The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism

The Anxiety of Authority

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by Mattias Frey

Type

Studies

Subject

Film Analysis

Keywords

critics, analysis, commentary

Publishing date

2015

Publisher

Amsterdam University Press

Collection

Film Theory in Media History

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 200 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-90-8964-717-7

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Book Presentation:
Film criticism is in crisis. Dwelling on the many film journalists made redundant at newspapers, magazines, and other 'old media' in past years, commentators have voiced existential questions about the purpose and worth of the profession in the age of WordPress blogospheres and proclaimed the 'death of the critic'. Bemoaning the current anarchy of internet amateurs and the lack of authoritative critics, many journalists and academics claim that in the digital age, cultural commentary has become dumbed down and fragmented into niche markets. Mattias Freu, arguing against these claims, examines the history of film critical discourse in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States . He demonstrates that since its origins, film criticism has always found itself in crisis: the need to show critical authority and the anxieties over challenges to that authority have been longstanding concerns.

About the Author:
Mattias Frey is senior lecturer in film at the University of Kent, author of Postwall German Cinema: History, Film History, and Cinephilia, co-editor of Cine-Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Film Theory, Practice, and Spectatorship, and editor of the journal Film Studies.

Press Reviews:
"Compelling. . . . Frey demonstrates that in all arts criticism, crisis is a continual and perpetual cycle. Recommended." — Choice

See the publisher website: Amsterdam University Press