What is the main message of Better Living Through Criticism?

The main message of Better Living Through Criticism is the importance and value of criticism in our lives.

How long does it take to read Better Living Through Criticism?

The reading time for Better Living Through Criticism varies but the Blinkist summary can be read in a few minutes.

Is Better Living Through Criticism a good book? Is it worth reading?

Better Living Through Criticism is a thought-provoking book that encourages us to see the world and ourselves through the lens of criticism. It is definitely worth reading.

Who is the author of Better Living Through Criticism?

The author of Better Living Through Criticism is A.O. Scott.

Better Living Through Criticism Summary of Key Ideas and Review

Name: Better Living Through Criticism
Rating: 3.5 (20 reviews)
Author: A.O. Scott

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Embrace your inner critic.

Imagine, just for a second, what our society would be like without critics. Who would take the time to dive deep into artworks and explain them to the masses? And how would you know which new movie to see at the cinema?

That’s where critics come in. Love them or hate them, we need critics to be the judges of culture in society. By delving deeper into the art of criticism, we’ll discover the necessary role of the critic and how it fits into societies past and present.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

how critics came about;
why Moby-Dick only became famous decades after its author’s death;
and what the digital revolution means for the future of criticism.

Key idea 1 of 8

Critics must react to art in the moment, without fear of backlash.

We’re living in a fast-changing culture. From music to fashion, an underground hit can become a worldwide trending topic at breakneck pace. Criticism is much the same way – and that’s how it should be.

While artworks themselves last for a long time, with our attitudes toward them changing over years and decades, criticism is fixed in a single moment. Take rock music, for instance. Though the genre was initially rejected by revered music critics, today rock’n’roll is recognized as a pivotal moment in musical history. The first negative critiques of rock music, on the other hand, became irrelevant.

Often, when artists create work that breaks with the status quo and shocks society, criticism of this work changes over time alongside our understanding of it. Nevertheless, it’s the critic’s job to tackle the problem of examining art in the context of current conditions – even though their opinions and predictions could be contradicted or proven wrong by future cultural shifts.

This is no small task, especially considering the sheer amount and range of works that require the intellectual scrutiny of the critic. Today’s critics are no longer just concerned with fine arts enjoyed by the elite. Traditionally “low-brow” forms of art also provide them with a wealth of interesting material to deconstruct. Even superhero movies tell us a lot about cultural attitudes today and are worth examining.

However, our culture is also one that doesn’t respond well to criticism. Part of the critic’s task is to provoke thought, which often means articulating unpopular or controversial opinions. Backlash is to be expected.

Even the author of this book sparked a heated online conflict over his biting review of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. On Twitter, the film’s star, actor Samuel L. Jackson, demanded that Scott find a new job, and thousands of fans were spurred on to attack Scott. But he wasn’t too concerned. The incident gave him notoriety as a critic and ensured that his job would never be in jeopardy.

Of course, being a critic isn’t all about playing devil’s advocate. In the following blinks, we’ll learn about what makes criticism valuable. But first, let’s take a closer look at the intimate relationship between art and criticism.

Key idea 2 of 8

Critics are artists and artists are critics.

Oftentimes controversial critics will be branded “failed artists” by their detractors. However, many game-changing critics were successful as artists too.

Take George Bernard Shaw, for instance. Not only was he one of Britain’s greatest playwrights, but also one of the greatest English-language drama critics who ever lived. T.S. Eliot and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are still studied in universities today for their work in literary criticism as well as for their poetry. So although critics and artists appear to be rivals, history shows us that this isn’t the case.

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Key idea 3 of 8

Our tastes are shaped by the communities with which we engage, just as history shapes cultural understandings of beauty.

What is it about your favorite song that makes you love it so much? Is it the way the chorus just hits you, or that killer rhythm? Or is it because it’s the perfect blend of musical qualities that you’ve learned to love since diving into a particular scene?

While some artworks may have a special impact on us because of our unique personal experiences, we also tend to seek out groups and communities that share our taste in visual art, music, fashion, film, and so on.

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Key idea 4 of 8

Being painfully honest and being accused of bias are all part of the critic’s role in society.

Sometimes, the truth hurts. Good thing we have critics! While most of us avoid expressing how we really feel to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, critics make it their job to speak their mind.

All humans share the desire to express judgment. However, if we all acted upon this desire each time we experienced it, we’d be arguing nonstop. Early civilizations recognized this danger, and the critic was born. It’s believed that when humans began to draw, dance and make music, critics took up the role of upholding standards by making critical judgments based on the aesthetic standards of the day.

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Key idea 5 of 8

Sometimes, critics have to make the wrong judgment to spark a conversation.

Nobody enjoys admitting that they’re wrong. But for a critic, sometimes it’s necessary to get things wrong first, as this helps all of us get it right in the end.

By offering up their subjective opinions, critics can help us uncover universal truths about art and culture. When others disagree with this opinion, this kicks off discussions which ultimately help us come to a judgment that satisfies most, if not all, of the viewpoints involved.

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Key idea 6 of 8

Critics connect new generations with masterpieces of the past – and bring undiscovered art to new audiences.

Many of the classic films, novels and albums that we know and love today might not have gone down in history at all if it weren’t for critics. In an age where we have greater access to past cultural output than ever before, critics help us work out which works are worth focusing on. Critics are also able to enter into dialogue with their forerunners, correcting their judgments with the benefit of hindsight.

In the 1930s and 1940s, film critics were lamenting the dying art of film as one zany comedy after another seemed to hit the theaters. New York Times critic Frank S. Nugent dismissed the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby as just an unremarkable film in a collection of similar movies. Later critics offered a different take, thereby revitalizing the film and helping new audiences fall in love with it. Today, Bringing Up Baby is considered one of the best movies of all time.

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Key idea 7 of 8

The digital age has created an overabundance of critics.

These days, everybody is a self-appointed critic. From Yelp ratings to GoodReads reviews, the internet has created a glut of criticism. It’s often hard to hear the voices of true critics among the overwhelming noise of amateurs. This development has consequences for our culture.

Name-calling, gut reactions and even rage are the order of the day for online reviewers. This is a far cry from the thoughtful, insightful critical writing that professional critics spend years honing. Despite this, review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes give equal weight to traditional critics, bloggers and critics on new sites like Reelviews and The A.V. Club.

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Key idea 8 of 8

Critics must evolve beyond print to rebuild their discipline online.

Throughout the history of art and culture, the printed word has been at the center of critical debate about aesthetics. But today, print faces some serious challenges.

The rise of the internet and the accompanying collapse of our attention span has changed print journalism irrevocably. Long-form printed criticism has been superseded by rapid social media commentary. By the time a printed film review is published and read, hundreds of tweets and online conversations have beaten it to the punch.

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