The Breakfast Table

No Right or Wrong Criticism

Wesley and Alex, or Alex and Wesley,

The warning labels plastered on the MTV ads are killer examples of sign terrorism, Alex, sort of like the BlowTheDotOutYourAss.com ones before them. My last word here on the MTV ads: When I left work on Monday, the first bus I saw had the ad on it. And this morning, a friend I’ll call “Sam” gave me a stack of those free GoCard postcards/advertisements with the MTV ads printed on them. I’m going to cover one of my walls with them and never forget.

I’m down with a black, gay, Asian, or all three, Bond, just as long as it doesn’t devolve into a parade of stereotypes. Although, who is James Bond if he’s not a series of stereotypes, each more ridiculous than the previous? So I guess that would be OK. Just as long as there are lots of explosions and outrageously lewd but completely PG sexual comments.

And, although I know it’s heresy to say this, and it will open me up to a round of criticism that I lack some kind of crucial perspective and ability to comprehend capital-A Art, I really liked Gus Van Sant’s Psycho. So variations on it would make for an experiment I’d want to see–mostly because I like artists who play with form. Hence the reason I’m a fan of Bret Easton Ellis, even though many in the literary community cast him aside faster than they would a book that had burst into flame.

To wrap up my end of our on-again, off-again conversation about critics, I think my position is that there is no right or wrong criticism. (There’s crappy writing, but that’s a different story.) I know that seems like a copout, and maybe it is. But critical preferences are so highly individual, why judge? As long as they’re well-written, coherent, and provide perspective, I’d just as soon read the raw, undistilled impressions of a 12-year-old who has just seen his or her first movie than I would a critic who’s seen every movie since sound was added. Both are just as valid and offer equally valuable perspectives.

We should probably be thankful we didn’t get around to the Eggers conversation, or else some of the people in “The Fray” would have had even more bricks to lob at our obviously empty skulls. Being challenged by them and by both of you has been great, though, and I’ve really enjoyed this interaction.

Tomorrow when I sit at my breakfast table, which is really just an institutional coffee table that I rescued from the dumpster at the end of my senior year and cleaned up to make it look like it came from Ikea, it’ll definitely be weird. I’ll still flip on Katie and Matt and Ann the moment I wake up and read the papers with the same skepticism, but I’ll be disappointed that I won’t have to digest things in this challenging, intellectually stimulating pseudo-private exchange. It’s been cool.

Later,
Andy