{"id":54222,"date":"2008-11-29T10:11:46","date_gmt":"2008-11-29T18:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.org\/?p=54222"},"modified":"2013-03-19T11:01:50","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T17:01:50","slug":"dont-tell-me-how-to-feel-make-me-want-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2008\/11\/dont-tell-me-how-to-feel-make-me-want-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Tell Me How to Feel. Make Me Want to See."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My pal Ron Reed posted this quote<\/a> over at ArtsandFaith.com. I\u2019d read it before in one of my favorite C.S. Lewis volumes, Letters to Children<\/em>, but it\u2019s always a good reminder for writers, whether they\u2019re beginners or not\u2026<\/p>\n

In writing, don\u2019t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you\u2019re describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was terrible, describe it so that we\u2019ll feel terrified. Don\u2019t say it was delightful; make us say \u2018delightful\u2019 when we\u2019ve read your description. You see, all these words \u2018horrifying\u2019, \u2018wonderful\u2019, \u2018hideous\u2019, \u2018exquisite\u2019, are only like saying to your readers, \u201cplease, would you do my job for me?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, Lewis is talking about storytelling. But I\u2019ve been thinking a lot lately about how much this applies to the art of criticism as well.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, I\u2019ve been sorting through and revising old film and music reviews, and I can chart my progress as a critic by how hard I\u2019ve worked to give readers a sense of a film or a recording. I\u2019m appalled by how I\u2019ve often settled for superlatives instead of specifics, or how I\u2019ve rushed to announce the importance of something by announcing how it rates in comparison to the rest of films released that year. What good does that do? In a year\u2019s time, no one will remember what other films came out that year anyway, so the review becomes dates and unhelpful. Better to consider a movie\u2019s style, themes, strengths, and weaknesses. Even in my music reviews I\u2019ve relied far too heavily on language I learned from advertising blurbs: \u201cBRILLIANT!\u201d \u201cTIMELESS!\u201d \u201cTHIS IS THE ROCK RECORD TO BEAT IN 2008!\u201d<\/p>\n

I am worn out with reviews that just announce the greatness of something by using lazy labels like \u201cthe best ___________ of the year\u201d and \u201can instant classic\u201d and \u201cabsolutely brilliant\u201d and tags like that. There are a few critics whose reviews I can\u2019t bear to read anymore, simply because I get so tired of being clubbed by dramatic, celebratory terms. It\u2019s like composing an email in all-caps to make a point\u2026 it makes the reader shrink back from the shouting.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for a rave review to make me want to avoid the work in question; in fact, I\u2019ve postponed listening to a few albums this year for that very reason. I want to have a chance to discover it without being distracted by wild claims of their surpassing greatness. How can I have an authentic, meaningful experience with that film or that recording if I\u2019m just sitting there waiting for it to live up to such claims?<\/p>\n

I much prefer personal essays or accounts that paint a picture or that employ creative language to give me tantalyzing details about the character and quality of a work. I\u2019m fond of Andy Whitman\u2019s music reviews and the film reviews of Anthony Lane, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Roger Ebert, Steven Greydanus, and Kenneth R. Morefield (who guest-writes for this site from time to time), because I almost always learn something that helps me appreciate the film more fully, even if I disagree with their final judgment on those films. I don\u2019t come away feeling like I\u2019ve been told how to feel<\/em> about something.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 as I work out the bugs on the new Looking Closer site (with the help of the resourceful Dave von Bieker), please bear with me as I re-post an archive of reviews that is full of unnecessary superlatives. Sure, I\u2019m proud of a lot of those reviews. I learned a lot about the art of criticism in writing them, and I\u2019m still learning (or at least, we should all hope so). But some of them I\u2019m re-posting merely because they\u2019re part of the history of this site, not because I think they\u2019re Grade-A film reviews.<\/p>\n

And if you catch me throwing superlatives around again without any substantial content, send me a note. I want to enable listeners and viewers to enjoy and appreciate the good stuff, not rattle them with adjectives that complicate their experiences.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My pal Ron Reed posted this quote over at ArtsandFaith.com. I\u2019d read it before in one of my favorite C.S. Lewis volumes, Letters to Children, but it\u2019s always a good reminder for writers, whether they\u2019re beginners or not\u2026 In writing, don\u2019t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[57,71,2441],"class_list":["post-54222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-cs-lewis","tag-criticism-is-an-art","tag-show-dont-tell"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't Tell Me How to Feel. Make Me Want to See.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My pal Ron Reed posted this quote over at ArtsandFaith.com. I'd read it before in one of my favorite C.S. 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