Sad news for film criticism, both online and in print, but perhaps good news for the movies: Matt Zoller Seitz, critic extraordinaire, is hanging up his keyboard to focus full time on filmmaking. Keith Uhlich, who's inheriting the editorship at The House Next Door, has the exit interview.
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Farewell And Adieu
29 Apr 2008 03:23 pm
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Comments (11)
GOD DAMMIT ROSS I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! WHY DON'T YOU POST ANYTHING ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR??!!! WAHHHH, YOU STUPID BUTTHEAD!!
/end impression of MoeLarryAndJesus and other haters
Phil, follow through with me, now. The Iraq war is the single most important issue of this decade. Ross does not write about it. He just doesn't write about it! It's not that he doesn't write about it often; it's that he doesn't write about it ever. And it certainly isn't because he can't squeeze it in between posts about Afghanistan or the crumbling dollar or gas prices or global warming. He insists on sticking to the most trivial, obtuse nonsense, pop culture or horse race politics, and only touches on these issues in the most tangential and superficial ways. That is absolutely an appropriate topic of criticism.
And by the way, dude, you brought it up in this thread.
Freddie:
Maybe Ross just isn't a policy guy at all? Maybe what really animates him is culture stuff?
You could still criticize him for focusing on trivial culture stuff instead of serious cultural criticism. But maybe cultural criticism is what interests him, and what he's better at, than policy debates?
Someone mentioned Michael Medved as the person who Ross might be emulating. I don't think that's right. I think he's emulating Peggy Noonan. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to be the Peggy Noonan of the 20-something generation. If that's what Ross wants to be, he should go for it - and think, along the way, of how Noonan goes wrong when she goes wrong, and how she goes right when she goes right.
"how Noonan goes wrong when she goes wrong, and how she goes right when she goes right."
Noah, your readers would appreciate citations and/or links to the latter reference.
Freddie: "Ross does not write about it. He just doesn't write about it! It's not that he doesn't write about it often; it's that he doesn't write about it ever."
So, wait...what, exactly, are you saying, Freddie?
Freddie: So for God's sake, just stop reading his blog! Ross can write about whatever he wants, and we're all free to choose whether we want to read him or not. If you don't like what he writes about, just stop reading him.
C'mon, we all know what the harping on Ross is all about. If Ross writes on Iraq and says, "run away, run away, run away!", Freddie and his pals can cluck their tongues and talk about how the evil neoconservative GOPers have lost the "reasonable conservative" redoubts. If Ross writes on Iraq and says, "attack, attack, attack!" Freddie and his pals can denounce him for "careerism" and "sucking up" to the NRO/TWS overlords. I mean, does anyone suspect that Freddie, et. al., are dying to hear what Ross has to say because they might change their minds about Iraq?
Ross can write about whatever he wants, and we're all free to choose whether we want to read him or not.
And I can write about whatever I want in the comments. See?
If Ross writes on Iraq and says, "run away, run away, run away!", Freddie and his pals can cluck their tongues and talk about how the evil neoconservative GOPers have lost the "reasonable conservative" redoubts. If Ross writes on Iraq and says, "attack, attack, attack!" Freddie and his pals can denounce him for "careerism" and "sucking up" to the NRO/TWS overlords. I mean, does anyone suspect that Freddie, et. al., are dying to hear what Ross has to say because they might change their minds about Iraq?
In other words, you don't want your guy to be criticized at all, about anything, right? That is what you're essentially saying. There is a fundamental difference between complaints about content and disagreements about policy. Yes, if Ross writes posts about Iraq that I disagree with, I would make my disagreements known. That's how blogs work; have you ever read one? Do you want me to not weigh in? Should Ross's word go unchallenged because, well, it's his blog? I think the decision to never write about Iraq is cowardly and an utter failure for any contemporary writer who claims to be interested in politics and American foreign policy. I would say the same thing of a liberal writer who strenuously avoids the topic of Iraq, and in fact, have.
Damn, I got excited when I saw that headline.
Henderstock: today's column (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120966911007860195.html?mod=todays_columnists) is a good example.
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I'm glad you mentioned this, Ross. In the past couple years that I've been reading his site, MZS has written the best long-form criticism I've read in years. His critical voice will be missed, but I am happy for him that he has the courage to turn his attention to something new.
Posted by Joe | April 29, 2008 3:51 PM