I’m just saying…

Hi. I’m Phil.

Criticism is quite a funny thing to me. It’s a double-edged sword; Criticism helps the criticized by analyzing their work for all its greatness and not-at-all-greatness, but also insults them on many levels.

It’s very, very hard not to take criticism personally. I mean here’s some guy typing on his blog about what you did right or wrong. It’s someone else judging your work, as if they had earned the right to do so (that one that everyone’s born with). And if you’re lucky, they’re talking about how much you rock. How much what you do accomplishes. How much you look like a damned genius. But sometimes they’re talking about what you did wrong. How much you don’t rock. How much what you do fails at. How much you look like a damned idiot. And this person is insulting your work, your pride and joy. They’re mocking that piece of art that you created with your own two hands and gave life to. And they show no remorse, and that stings.

And what if they’re well read and well respected? That now means that a sizeable chunk of their readers have changed their minds and now think alongside your malicious critic. That’s even more people against you. That’s fewer readers, and less money in the bank.

And bad criticism can make things worse sometimes. If the creator is faint of heart, they’ll receive that negative criticism and become crushed by it. Even quit, because they don’t think they’re good enough anymore.

But critics and criticism are positively necessary. Even if it’s insulting at times (and in some cases, especially if). Critics have to criticize to enhance the overall world of media, otherwise no one improves. Obvious, right? If there were no critics, every comic would be drawn by Rob Liefeld, every movie would be directed by Uwe Boll, every game would be as fun as Catwoman, and all music would sound remarkably like Ashley Simpson (”sound,” of course, if they actually sang).

So I suppose that’s why I’m here then. I’m here to criticize based on what I like/dislike, and what I think works/fails. I’m here to reward the brilliant, and berate the moronic. I’m also here because there are few amateur criticism blogs, or “Snarkblogs” based on their purpose and method.

Like I said, my name’s Phil. I’m a Sophomore Film Major, and have grown up reading and adoring comics and comic books. I read a ton of webcomics, and I think there’s room for consistent snarkage (until I can think of a word that doesn’t belong to somebody else) from day to day with the volume that I read. Which is actively increasing, because I simply can’t get enough quality comics.

I’m here to kick ass and criticize. And I’m all out of kicking ass.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2005 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Webcomics, My Life, Site Info, The Bigger Picture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.