being a hater and the overexposure paradigm

Mina Le
29 May 202442:14

Summary

TLDRThe video discusses the complexities of criticism, particularly focusing on how it affects female celebrities. It delves into the fear and hesitancy that has crept into the criticism space, the death of criticism, and the paradoxical nature of being a critic. It also explores the impact of social media on the art of critique, the rise and fall of public figures like Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence, and the phenomenon of 'people's princesses'. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between constructive criticism and the oversaturation of public figures in the media, while also highlighting the role of media literacy in shaping public discourse.

Takeaways

  • 📚 The video discusses the complex nature of criticism, particularly towards female celebrities, and the impact it has on their public image.
  • 🊄 Mina Le introduces the topic by sharing a recent literary controversy involving scathing reviews and the viral nature of negative critiques in the literary world.
  • 🀔 The speaker reflects on the fear present in the criticism space and how it may be detrimental to the art ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of allowing both positive and negative reviews.
  • 🎬 The conversation shifts to the film industry, with the mention of Ayo Edebiri's experience on Letterboxd and the pressures of maintaining a positive public image in Hollywood.
  • 👑 The term 'people's princess' is explored, highlighting the phenomenon where female celebrities rise to fame and are later subjected to overexposure and criticism.
  • 💔 The script touches on the harsh reality that women in the spotlight often face a 'Catch-22' situation, where they are criticized for both their success and their attempts to maintain a relatable image.
  • 👩‍💌 The role of social media in shaping criticism is examined, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube being criticized for promoting low media literacy and clickbait content.
  • 🌐 The internet's influence on the democratization of criticism is noted, with everyone now having a platform to share their opinions, which has led to both an oversaturation of content and a devaluation of professional critics.
  • 👀 The script raises the issue of how media literacy and the public's perception of criticism are affected by social media algorithms and the tendency to avoid nuance in favor of binary thinking.
  • 🀝 The importance of understanding cultural values through pop culture is highlighted, with examples of how shows like 'Sex and the City' have shaped discussions around female sexuality.
  • 👶 The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage in thoughtful discussions about criticism and the treatment of women in the public eye.

Q & A

  • What is the main topic discussed by Mina Le in the video?

    -The main topic discussed by Mina Le in the video is the phenomenon of criticism, particularly focusing on how it affects female celebrities, the death of criticism, and the concept of being a 'hater'.

  • What is the context behind Ann Manov's review of Lauren Oyler's essay collection 'No Judgment'?

    -Ann Manov's scathing review of Lauren Oyler's essay collection 'No Judgment' went viral partly because it was harsh and partly because Oyler herself had previously gained prominence for writing a similarly negative review of Jia Tolentino's essay collection 'Trick Mirror'.

  • Why did Lauren Oyler's negative review of Jia Tolentino's 'Trick Mirror' gain so much attention?

    -Lauren Oyler's negative review of 'Trick Mirror' gained attention because at the time, there was a general sense that writing negative reviews, especially of popular books, was in poor taste, and there was a scarcity of full-time professional book critics.

  • What is Mina Le's stance on negative reviews in the literary world?

    -Mina Le respects both Ann Manov and Lauren Oyler for their bravery in publishing negative reviews, even though she thinks some criticisms were harsh. She believes that negative reviews, in general, are important for the art ecosystem.

  • Why did Ayo Edebiri potentially stop logging movies on Letterboxd?

    -Ayo Edebiri may have stopped logging movies on Letterboxd due to the fear of offending someone in Hollywood, as she might have to work with them in the future, indicating the pressure to maintain positive relationships in the industry.

  • What controversy was Ayo Edebiri involved in related to Jennifer Lopez?

    -Ayo Edebiri was involved in a controversy when her negative comments about Jennifer Lopez's music career from a 2020 podcast interview resurfaced ahead of their dual episode on SNL.

  • How does the video script relate the concept of 'PR-friendliness' to the entertainment industry?

    -The script suggests that 'PR-friendliness' has permeated the entire entertainment industry, with audiences becoming more aware of it. It implies that the push for positive public relations can lead to a lack of authenticity and a fear of criticism.

  • What is the significance of the 'people's princess' term mentioned in the video?

    -The term 'people's princess' is used to describe female celebrities who are initially well-liked for their perceived authenticity and relatability. However, the script suggests that these figures often face overexposure and eventual backlash, becoming unrecognizable from their initial appeal.

  • What is the role of social media in the current state of criticism and how does it affect criticism?

    -Social media has made everyone a potential reviewer, leading to an oversaturated online review industry. It encourages a culture of enthusiasm and unconditional support, which can discourage nuanced criticism and lead to the devaluation of professional critics.

  • Why does Mina Le dislike using the star rating system on platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads?

    -Mina Le dislikes the star rating system because she believes it is too subjective and does not capture the nuances of engaging with art. She feels it is a critical dead end and does not provide context for her ratings, such as her personal circumstances or how her opinions may change over time.

  • What impact does the fear of criticism have on artists and critics according to the video script?

    -The fear of criticism can lead to self-censorship, with artists and critics potentially avoiding negative reviews or nuanced discussions. This can result in a less vibrant and honest art ecosystem, where critical discourse is stifled and creativity may be limited.

  • What is the video's perspective on the oversaturation of commentary content on platforms like YouTube and TikTok?

    -The video suggests that the pivot to video as a medium for commentary on platforms like YouTube and TikTok is due to increased comfort in filming video and the ease of editing within apps. However, it also notes that this trend has led to an oversaturated market, which can devalue professional criticism and encourage sensationalized content.

  • What does the video suggest about the relationship between the popularity of a celebrity and the likelihood of them facing backlash?

    -The video suggests that there is an inevitable cycle where popular celebrities, particularly female celebrities, face backlash and become overexposed. This cycle often starts with adoration and ends with a public fallout, which can be influenced by factors such as media portrayal, mob mentality, and societal expectations.

  • How does the script discuss the role of media literacy in the reception and interpretation of criticism?

    -The script highlights the importance of media literacy in understanding and critically analyzing content. It points out that low media literacy can lead to misunderstandings and superficial interpretations, such as the misinterpretation of the 'Dune' series as promoting a white savior complex.

  • What is the script's view on the impact of overexposure on female celebrities?

    -The script suggests that overexposure can be particularly damaging for female celebrities, as it can lead to a rapid shift in public opinion from adoration to annoyance. It implies that this is part of a larger pattern where women in the spotlight are held to different standards and face greater scrutiny.

  • How does the video address the issue of women being viewed as consumable objects in the media?

    -The video criticizes the way women, especially celebrities, are often viewed as consumable objects in the media. It argues that this perspective contributes to the overexposure and subsequent backlash faced by female celebrities, reducing their worth to their public image and marketability.

  • What does the video suggest about the role of social media in shaping public opinion and criticism?

    -The video suggests that social media plays a significant role in shaping public opinion and criticism. It discusses how social media platforms can encourage a culture of enthusiasm and unconditional support, which can stifle genuine criticism and lead to the oversaturation and eventual backlash against popular figures.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Death of Criticism and Impact on Female Celebrities

The video, sponsored by Squarespace, is introduced by Mina Le who discusses the concept of being a 'hater', the death of criticism, and its effects on female celebrities. Mina starts with a personal anecdote about a literary controversy involving a scathing review by Ann Manov of Lauren Oyler's essay collection 'No Judgment', which gained attention due to its negative nature. This leads to a broader discussion about the fear and rarity of negative criticism in the literary world, referencing Oyler's own rise to prominence through a similar negative review of Jia Tolentino's 'Trick Mirror'. Mina acknowledges the bravery of those who publish negative reviews and the importance of criticism in the art ecosystem, despite it being perceived as harsh or unwelcome.

05:01

🎬 Criticism and the Hollywood PR Machine

Mina delves into the impact of criticism on Hollywood, using the example of actress Ayo Edebiri's Letterboxd account, where she stopped logging movies and her reviews became more positive, possibly due to fear of offending future colleagues. This reflects the broader issue of PR-friendliness in the industry and the nostalgia for the authenticity of early 2000s celebrity culture. The video also touches on the influence of social media on criticism, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube becoming new commentary engines, and the oversaturation of online content leading to a devaluation of professional critics. The rise of amateur criticism on sites like Letterboxd and Goodreads is also discussed, with concerns about the limitations of a star rating system to capture the depth of engaging with art.

10:04

🀔 The Oversaturation of Online Reviews and Criticism

The conversation continues with Mina discussing the challenges faced by critics in an oversaturated online review industry, where sensationalized headlines are necessary to stand out. She acknowledges the hypocrisy in benefiting from this environment while also critiquing it. Mina also addresses the rise of video content on social media platforms, which has led to a preference for video over written commentary, and the resulting trend of creators trying to capitalize on profitable content. The paragraph concludes with a critique of amateur criticism and the limitations of rating systems, such as the five-star system on Letterboxd and Goodreads, which Mina argues cannot capture the nuances of engaging with art.

15:08

🎥 Personal Connection and Criticism in the Digital Age

Mina explores the influence of social media on the way critics and the public engage with art, citing Jacob Silverman's essay 'Against Enthusiasm'. She discusses how social media platforms encourage a culture of enthusiasm and unconditional support, which can stifle criticism. The video touches on the impact of being able to observe authors' lives on social media, which may make critics more hesitant to critique their work. Mina also mentions the importance of media literacy and criticizes the low standards of media literacy in society, using the example of misguided criticism of the film 'Dune: Part Two' and the lack of nuanced understanding among viewers.

20:10

📚 The Death of the Author and the Role of Interpretation

In this segment, Mina discusses the concept of the 'death of the author' as proposed by Roland Barthes, which posits that the meaning of a text is determined by the reader's interpretation rather than the author's intention. She expresses her appreciation for this theory and its implications for the way viewers engage with media, suggesting that personal interpretations are valid even if they differ from the creator's intent. Mina also shares her thoughts on the importance of allowing for a variety of interpretations and not dismissing them based on superficial analysis.

25:16

🎭 The Cultural Impact of Pop Culture and Highbrow Art

Mina examines the role of pop culture as a force in shaping cultural values and the importance of criticism within it. She contrasts the accessibility of pop culture with the more exclusive nature of highbrow culture, such as Broadway shows. The video highlights the significance of shows like 'Sex and the City' in challenging cultural norms and the historical context of Shakespeare's plays as accessible art for the common man. Mina also addresses the gendered criticism of media popular among teenage girls and the historical framing of young female fans as problematic.

30:19

👞 The Phenomenon of the 'People's Princess' and Overexposure

This paragraph delves into the concept of the 'people's princess', a term used to describe female celebrities who are initially adored for their perceived authenticity and relatability but eventually become overexposed and lose public favor. Mina discusses the cyclical nature of female celebrities' popularity, using examples like Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, and Millie Bobby Brown. The video also explores the psychological factors behind groupthink and the tendency for public opinion to shift rapidly against individuals, often fueled by a small group of detractors.

35:24

🀔 The Catch-22 of Female Celebrities and Public Perception

Mina addresses the double standards and challenges faced by female celebrities in the public eye, discussing the fine line between being perceived as authentic and becoming overexposed. She contrasts the careers of Zendaya and Taylor Swift as examples of different approaches to managing public exposure. The video also touches on the resurgence of Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence's images in the media, suggesting that their new roles as mothers have made them more palatable to the public. Mina emphasizes the importance of recognizing the complexities of criticism and the role of misogyny in the backlash against female celebrities.

40:29

👩‍💻 The Rise and Fall of Literary 'It' Girls in Criticism

In the final paragraph, Mina discusses the trend of female critics becoming popular by writing viral reviews that criticize other female writers, likening it to the cyclical nature of female celebrities' popularity. She questions the motivations behind this phenomenon and the impact it has on the literary community. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage in discussions about criticism, women, female celebrities, and the expectations placed on them in the industry.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Criticism

Criticism in the context of this video refers to the evaluation and judgment of works of art, literature, or performances, often by individuals in a public forum. It is central to the video's theme as it discusses the death of criticism, the fear in the criticism space, and how it affects female celebrities. For instance, the video mentions the negative review by Ann Manov of Lauren Oyler's essay collection, 'No Judgment,' illustrating the impact of criticism on both the critic and the criticized.

💡Hater

A 'hater' is someone who expresses dislike or contempt, often without constructive feedback. The video discusses being a 'hater' in the context of literary criticism and social media, where negative reviews and harsh public opinions can lead to the stigmatization of critics. The term is used to explore the negative side of criticism and how it can devolve into mere dislike rather than constructive feedback.

💡People's Princess

The term 'People's Princess' is used to describe a public figure who is widely liked and admired, often for their perceived authenticity and relatability. The video uses this term to discuss the phenomenon of female celebrities who initially gain immense popularity but eventually face overexposure and a subsequent decline in public favor, as seen in the cases of Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence.

💡Overexposure

Overexposure refers to the state of being seen or heard too frequently, leading to a decline in popularity or interest. The video discusses how female celebrities can become overexposed, which contributes to the shift in public opinion from adoration to annoyance. The script mentions the fear that 2024 might be the year when the public turns against Renee Rapp due to overexposure.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in this video is associated with the genuineness and originality of a person's character or work. It is a key concept as the video explores how female celebrities are initially celebrated for their authenticity but can later be criticized for losing it. The script uses the example of Princess Diana, who was admired for her authenticity despite being royalty.

💡Scarcity

Scarcity, in the context of this video, refers to the limited availability or access to something, which can increase its perceived value. The video discusses how the scarcity of critical voices in the literary world has led to a reluctance to publish negative reviews. It also touches on how scarcity can affect the value of a celebrity's public image, as seen with Zendaya's controlled public presence.

💡PR-friendliness

PR-friendliness is the quality of being amicable and non-confrontational, often for the sake of maintaining a positive public image. The video mentions how PR-friendliness has become pervasive in the entertainment industry, with celebrities and their teams carefully managing their public interactions to avoid controversy and maintain a likable image.

💡Media Literacy

Media literacy is the ability to critically analyze and understand media content, including recognizing bias and credibility. The video discusses the lack of media literacy as a contributing factor to the poor quality of criticism and discourse online. It highlights the need for better media literacy to foster more thoughtful and nuanced discussions about art and culture.

💡Clickbait

Clickbait refers to sensationalized or misleading headlines or content designed to attract clicks and views. The video mentions how the oversaturation of online content has led to the reliance on clickbait tactics to stand out, even among critics and reviewers who are trying to drive traffic to their work.

💡Parasociality

Parasociality is a one-sided relationship where fans feel a connection to media personalities, even though the personalities are unaware of their fans' existence. The video discusses how parasociality can influence the way people engage with criticism, as they may feel a personal connection to the artists being criticized and be hesitant to criticize them publicly.

💡Consumable Objects

Consumable objects in this video refer to the way female celebrities are treated as products to be consumed by the public. The script discusses the objectification of women in the media, where their value and relevance are determined by their ability to attract attention and maintain public interest, often leading to overexposure and eventual backlash.

Highlights

Discussion on being a hater, the death of criticism, and the impact of criticism on female celebrities.

Ann Manov's scathing review of Lauren Oyler's essay collection 'No Judgment' and its virality.

Lauren Oyler's previous negative review of Jia Tolentino's 'Trick Mirror' and its significance.

The fear in the criticism space and its disservice to the art ecosystem.

Ayo Edebiri's experience with criticism and her decision to stop logging movies on Letterboxd.

The controversy surrounding Ayo Edebiri's comments about Jennifer Lopez's music career.

The distinction between hate and criticism in the context of PR-friendliness.

The nostalgia for early 2000s celebrity culture and its perceived authenticity.

Squarespace's features for building brands and businesses online.

The historical tension between artists and critics, exemplified by Alexander Pope's quote.

The modern-day celebrity war on criticism, with examples of Lizzo and Ariana Grande's responses to reviews.

The challenges of professional critics and the impact of social media on criticism.

The oversaturation of the online review industry and its effects on professional critics.

The limitations of rating systems like the five-star system on Letterboxd and Goodreads.

The impact of social media on the art of criticism and the rise of amateur criticism.

The role of media literacy in understanding and critiquing popular culture.

The phenomenon of the 'people's princess' and the challenges of overexposure for female celebrities.

The psychological factors behind the public's turn against certain celebrities and the concept of 'getting woman'd'.

The paradox of women in the spotlight and the Catch-22 they face regarding overexposure and criticism.

The importance of distinguishing between valid criticism and backlash based on gender.

Transcripts

00:00

- This video is brought to you by Squarespace,  an all-in-one platform for building a brand and  

00:03

growing your business online. Hello, my angry  birds. My name is Mina Le. I talk about fashion,  

00:09

film, and culture here on this channel. And today,  specifically, we're going to be talking about  

00:17

being a hater, the death of criticism, and also  the phenomenon of the people's princess and the  

00:23

way that criticism affects female celebrities,  specifically. Okay, so, you know how I usually  

00:31

like to start these videos talking about something  that, like, jogged my brain recently in relation  

00:35

to the general theme of the video? Well, okay,  so a couple of things. The other day I went to  

00:41

lunch with my friends Jack and Jordan, and Jack  was telling me the latest literary goss. So,  

00:48

I feel like this is a little niche, but trust me.  Stay with me. It's interesting. So, apparently,  

00:53

last month... I dunno why I said apparently as  if I'm, like, calling him a liar or something. I  

00:58

looked it up. It's real. This happened last month.  This writer Ann Manov, wrote a scathing review on  

01:04

"Bookforum" of this essay collection written by  Lauren Oyler called "No Judgment." Here's a quote  

01:10

to give you a sense of it: "'No judgment' was  originally to be called 'Who Cares,' and perhaps  

01:14

that title should've been retained. Who cares  really about any of this?" Manov's review went  

01:20

pretty viral, in part because it was so scathing  but also because, to give a bit of context,  

01:27

Oyler herself rose to prominence in the literary  world a couple years ago for writing a similarly  

01:31

negative review of "Trick Mirror," an essay  collection by another literary it girl,  

01:36

Jia Tolentino. Eleanor Stern explains exactly why  Oyler's review made such a splash at the time.

01:41

- One reason that Lauren Oyler's negative review  of Jia Tolentino's essay collection went, like,  

01:48

so viral and got her so much fame  is basically just because nobody was  

01:51

writing negative reviews at the time. Like,  especially of popular books, there was just,  

01:56

I think, a general sense that it was  sort of in poor taste or in bad form,  

02:00

and there was also, I think, a feeling  of scarcity in the world of, like,  

02:03

literary criticism. Book advances were shrinking.  You know, there were no more, like, full-time  

02:09

professional book critics at publications. There  was just a sense of, like, "why attack each other?  

02:15

Why pay people to write negative reviews?"  even if the book is honestly kind of bad.

02:20

- I haven't read "Trick Mirror" in full, and  I also haven't read "No Judgment," so I plead  

02:25

the Fifth when it comes to taking sides. I have  no side, but I think, regardless of everyone's  

02:29

actual writing, I respect both Manov and Oyler  as people who are brave enough, let's say,  

02:36

to publish something negative. I think some of  their criticisms did come across as a little too  

02:41

harsh. Specifically, like, the "who cares" bit  I read, I felt like that was a little below the  

02:46

belt, but I do think that negative reviews, in  general, are important. And lately, I've just  

02:52

noticed there's so much fear in the criticism  space, and it's really sad, and it's, like,  

02:56

a disservice to the art ecosystem. And you know,  I don't really know how Lauren felt about reading  

03:02

this review about her book. I'm sure she didn't  like the review . Whether or not she liked it,  

03:07

she allowed herself to become a target of, like,  equally negative reviews because... It's kind of  

03:13

like that saying: "Oh, if you can't take it,  then don't dish it." I was gonna say, "If you  

03:20

smelled it, dealt it ." That's definitely not  the saying. I think it's "if you can't take it,  

03:25

don't dish it" or "don't dish what you can't"...  Or whatever. Because she's someone who is, like,  

03:31

unapologetic about the kind of reviews that she  writes. I feel like it's an open invitation for  

03:37

people to be the same with her, whether or not  she likes it. I commend her for opening that  

03:42

space of criticism. Another thing that happened  or, I guess, another example that got me thinking  

03:48

a lot... I love Letterboxd. It's this online  platform where you can log and review movies.  

03:53

I use it a lot for logging in movies that I  want to watch in the future on my watch list,  

03:58

so if someone gives me a good recommendation,  I'll add it to the list, which, you know,  

04:03

is something that I refer to whenever I'm  looking for a new movie. And hopefully,  

04:06

I'll get through them all one day, but there's,  like, hundreds of movies on that list, so the  

04:10

future will see. But it is a social media platform  in the sense that you can also follow other people  

04:15

on that platform, and you can even follow  Emmy Award-winning actress Ayo Edebiri. Yes,  

04:20

Ayo does have an account, but I noticed that  she actually stopped logging in movies about a  

04:25

month ago, and I don't know if it's just she just  stopped for the month or if she's stopping fully,  

04:29

but I wouldn't really be surprised if she stopped  fully, because I also noticed, not to sound like  

04:34

a stalker... But in the last couple of months,  her reviews have skewed fairly positive, whereas,  

04:39

in the past, she was a little bit more critical  about some of the movies that she didn't like,  

04:44

and I don't blame her. I think being in her  position in Hollywood right now means she can't  

04:48

risk offending anyone, because she might have to  work with them in the future. I was wondering,  

04:53

like, how much of this decision to kind of edit  her Letterboxd in this way was because she's  

05:01

afraid of, you know, making enemies, as I said,  or because she just like, you know, feels like  

05:06

she doesn't wanna share negativity anymore, which  is totally fine, too. I mean, she's not a critic,  

05:12

so she can use her Letterboxd in any way that she  wants. I'm not saying she has a responsibility to  

05:17

say something bad about anyone. I think it speaks  volumes that the only controversy Ayo has been  

05:22

involved in so far in her career is when her  negative comments about Jennifer Lopez's music  

05:28

career from a 2020 podcast interview resurfaced  ahead of her and J.Lo's dual episode on SNL.

05:33

- [Ayo] Today, I was actually thinking about  one of my favorite scams of all time because  

05:38

J.Lo is hosting, or is performing  at, the Super Bowl halftime show.

05:42

- Yes, she is, which is a scam in itself.

05:44

- [Ayo] And her whole career is one long scam.

05:47

- [Laci] Oh, the longest con. J.Lo can't sing,  

05:48

and did ya know that J.Lo  doesn't know that she can't sing?

05:52

- [Ayo] She thinks she's on multiple tracks, but  it's not her. I think she, like... Or she thinks  

05:57

that she's still good even though, like,  she's not singing for most of these songs.

06:04

- And I assume that it was just a very  awkward thing to deal with that situation,  

06:09

and Ayo calling J.Lo's career scam was not,  like, the most PR-friendly choice of words,  

06:16

but it does make me wonder, like, where we  draw the line between hate and criticism.

06:20

- Review was mean and petty and despicable.

06:23

- This was all in the line of duty.

06:25

- You called me a hippo.

06:26

- I think this PR-friendliness,  though, has permeated throughout the  

06:29

entire industry in general, and audiences  are also becoming more aware of it. With  

06:35

the "Bridgerton" season-three press  tour, for instance, I've seen, like,  

06:38

so many people talk about how great PR chemistry  co-stars Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton have,  

06:43

which is to say people are enjoying their  banter, they're enjoying the little flirtations,  

06:47

but they're also, like, fully clocking the  agenda behind it. In a way, like, I'm really  

06:52

happy about that because I think it means that  we're able to sort of see Hollywood less as sheep,  

06:59

but I also think that there are definitely,  like, people who are nostalgic for early  

07:04

2000s celebrity culture because stars from that  era come across as, like, way more authentic.

07:14

- [Paparazzo] Were you out  with Paris tonight, Lindsay?

07:14

- [Lindsay] Paris is a .

07:14

- We have a lot to discuss for this video. Let's  just dive in. Excuse the backdrop. I'm filming  

07:19

from London right now, but it doesn't matter,  because today we're sponsored by Squarespace,  

07:23

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08:11

- I never said that.

08:11

- We got you saying it-

08:11

- Yeah, ya did.

08:11

- a second ago.

08:16

- Well, Paris is my friend.

08:16

- Ever since there's been art, there's been  critics, and ever since there's been critics,  

08:20

there's been artists hating on said  critics. It's a beautiful cycle.

08:23

- You take this malicious  cowardly shittily written review,  

08:31

and you shove that right  the up your wrinkly tight .

08:37

- After all, the 18th-century poet Alexander  Pope once said, "Those monsters, critics!"  

08:43

This sentiment has followed to the modern day.  "The Ringer" published an article in 2019 called  

08:47

"The Great Celebrity War on Criticism," which  documented some recent artist pushback. In the  

08:52

article, they mentioned Lizzo's now-deleted tweet  "people who review albums and don't make music  

08:57

themselves should be unemployed" in response  to a "Pitchfork" album review. She then, like,  

09:01

later walked it back. Also, another tweet that  was included in the article, Ariana Grande's  

09:07

deleted tweet, "One day, everybody that works  at all them blogs will realize how unfulfilled  

09:12

they are and purposeless what they're doing is.  I can't wait for them to feel lit inside ." Now,  

09:17

getting a shady tweet, not the worst thing  that can happen to you. Getting professionally  

09:21

blacklisted, that is a real fear, and it happens;  for example, in the late 2000s, former "New York  

09:27

Times" fashion critic Cathy Horyn was banned from  Giorgio Armani, Carolina Herrera, Helmut Lang,  

09:33

and the Dolce & Gabbana fashion shows because her  criticism was found slanderous. And Robin Givhan,  

09:38

the "Washington Post's" fashion critic, lost her  front-row seat at CHANEL after criticizing Karl  

09:43

Lagerfeld in 2012. There's many reasons why  criticism gets a bad reputation. A lot of it  

09:48

is wrapped up in artist ego, but let's pause,  right, and take a stance with the artists for  

09:54

a second. Maybe criticism has actually just gotten  worse and therefore is deserving of less respect.  

09:59

Has anyone ever thought about that ? One reason  I say that is because there's a lot of art being  

10:03

made, more than ever before, thanks to social  media allowing people to self-publish. There's  

10:08

just not enough time to give thoughtful reviews  on literally everything. In an article for "The  

10:13

American Scholar," author Phillipa K. Chong  suggests that fewer than 5% of new books get  

10:17

any kind of coverage in larger media outlets. A  lot of critics have also sold out, not necessarily  

10:24

even selling out to the movie or book they're  reviewing but selling out to the publication that  

10:28

they're writing for, and what I mean by that...  Like, selling out might not be the best term.  

10:33

I dunno. I love reading reviews, okay? And I've  noticed that a lot of mainstream coverage of TV,  

10:38

books, and movies is arranged in the form of  recommendation listicles and plot recaps, and  

10:44

even if there is a coherent review, the headline  makes, like, some sweeping statement, like  

10:50

"blah-blah-blah is a must-see" or "blah-blah-blah  is a major miss." Christian Lorentzen wrote for  

10:54

"Harper's" that the reason we get these kinds of  general clickbait headlines is because writers  

10:59

need to attract traffic to the review or to the  website. He writes, "A conscientious reviewer  

11:04

admitting either to ambivalence or judgments in  conflict with one another won't travel as quickly  

11:08

on social media as an unqualified rave." And as  books editor Arianna Rebolini succinctly put it,  

11:14

"are you going to put your time into something  that's not going to share well?" I relate to this  

11:18

heavily, by the way. When I publish videos , I  have to make kind of clickbait-adjacent headlines  

11:23

or thumbnails because I need people to watch my  videos to click on the videos. So, for instance,  

11:28

one of my older videos I titled "Netflix's  Persuasion was a flop." Transparently, okay?  

11:35

I found the movie to have a lot of flaws, and I  stand by that. I'm not gonna walk back on that,  

11:40

but I do think that the word flop and other,  like, general black-and-white terminology never  

11:47

really do a piece of work justice. There's just so  much that goes into a book or a movie, and none of  

11:52

that can be summed up in just one word. Ya know,  maybe one of the reasons why critics and myself  

11:57

are so desperate to drive traffic to our work is  because of how oversaturated the online review  

12:02

industry has become. The internet has basically  made everyone into a reviewer, and again,  

12:07

look , I realize how hypocritical I sound because  I've definitely benefited from that. Like, I did  

12:12

get a degree in film studies, and I can admit  that my reviews tend to be more fun and casual  

12:16

than actually academic, but the fact is that there  are a lot of takes online and we have to lean on,  

12:25

like, more-sensationalized headlines to stand out.  And I also notice that around the time I started  

12:31

making videos, like, in 2020-2021, there's been  just a general rise in the commentary genre on  

12:36

Utah. "On Utah "? On YouTube and TikTok overall.  Don't get me wrong. People have always liked to  

12:44

discourse online, okay? In my early internet days,  I would spend a lot of hours every day reading and  

12:49

writing metacommentary on Tumblr. I'm proud of  that. Whatever . But I think the pivot to using  

12:54

TikTok and YouTube as these new commentary  engines has a lot to do with, one, people's  

12:59

increasing comfort in filming video, aided by how  easy it is to edit videos within the TikTok app,  

13:03

especially if you don't have clumsy thumbs like  myself, and, two, a lot of social media sites,  

13:07

like Facebook, Instagram, and now Substack,  are also trying to pivot to video as well,  

13:12

which is making writing a less available medium  to relay your thoughts and then, of course, also,  

13:16

reason three: once something is perceived as a  profitable trend, other people want in. If you  

13:22

notice there are creators getting hundreds of  thousands of views on a genre of video content,  

13:25

you might wanna try that out, too. I'm not saying  this is entirely bad, by the way, but it has made  

13:31

the market more oversaturated, which has led to,  I think, a devaluation of professional critics,  

13:37

in general, because, like, the sentiment is  "why listen to this person when everyone can  

13:42

have an opinion on the internet now?" There  are also websites that specifically encourage  

13:47

amateur criticism, for example, Letterboxd,  which I mentioned earlier, and Goodreads,  

13:51

which is a book-review site. Both these sites use  a five-star rating system, and okay, personally,  

13:58

I don't use the rating feature, which I know  is annoying because I've gotten comments every  

14:02

so often about why never rate anything. Hear  me out. I just don't like the subjectivity of  

14:09

the star system. Like, a movie that I rated five  stars three years ago wouldn't necessarily rate  

14:14

five stars if I watched it again today. And so it  feels weird to me that, if someone's just, like,  

14:19

looking at my profile, they can see all the movies  that I've rated five stars but they wouldn't have  

14:24

any context on how old I was when I saw the movie,  whether or not someone was kicking my seat in the  

14:30

movie theater when I saw it, whether or not I read  reviews beforehand which affected my expectations.  

14:36

Sidebar, when I watched "Challengers"; I watched  it opening weekend; I didn't even know it was  

14:41

opening weekend. Like, I just picked a random  movie because I hadn't seen a movie in a while,  

14:46

and I didn't know anything about it, except from,  like, the trailer that I saw literally months ago.  

14:51

I didn't see a recent trailer or anything, and  I loved the movie and I think it's because I  

14:56

literally had no expectations. I mean, I also  think that, like, Luca Guadagnino slays, and  

15:02

the script was, like, really good and everything,  but I just think that it definitely helped that I  

15:07

didn't have other people telling me this movie  was gonna be amazing before I went to go see  

15:12

it. I also think that there are some movies that  really resonate with me solely because of my life  

15:16

circumstances at the time I watch them. So, for  example, "Aftersun" is one of my favorite movies,  

15:24

but I'm very aware that I watched it on the  airplane coming back home after visiting my dad.  

15:30

Yeah, I was crying on that airplane all by myself.  It was so tragic. If you haven't seen the movie,  

15:36

just know that it's a father-daughter movie  featuring an airport scene. On the flip side,  

15:41

you know, I did really enjoy "Past Lives,"  but I've never experienced the sort of, like,  

15:46

what-if romantic circumstance that they explore  in the movie. And so I didn't feel as moved as  

15:51

my friends who have been in those circumstances.  All this is to say my circumstances don't alter  

15:56

whether or not the movie is good but it  alters, like, how emotionally connected I  

16:00

am and therefore affects my experience watching  it and therefore my rating, but if you're just  

16:05

someone scrolling my page, you wouldn't have  that context. And then I dunno, it makes me  

16:10

feel weird that someone would choose whether or  not to watch a movie based on, like, the stars I  

16:15

gave it and them not knowing the context, I dunno,  I just don't like that responsibility. In short,  

16:21

I don't think a star system can capture all  the nuances of engaging with art. Anyways,  

16:26

that was just an aside, but I was reading Jacob  Silverman's 2012 essay "Against Enthusiasm" the  

16:31

other day, which is about how social media has  killed literary criticism, and I thought it was  

16:35

really interesting. I highly recommend reading  it. One of the points he made is that sites  

16:39

like Twitter put you more intimately in contact  with the author, which affects how comfortable  

16:44

you feel talking about their work. Silverman  chose author Emma Straub as just an example:  

16:51

"Let's say you're assigned a review of Straub's  book, 'Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures.' What if  

16:57

you don't like it? Would you be willing to  critique Straub's novel after watching her  

17:02

life scroll out on social media over the last  year; indeed, after likely being the recipient  

17:07

or admirer of some small word or act of kindness  on Straub's part?" And I think this is so true. I  

17:14

think I'm more hesitant to criticize a friend's  work publicly, because I don't want whatever I  

17:20

have to say to affect their success, especially  because most of my friends are at the starting  

17:24

points of their careers so they don't have  the kind of staying power that a big director,  

17:29

like Quentin Tarantino, would have in the face  of negative reviews. And I imagine that people  

17:34

who are parasocial towards artists might  feel a similar pressure to be constantly  

17:38

uplifting to not mess with that person's bag.  As Chromat-founder Becca McCharen-Tran explains,  

17:45

how it works in the fashion industry, "When we  were trying to sell our collection to buyers  

17:49

like Nordstrom or whoever, they actually really  did care about reviews." So, over fashion month,  

17:55

there are a handful of people on Twitter and  TikTok who complain about how front rows are  

17:59

filled with influencers now and, meanwhile,  actual journalists are shoved to the back rows,  

18:04

where they can barely see the collection, and I  understand this is really annoying, especially  

18:08

because, if you're a journalist, you're actually,  like... You actually need to cover the collection,  

18:12

so it is very annoying if you can't fully see it.  But the reason this is happening is because the  

18:17

majority of influencers are invited to positively  market the brand. Brands know that any influencer  

18:22

they invite is going to gas them up to the moon  and back to their millions of followers, whereas,  

18:27

with a journalist, it's more up in the air the  kind of coverage that the brand would get. So,  

18:31

you know, given that information, like, who are  you going to prioritize? Silverman also notes  

18:36

that social media's liking and favoring system  itself is pretty anti-criticism. He writes, "The  

18:42

problem with liking is that it's a critical dead  end, a conversation nonstarter. For every "+1,"  

18:47

"this," or "<3" we offer next to someone's fawning  tweet, a feeling is expressed without saying much  

18:53

at all." Ultimately, these platforms have led to  a culture of enthusiasm and unconditional support,  

18:58

which is, again, why author Lauren Oyler's  critique of "Trick Mirror" went so viral in 2020.

19:06

- Um, look.

19:07

- Yes?

19:08

- Didn't you bring your glasses?

19:12

- Criticism also gets a bad reputation, I  think, because a lotta people don't actually  

19:18

read professional criticism from professional  critics. Their exposure to criticism is via,  

19:24

like, TikTok commentary, and unfortunately,  a lot of TikTok commentary is just not good,  

19:30

no shade. And it's just, like, representative  of a larger trend of low media literacy,  

19:34

and I know that media literacy is, like, a buzz  term these days, but in case you need a refresher,  

19:39

according to dictionary.com, it means "the ability  or skills to critically analyze for accuracy,  

19:44

credibility, or evidence of bias the content  created and consumed in various media." But  

19:48

unfortunately, like, media literacy is a problem.  2019 Pew research survey results revealed that  

19:54

digital media literacy skills are lacking across  all generations across the board, even among Gen  

19:59

Z who grew up with technology, Maxine Bisera  reflects on why that is. She writes, for McGill  

20:05

University's student paper, "The Bull & Bear,"  "How have we gotten so bad at critically thinking?  

20:10

I suspect that it's a function of the sheer amount  of information available these days. There is  

20:14

so much content that I really only have time to  skim over the basic premise of a video/article /  

20:19

Instagram infographic before I must keep scrolling  and maximize my media consumption. I'm forced to  

20:24

sort things into a binary just to quickly make  sense of it. All actions are either good or bad.  

20:29

All opinions are either right or wrong." These  social media platforms discourage nuance, and if  

20:35

you don't like someone's content, you unfollow or  you block them. Associate professor of information  

20:41

studies Alexis Hiniker says, "All of those things  cut off relationships instead of helping people  

20:47

repair them or find common ground." Over the past  year, I've noticed a lot of poor media literacy  

20:52

when it comes to movie reviews in particular; for  example, there was a lot of online discourse about  

20:58

"Dune: Part Two" when it first came out. Some  people were criticizing that the movie was pushing  

21:03

a white savior complex, for instance. If you're  unfamiliar with Dune, it's this sci-fi multi-book  

21:09

series, but the two movies that were directed  by Denis Villeneuve focus on the first book,  

21:13

"Dune," which tells the story of Paul Atreides,  who, after a series of unfortunate events, which  

21:18

is, like, an understatement , flees his home and  seeks refuge among these Indigenous nomadic people  

21:23

called the Fremen. The Fremen perceive Paul as  this messiah figure who will lead the revolution.  

21:29

In the second movie, we see Paul internally  struggle with that responsibility, being tortured  

21:34

by visions of mass death if he rises to his fate.  But then he eventually embraces his messiah role,  

21:40

which, honestly, made me wanna smack him over the  head when I was watching. It's fine. So, yeah,  

21:45

despite Timothee Chalamet's charm and good looks,  we're not supposed to root for Paul. The writer  

21:50

of the books, Frank Herbert, has talked about  how Dune is actually a cautionary tale about  

21:54

charismatic leaders. In 1979, he said, "The bottom  line of the Dune trilogy is beware of heroes. Much  

22:01

better to rely on your own judgment and your  own mistakes." Now, I haven't read the books.  

22:06

That's my disclaimer, but for the most part, the  interpretation of Paul as a white savior falls  

22:12

pretty flat to me. Maybe somebody out there has a  more compelling argument, but from what I've seen,  

22:17

people who have this take are looking at the  movie very superficially. They see Paul as this,  

22:22

like, naturally talented chosen one and are  understandably uncomfortable seeing these  

22:27

Indigenous Fremen people worship him, but I feel  like that's where the analysis stops. To be fair,  

22:33

though, this interpretation has been a problem  since the beginning, and it's actually why Herbert  

22:38

ended up writing the sequel, "Dune Messiah," to  emphasize even more that Paul is not a good guy.  

22:44

There's even a comparison to Hitler to further  drive home that point. Villeneuve also took  

22:49

some creative liberties to make it clear in  his movies as well. So, for instance, Chani,  

22:54

who is Fremen and Paul's love interest, is much  more doting towards Paul in the original books,  

22:59

but in this new movie, she becomes sick of his  shit, leaves him, and there's an implication that  

23:05

she'll come back one day to challenge Paul as a  resistance leader. She is the character that we're  

23:09

supposed to be empathizing with. Dune has a lot of  shooters though. It's, like, been a series that's  

23:14

been around for decades. And so anytime someone  shared this white savior take, I noticed a ton  

23:20

of people jumping on them, but instead of, like,  engaging with these opposing takes, the original  

23:25

posters mostly fled the scene, and I can't really  blame them, because the way that online discourse  

23:30

functions is just not conducive to understanding,  like, anything; like, for instance, I saw so many  

23:35

people stitching this poor girl's video, all of  'em saying virtually the same thing, which I'm  

23:40

sure felt like dogpiling in her notifications.  In real life, if you're in a debate, only one  

23:44

person at a time would challenge your opinion, but  online, you get jumped by tons of people yelling  

23:49

the same thing at you. And so I can understand  wanting to just ignore all of that, which is  

23:54

a shame because it doesn't further any kind of  understanding. With that said, in general, I'm  

24:00

less interested in people taking the wrong message  away from movies. I believe there are very few  

24:04

wrong messages, actually, which is why I'd still  be open to hearing a Dune-white savior take as  

24:11

long as it makes sense. It was French philosopher  Roland Barthes who wrote about the death of the  

24:18

author, which argues that the meaning of a text is  determined by the reader's interpretation, not the  

24:23

author's intention, and it's this idea that, once  you share your work, it no longer only belongs to  

24:29

you. And I agree with this theory, so even though  I love reading what writers have to say about  

24:34

their work, I also love when, like, directors,  like David Lynch, refuse to ever explain anything.

24:41

- Believe it or not, "Eraserhead"  is my most spiritual film.

24:46

- Why? Well, elaborate on that-

24:48

- No, I won't.

24:49

- for a moment.

24:50

- And I also love saying that J. K. Rowling  was incorrect about everything when it comes  

24:54

to Harry Potter. Like, just because she wrote it  doesn't mean she actually knows better than me,  

24:59

and specifically, I remember there was, like,  stuff coming out... I don't know if this is  

25:04

just a joke, but I took it seriously, but people  were saying, like, on "Pottermore," apparently,  

25:10

she said that wizards can piss themselves  and clean it up with a spell or something,  

25:16

like, they didn't need to use bathrooms,  which... Like, put the pen down, please.

25:22

- I was into ghosts, but  they're so mainstream now.

25:29

- A popular anti-criticism argument I see a  lot is the let-people-enjoy-things argument,  

25:35

which is basically the idea that, if you have  nothing nice to say, don't say it. Most people  

25:40

who say this, I notice, are fans of popular media,  like Star Wars or Taylor Swift. I mean it makes  

25:45

sense why everyone would have a take on Star Wars  because popular media is hegemonic. It's literally  

25:49

everywhere. And so it's an easy target for  discourse. It's a much easier target for discourse  

25:55

than, say, like, I dunno... "Madame Butterfly"?  I feel like even "Madame Butterfly" is, like,  

26:02

pop culture at this point, but you know, as  English professor Joe Darowski says, "Pop culture  

26:06

is such a force in American culture that it would  be strange not to talk about it. The sheer number  

26:11

of people watching Marvel movies is impressive.  Such movies start to become deeply personal for  

26:15

fans through repeated viewing, cosplay, and  so on. Trying to understand why those movies  

26:19

are resonating to that degree with audiences is  worthwhile." Highbrow culture, like opera and fine  

26:24

art, are less available to the general public,  especially with, like, how Broadway gatekeeps all  

26:30

its theater recordings, which drives me crazy, but  apparently, there is a library somewhere, like, in  

26:37

the Upper West / Upper East Side that has tapes of  Broadway shows that you can watch in the library.  

26:45

I haven't gone all the way up there, because  it's pretty far from where I live. Anyway, I'm  

26:49

the problem, I guess. Libraries are a resource.  Please, use them . But you know, on the other  

26:53

hand, way more people are able to engage with  pop culture, and that's why pop culture is such  

26:57

a good medium for understanding shifting cultural  values and also why a lot of critics love to dig  

27:02

their hands into it; for example, "Sex and the  City" was such a revolutionary show in the late  

27:07

'90s and early 2000s and still is because it dared  to show women in their 30s having sex and openly  

27:14

talking about it. Just for reference to how PG  most shows were prior, six years earlier, in 1992,  

27:21

"Seinfeld" aired an episode about self-pleasuring  without ever mentioning the word masturbation.

27:28

- My mother caught me.

27:29

- Caught ya? Doing what?

27:31

- You know, I was alone.

27:34

- [Mina] In comparison, vibrators were basically a  

27:39

fifth character in the "Sex  and the City" friend group.

27:41

- It's a neck-massager.

27:42

- No, it's a vibrator.

27:45

- And this, like, not only destigmatized the  discussion of female sexuality culturally. It also  

27:51

normalized more risque depictions on TV. Also, pop  culture can be good sometimes . While considered  

27:59

highbrow now, William Shakespeare actually wrote  plays the common man could enjoy because, in the  

28:04

16th century, theaters were relatively affordable.  For just one penny, you could come see a play,  

28:09

though you'd have to stand. Something my acting  teacher once told me is that a play is a medium  

28:14

of words and film is a medium of images. So, all  the grammatical marks written into the script and  

28:20

your vocal ability to project, these are much more  important factors when you're doing a stage play,  

28:26

and that's by design because plays were written  so that, even if an audience member is standing  

28:31

behind a pillar or has a terrible seat  because that's all they could afford,  

28:35

they could still understand the story just from  hearing the words. Theater used to actually be  

28:40

a much more democratizing art form. At the same  time, in defense of fans, I'm very aware that a  

28:46

lot of the media people hate on is media enjoyed  by mostly teenage girls. In 1992, Lisa A. Lewis  

28:52

observed that "fandom is overwhelmingly associated  with adolescent childhood, that is, with a state  

28:57

of arrested development or youth-oriented  nostalgia, not mature adulthood; furthermore,  

29:02

the fan impulse is presented as feminine." At  the height of the Twilight phenomenon in 2009,  

29:08

comedian Skyler Stone created a really weird  unfunny stunt in which he tricked Twilight  

29:14

fans into thinking that they were going to see  an early screening of "New Moon," but instead  

29:18

of showing them the film, he just, like,  yelled at them about how stupid they were.

29:22

- You are not gonna see  "Twilight: New Moon" tonight.

29:26

- [Audience Member] Oh no!

29:26

- This is a vampire intervention, since you  clearly have no clue what the a vampire is.

29:34

- Of course, this phenomenon long preceded  Twilight, long preceded the 1990s. I was  

29:39

reading this article about how, in the 1910s,  teenage girls were already being criticized in  

29:45

newspapers and magazines for being too invested  in movies and shamelessly wanting to become movie  

29:50

stars themselves; for example, in 1914, a movie  patron by the name of Elmer Johnson wrote that  

29:56

"the maiden just turned 17, who will sob right out  loud in the show when the heroic actor displayed  

30:01

on screen saves the girl from the villain," was  the worst type of picture show pest. This kind  

30:08

of framing was also encouraged by the media so,  like, fan publications, such as "Motion Picture  

30:13

Magazine" and "Photoplay," prompted spectators  to take notes on theatergoing audiences that  

30:19

they would then publish. By 1915, "Photoplay" even  rewarded the best overheard anecdote reported by  

30:25

a moviegoing reader with a $5 cash prize. As Diana  Anselmo-Sequeira writes, "Such an editorial choice  

30:32

ultimately bolstered the visibility of girls  as preeminent film consumers but simultaneously  

30:37

encoded young female spectatorship in unruly  foolishness." And look, the reality was that  

30:43

all Americans loved film, regardless of class,  gender, or age. Girl fans were just given more  

30:48

opportunities to showcase that affection and given  more visibility because of aforementioned reasons,  

30:54

and at the same time, all these men in science,  like Thomas Smith Clouston, Sigmund Freud,  

31:00

and G. Stanley Hall, were warning audiences about  teenage-girl-related issues, like hysteria and  

31:05

supernatural possessions . And this all culminated  into a culture that was more willing to believe  

31:12

that girl fans were a problem. And not that I  think teenage girls even need a logical reason  

31:17

to like anything, I do wanna point out that many  girls were drawn to movie stardom because it  

31:22

was one of the only vehicles that allowed women  professional success and financial independence;  

31:27

for example, in 1916, actress Mary Miles Minter  was introduced as the fairy of filmdom, a star  

31:34

who, at 14, was drawing a salary more than that  of a United States senator. And that same year,  

31:39

actress Marguerite Clark confessed that, after the  untimely death of her parents, acting allowed her  

31:44

to be self-sufficient. She also advised her girl  fans, "Money means so much to a girl. Money, for  

31:50

a woman, means 1,000 luxuries that're more vital  to our comfort and enjoyment of life than love."

31:55

- It's one career all females have in common,  whether we like it or not, being a woman.

32:04

- Speaking of women, though, we've entered this  weird territory now where people, women, women,  

32:15

themselves can become oversaturated as if they  were a piece of media. Brendon Holder wrote a  

32:20

really great Substack essay earlier this year  called "The People's Princess & The Trap of  

32:24

Overexposure." And if you haven't heard the  term people's princess getting Tossed around,  

32:28

it's usually used to describe rising stars so  like Ayo Edebiri, Renee Rapp, and Ice Spice, and  

32:33

the term was originally used to describe Diana,  Princess of Wales, who was well-liked for her  

32:37

authenticity and humbleness, despite being literal  royalty. As Holder writes, "To put it plainly,  

32:43

what separates the people's princess from other  it girls is in her name. She's of the people.  

32:47

We uplift her because she's one of us. Her rapid  rise is as unlikely as what we could have dared  

32:52

to imagine for ourselves, and because we think  so little of ourselves, we view her existence,  

32:58

her success, not only as an achievement on behalf  of us but also in spite of us. We claim her,  

33:05

hoping her shine will rub off on us: our  upbringing, our perceived limitations." But  

33:09

ultimately, the fate of the people's princess is  to one day become overexposed and unrecognizable  

33:14

from her once-relatable upbringing, sort of  like Anne Hathaway or Millie Bobby Brown.

33:18

- She had a good run in 2023; what I  fear, that 2024 is the year that the  

33:23

girls turn their back on Renee Rapp.  I fear she's going to go the way of  

33:28

Jennifer Lawrence. I've seen it happen  so many times. Ya love the sass until  

33:34

it just gets to be a little bit too  much. And then ya decide to take it.

33:37

- Friend of the channel Rayne Fisher-Quann dubbed  the public fallout of these female celebrities as  

33:41

"getting woman'd." In an essay for "i-D" in 2022,  she explains the process further: "It starts with  

33:48

adoration. She lands starring roles. She writes  hit songs. She goes viral. She's new and young  

33:52

and profitable. Then the idolatry begins. Maybe  magazines start selling copies by calling her the  

33:57

voice of a generation or the next Marilyn or  Eartha, even though she's barely college-age.  

34:02

Maybe they'll label her a feminist icon because  she went to a women's march. Maybe she gets too  

34:06

many fans too fast. Either way, she's well on her  way to overexposure. The jokes that people found  

34:12

charming six months ago are starting to get old,  and you're being force-fed her face through every  

34:17

algorithmic channel your phone can handle. And  wasn't she always kind of annoying anyway? " Look,  

34:23

it's very easy for the tide to turn against  someone. I see it time and time again.  

34:28

All it takes is, really, one small group of  people to become annoyed before it snowballs  

34:33

into a massive smear campaign. P. M. Forni,  a founder of the Civility Initiative at Johns  

34:37

Hopkins University, which focuses  on manners and social behavior,  

34:41

notes the psychology behind dogpiling: "The  sensation of belonging to a group of like-minded  

34:46

people activates the pleasure centers of the  brain, so at a certain point, something like  

34:51

what has happened to Miss Hathaway acquired  momentum, and people were willing and eager to  

34:57

be part of that momentum." And Jack Goncalo, an  associate professor of organizational behavior,  

35:03

adds that a lot of Anne's haters probably didn't  even harbor negative feelings about her but we're  

35:07

just following a mob mentality. Psychologists call  this informational social influence. He explains,  

35:14

"If the majority has done my thinking for  me, I can move on to something else. People  

35:18

don't wanna think." So, to continue using Anne  Hathaway as an example because we're ready here,  

35:23

in the early 2010s, it was really popular to be a  Hathaway hater. They were even dubbed Hathahaters,  

35:29

which, you know, gives extreme jobless  behavior, in my opinion. Ann Friedman wrote,  

35:33

for "The Cut," about what most people's problem  with Anne was at the time: "We simply don't find  

35:38

successful perfect women all that likable." This  was an especially of-the-moment thought because,  

35:43

at the same time, we were seeing the rise  of imperfect stars, like Jennifer Lawrence,  

35:49

and while I think that nobody is perfect and  perceiving someone as perfect is a projection,  

35:54

Jennifer Lawrence definitely leaned into this,  like, klutzy, unfiltered part of her personality,  

35:59

which, you know, maybe made Anne's poise and grace  more noticeable in comparison, because we love  

36:05

to compare women. As Friedman writes of Lawrence,  "She's self-effacing and funny. She seems like an  

36:12

excellent party companion, taking just about every  opportunity to mention how many shots she's had:  

36:18

before appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel," before  the red carpet, after winning the Oscar for  

36:23

Best Actress." And then I came to the Oscars.  I'm sorry. I did a shot before I... Sorry.

36:33

- But not even Jennifer Lawrence could keep  the haters away for too long. In the span of  

36:37

a few years, she went from being framed as this  authentic, unapologetic cool girl to being framed  

36:42

as a pick-me. Ellen Durney writes for "Buzzfeed  News," "When Jennifer fell for a second time,  

36:48

at the 2014 Oscars, public opinion quickly  shifted. While her previous mishaps,  

36:53

including her first fall, had endeared her to the  public, this incident had the opposite effect. She  

36:59

was accused of being calculated, playing up to the  cameras, engineering a viral moment for publicity.  

37:05

Critics began questioning whether she was actually  performing a shtick. People online expressed their  

37:11

fatigue with her antics." It's honestly just  the Catch-22 of being a woman in the spotlight,  

37:16

and Lawrence actually predicted her own downfall  before all this even unfolded. They've removed  

37:21

all the "Chelsea Lately" clips from YouTube, which  goes back to my most recent video about how things  

37:26

on the internet are just disappearing. Friedman  reported that, in 2012, Lawrence came onto the  

37:30

show and talked about seeing her face on magazine  cover in the grocery store. She said, "I was like,  

37:36

'I'm going to be that person that everybody hates  because it's like, "Here I am," all the time.'"  

37:41

Brendon Holder looks at Zendaya and Taylor  Swift as two opposite sides of the exposure  

37:46

spectrum with Zendaya arguably paving the way  for a more sustainable it girl career. You see,  

37:50

Zendaya's a pretty private person for the most  part. She, like, only uses social media to promote  

37:54

her fashion partnerships or her acting projects.  Holder writes, "Zendaya only walks the red carpet  

38:00

when she's up for an award or presenting one. And  then she's gone. It's this in-and-out presence  

38:05

that keeps her valuable and scarce to an industry  and fan base that would willingly take more than  

38:11

she has to offer." On the "Challengers" press  tour, she mentioned, in an interview, how she  

38:14

wouldn't go out with her castmates or even go to  the grocery store, because of her fame. She said,  

38:19

"When we were shooting, and I remember you guys  slash everybody was going out and having things,  

38:23

I was like, 'I'm not gonna join you, because  I think it might make our night not so fun.'"

38:28

- I woulda just been like-

38:29

- Maybe you would've felt a different thing.

38:32

- Yeah.

38:32

- Yeah, no.

38:33

- Yeah.

38:33

- It's clear she genuinely doesn't want constant  attention, but what ends up happening is that  

38:38

she becomes this mysterious enigmatic person that,  while popular, remains underexposed and therefore,  

38:45

ironically, more relevant when she does decide  to step into the public sphere. In comparison,  

38:50

Taylor Swift has been consistently in the  public eye since she started touring again,  

38:54

March 2023. There's been multiple albums, a global  tour, a concert film, award-show appearances,  

39:00

a private jet emissions controversy, a variety  of paparazzi ones, and highly reported romantic  

39:07

relationships. And while she's probably way richer  because of all this press, I've been seeing more  

39:13

and more videos and articles coming out from  people who are getting tired of Taylor and  

39:18

starting to turn on her. Overexposure wouldn't be  a problem if women were viewed as something other  

39:22

than as consumable objects. I think it's sadly  ironic that Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence  

39:27

have gotten a positive resurgence in the  media lately, mostly because they're, like,  

39:31

hot moms now and thus consumable in that regard.  Also, they're, like, spotlight adjacent, sort  

39:38

of like Zendaya, in the sense that they're very  choosy about how much they give to the public now,  

39:42

which only makes us want more. By the way, this  is not to say that women are above criticism.  

39:47

It's like that one tweet: "I do not support all  women. Some of you bitches are very dumb." And  

39:52

I know that some of you people are, like,  in the middle of typing comments right now,  

39:58

being like, "There's a lot of reasons to dislike  Taylor Swift," like, "Blah-blah-blah-blah." Yes,  

40:01

I think there are many valid reasons to dislike  any artist, any celebrity, and I do find it  

40:08

critically annoying when someone blames a critic  and calls them, like, misogynist just because  

40:15

they didn't like a Taylor Swift album. So that's  not what I'm trying to say at all, okay? Like,  

40:22

lemme make that clear. As a last point, I want  to include what Eleanor Stern has said about the  

40:29

taking down of women writers in the literary  space that I think is really interesting.

40:32

- On the other hand, it kind of disturbs me that  so much of the, like, popular literary criticism  

40:40

ecosystem right now is basically people  becoming literary it girls by writing viral  

40:46

reviews taking down other literary it girls.  It's basically the literary version of, like,  

40:52

Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence becoming  too popular and then being demoted to being  

40:58

unpopular again in this endless cycle,  except, because these people are critics,  

41:03

they themselves are becoming famous and  replacing the people they're criticizing.

41:07

- And yes, so even though I believe  that negative and positive reviews  

41:11

fund a healthy art ecosystem, I also think  it's worth unpacking why women tend to get  

41:16

the most backlash and whether or not  all of it is deserved or if there're  

41:21

some women in the mix who get the short  end of the stick for just being women.  

41:31

Thank you all so much for listening. We've  reached the end of the video. Yeah, I'm also,  

41:38

like, super amped-up on coffee right now,  so I feel like I need to keep talking,  

41:42

but I really don't need to keep talking.  That's all I have to say. Maybe it's your  

41:45

turn to start talking. If you have any opinions  on criticism, on women, on female celebrities,  

41:56

on just the idea of, like, having to play nice  in this industry, I would love to hear it;  

42:05

otherwise, I hope you have a lovely rest of your  day. And I'll talk to you guys later. Okay, bye.

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Criticism ImpactFemale CelebritiesLiterary ReviewsSocial MediaCultural TrendsArt EcosystemPublic ImageMedia LiteracyPop CultureAuthenticity
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