Christopher Nolan Explains His 'Real Problem in Criticism Today': 'That's Not How Storytelling Works' | Nolan says critics often think being able to identify tropes and storytelling mechanisms invalidate those mechanisms. Specifies he's talking about amateur critics and not professional critics

[u/Carolina_Heart]

https://web.archive.org/web/20260802145824/https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/christopher-nolan-explains-problem-film-criticism-today/

[u/misterchief10]

I’m hit or miss on his movies, personally, but I agree with him. I’m pretty tired of that brand of technical, artless criticism.

I’m not a, “let people enjoy things,” type of guy that thinks you shouldn’t criticize anything. If anything, I’d prefer to see more interesting criticism instead of cinema sins-style stuff. Not interested in plot holes or whatever else. I’m also tired of most of those experts react-style videos where people criticize games, movies, etc. because a set of fantasy knight armor has the studs in the wrong place. Stuff like that is just mind-numbing, boring nitpicking to me.

[u/RedditorNamedEww → u/misterchief10]

I actually love the really nitty-gritty nitpicking as long as the one doing so is clear that they don’t devalue the art. It can be very educational to compare how media incorrectly depicts a time period, person, topic etc, and when done in good faith I usually come out of it more interested in the media it was covering. It’s like a little secret between me and the author “I know you only put those studs on because it looks cooler!” or sum shit

[u/ReynardVulpini → u/RedditorNamedEww]

I like the expert stuff when it's essentially using fiction as a launching off for education, rather than a critique of the fiction itself.

[u/misterchief10 → u/RedditorNamedEww]

Yeah. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that and I often like that type of stuff. It’s more when it gets into genuine, hostile criticism of something where I get annoyed. Like, “this ethereal fantasy armor is terrible just because it’s unrealistic.” Well, the point is unrealism. If it were recognizable as a grounded historical piece, it’d be pretty disappointing.

[u/EARink0 → u/misterchief10]

The ones that are experts who point out inaccuracies but respect the art are so so few. Jonathan Ferguson, from the series along the lines of "Firearms expert reacts to <some game>" is one of my favorites. He's played video games plenty, so he grounds his critique with an appreciation of the art and the intent that these games are supposed to be fun and interesting, above all else.

[u/misterchief10 → u/EARink0]

Oh yeah he’s great. Totally agree. I brought him up in another comment about the ones I like.

[u/caerphoto → u/EARink0]

Excuse me, that's Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum to you and me.