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Monday, Nov 23, 2009
How did Bart miss all this? Especially since Variety covers film festivals and reviews every movie that opens in the U.S. Are we to assume that the editor in chief is simply unaware of the contents of his own publication?
The real answer, I think, and the real subtext of his article, is that if a movie isn't released by a major studio, if it's foreign or independent, it isn't worth your time. Insisting that it is proves you're an elitist snob. If Samantha Morton stars in a movie by Allen or Spielberg, it shows up on Bart's radar. If she stars in a movie by Lynne Ramsay, it's obscure and elitist.
It seems that the one thing Bart cannot tolerate is a diversity of opinion. Quoting Newsday critic John Anderson's contention that the diversity of movies given awards by critics' groups has blunted critics' impact on the Oscar race (which never amounted to much), Bart suggests that critics prove their unreliability by offering different opinions on which movie is the best of the year. It doesn't occur to him that a moviegoer might see that diversity of opinion as offering an array of movies to check out. When you consider the movies that have won the recent round of critics awards -- "Chicago" from the Dallas-Fort Worth critics and the New York Online Film Critics; "About Schmidt" from the Los Angeles critics; "The Pianist" from the National Society of Film Critics and the critics in Los Angeles and Boston; "Far From Heaven" from the New York critics -- it simply blows away Bart's argument about critics championing movies no one else has heard of.
At this point, it might be useful to consider just who Peter Bart is. Before becoming editor in chief of Variety, Bart was a production executive at MGM and Paramount. His own contributions to the art of movies include producing "Revenge of the Nerds II" and the Rob Lowe hockey drama "Youngblood." It may be more pertinent to his arguments to note that he also appeared as himself in the 1998 movie "Junket Whore."
Clearly, this is a man who has never left the mind-set of studio executive behind. And he is precisely the wrong man to attempt to address the question he does, "What purpose do critics serve?"
Bart's search for the answer is comical. To find out what purpose critics serve he turns to "three top studio ad execs" -- which is like asking the Detroit automakers what purpose consumer product safety groups serve. After talking to these pundits, Bart comes back with the answer that critical quotes in advertisements are little more than "felicitous decoration." Oh, really? Is that why Sony invented a movie critic to provide blurbs for "The Patriot"? Is that why it was once common practice for studio publicity departments to concoct quotes that they would then attempt to get real critics to put their names to? Is that why every holiday movie ad is top-heavy with critical quotes?
Were this the Warren Report we could simply dismiss Bart as the Lone Ignoramus. But the significance of his blast is more insidious than that. Given his attitude toward movies that fall outside the mainstream, it's no surprise that Bart dismisses the "traditional defense" of critics as writers who help readers discover overlooked movies. (There is no such thing as an overlooked movie in Peter Bart's mind-set -- just ones we've all heard about and deservedly obscure ones.) It's not surprising that this former studio exec doesn't mention one of the most important functions of movie critics. In a culture increasingly dominated by promotion, where "making of" TV specials are little more than commercials for an upcoming release, and where Sunday supplement interviews are advance publicity for a star's new movie, critics are the only thing that stand between moviegoers' wallets and the studio publicity departments with their kazillion-dollar ad budgets.
By taking the line that critics serve no purpose Bart is -- intentionally or not -- doing the bidding of the studios, which, while maintaining a blasé public attitude toward critics, would love to be rid of them. What industry chief doesn't dream about being able to market his product in an atmosphere where the public has no information save that provided by the manufacturer? That's why, whether you like us or hate us, agree with us or think we're full of bull, you as consumers need movie critics. When the editor in chief of the publication known as "the Bible of showbiz" takes this public stand against critics, it's a fair bet that Hollywood is no longer feeling shy about making its true feelings about movie critics known. That's why, as moviegoers, you should feel nervous about Bart's article.
But if Bart is bringing New Year's cheer to the hearts of studio execs, he is also speaking the thoughts of a good many newspaper and magazine editors and publishers. In 1975, François Truffaut wrote, "Every person on the editorial staff of a newspaper feels he can question the opinion of the movie critic. The editor in chief, who shows careful respect to his music critic, will casually stop the movie critic in the corridor: 'Well, you really knocked Louis Malle's last film. My wife doesn't agree with you at all; she loved it.'"
