Cedars, April 2019

April 2019 19 ANALYSIS disservice to themselves if they avoid thinking about a film’s concepts and ideas, but is this adding to the separation of audience and critic? Are audiences further frustrated by critics for over-analyzing rather than just enjoying a film? Mayeux said that over-analyzing doesn’t exist — rather, people often just poorly analyze a film, but many audiences don’t want to analyze a film at all. They’re watching the film to be entertained. “[Film critic Roger Ebert] had kind of a floating scale,” Clark said. “He measured films by what they were attempt- ing to be, so if they were attempting to be a Marvel film that was just pure entertainment, that’s what he would measure it by. If you had another film that was trying to say some- thing important or significant, then he would measure it by kind of a different standard.” Clark said it can be both. He believes that a critic should judge not by his or her own standards, but by the standards the filmmaker sets up for themselves. Clark poses the question: “Is the film accomplishing what it sets out to accomplish?” If “Transformers” is trying to be robots fighting robots in an entertainment blockbuster, is it successful in that en- deavor? Many critics would say no, but were those critics judging the film by the scale of what it was trying to accom- plish, or were they disliking it because it wasn’t “artistic” or “significant” enough for them? Either way, none of those negative reactions from crit- ics stopped the “Transformers” film series from being one of the highest grossing film series of all time, at $4.8 billion over the course of six films. So what happened? Were the critical reactions of the films completely overlooked? Do critical reviews have any impact at all on the box office of a film? In fact, the high- est-reviewed film in the entire series ended up with the lowest grossing performance of them all. So do audiences care at all about reviews or do they really just want to see mind-numbing action with no real plot? Mayeux poses that the critical reviews of a film may af- fect the opening weekend box office, but after that, a film performs based on word-of-mouth, meaning it only re- mains popular if everyone who watches a film then goes out and tells other people to watch the film. This is certainly true with 2009’s “Avatar.” The film did quite well at the box office in it’s opening weekend, but the only reason it ended up becoming the highest grossing film of all time is because of word-of-mouth. It remained the highest grossing film of the week for seven weeks in a row, a feat that less than a handful of films have ever ac- complished. Film critics may be powerful, but word-of-mouth is a force to be reckoned with. Despite all this though, critics survive. Both audience reviewers and professional reviewers thrive in the modern world of media and online discussions. But for the most part, these two sides remain separate, having in-depth dis- cussions, but not always with each other. Both sides have a little bit to learn from each other. Maybe general audiences could come to appreciate critics for being the well-meaning opinionated people they often are, and maybe film critics could be more clear in not trying to be authoritative. General audiences could take a moment to think about what a film is trying to say, and, maybe once in a while, a film critic could sit down and just enjoy a film about giant sharks. Hunter Johnson is a sophomore theatre major and an arts and entertainment writer for Cedars. He spends his time acting on stage, reading and watching Star Wars and oc- casionally doing homework. Online M.B.A. M.S.N. M.Min. Residential M.Div. M.Min. Pharm.D. Ready to take the next step? We’ve created accelerated completion plans for 10 popular majors (with more on the way!) that allow you to complete your bachelor’s degree and an M.B.A. in as little as four years, saving you time and money. Interested in a different grad program? Talk to your advisor about customizing a plan just for you! Access the free, fast-track application just for Cedarville students: cedarville.edu/gradapply