Not all opinions are equal. But some are, and whereof one cannot speak…
My bandwidth for ancillary writing has tanked recently, but amid the ongoing trek of editing $20,000 Under the Sea, a trend has emerged in my media intake that is explicable in the way a full-length review is not. It’s particularly convenient to blog about because I’ve blogged about it before–five years ago. Back then, I was reminiscing about the increased weight Nabokov’s (admittedly abrasive) instructions had taken on in my evaluation of media. More recently, I’ve seen a good clip of amateur reviews run across my newsfeed, and boy, would you know it, all that shit is still relevant.
If you’re in the habit of writing reviews, especially if you are an amateur reviewer (which we mostly are here on WordPress), you would do well to read it. Too long? You’re a dirty liar, but fine, whatever, I’ll give you a highlight:
In your capacity as a critic, check your damn ego. Be kind. Lean on mainstream takes before you pan something. Don’t trust them, of course–the mainstream is often very stupid–but at least take it mathematically: Is it more likely that you saw through the marketing and vacuous acclaim of the idiot masses, or…did you maybe miss something? Was the draw simply something that wasn’t for you? Did you let the fact that you didn’t care for a book’s main character shade your interpretation of all the rest?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to dislike anything for just about whatever reason. The problems only come when it’s time to square perspectives with everyone else. And though I don’t care for a lot of people, I very pointedly do not throw rocks at (most of) their houses.
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