The Role of A Critic

Everyone wants to be a critic. One of the  main reasons for this is the kind of influence such a person has on those reading or listening to what a critic has to say. Be it a movie or even a dance performance, there is always an expert ready to throw his comments on it to decide for the people whether the subject in question was good enough or not. These people are usually considered in high regard than most people who have an opinion about something. It is a very powerful position to be in. This position is often taken for granted with many taking to negative criticism causing much difficulty for the truly talented to put up their work to be critiqued.

The animated movie, Ratatouille contains a dialogue from its renowned food critic, Anton Ego, towards the end of the movie where he says, "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations." I felt these words somehow sounded quite relevant for today, explaining how a critic can make or break an artist or a piece of work.

The role of a critic is more than just giving people his/her opinion on a piece of art or a performance and is a huge responsibility. It also includes the willingness to do extensive background research apart from simply experiencing the subject. It is suppose to be much tougher than simply giving your opinion about something. It has to be backed with facts at all time and not something that you can be flippant about as there is a lot at stake.