviewers have lost their jobs in the last several years.” Peary is referring to the trade paper’s contemporaneous article, which asked, “Are Film Critics Really Needed Any- more ... Or Is It a Washed-Up Profession?”4 But it is not only industry insiders – long antagonistic or sceptical towards criticism in the mainstream press – who are posing earnest questions.5 All critics today, according to historian Raymond J. Haberski, “be- lieve that the movies are in a state of crisis”; this is because “a public debate over art no longer exists.”6 In October 2008, Sight and Sound devoted its title article to the necessity and use of critics.7 Although criticism has from time to time “enjoyed its teeth-baring and wound-licking moments of ‘crisis,’” editor-in-chief Nick James writes, “this time there is real pain.”8 Among the many, perhaps insurmountable and irreversible challenges James lists include the free access to reviews from established sources on the internet, the “army of [unpaid] opinionated bloggers,” the falls in print advertising and readership, and distributors’ willingness to bypass reviewers alto- gether.9 Worst of all, James concludes, is the new generation’s attitude towards ana- lysis and, even, the truth: “The culture prefers, it seems, the sponsored slogan to judicious assessment.”10 More or less simultaneously, the American Cineaste magazine published a dossier on “Film Criticism in

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