The Forces Changing Music and Film Criticism

"I was never under the illusion that I'd become the next Lester Bangs, but now, as institutional support declines, I'm starting to wonder whether there will ever be another Lester Bangs. What about another Roger Ebert, Manohla Dargis, or Pauline Kael? Who's drafting the blueprint for what cultural criticism might look like in the future? And are new modes of commentary diluting or enriching the form?"

"Criticism is something that flows out of life, processing the things that shape your world with the people around you. Criticism can be the conversation you have after the movies with your friends. And of course, that ladders up to the most rarefied and beautiful writing and journalism. But more than ever, people's experience of the arts is being mediated by voices not from publications but from their social feeds."

A longtime music-and-film critic worked across music publications and performed a role once common at newspapers and alt-weeklies. Institutional support for criticism has declined, making such roles rare while social-media personalities increasingly fill gaps. Concern exists about whether future iconic critics will emerge and who will set standards for cultural judgment. Criticism arises from lived experience and everyday conversations and can culminate in deep, refined writing. Audience engagement with the arts is increasingly mediated by social feeds, and short-form platforms like TikTok and YouTube reward high-volume, fast-paced output that pressures critics to produce rapidly.

Read at The Atlantic