User:Mears

From MediaStudies

Pomona senior Steve Mears finds himself on the Film Studies track of this fine major of ours. His dream since the age of five (when he was dismayed to learn people work for a living) has been to somehow combine his two consuming passions: watching movies and being critical. Film critic thus seemed a logical choice. "So, you want to be the next Roger Ebert?" Mears wishes he had a shiny dime for each time that question has been posed. But yes, that's the general idea.

Mears has read his share of media theory and cultural criticism, and is beginning to wonder if we aren't sometimes outsmarting ourselves with this line of attack. Everyone reading these words likely has substantial knowledge of the Gaze, the hyperreal, etc., but less of a foundation in our movie heritage. Mears is no apologist for Hollywood drek, but would like to bear in mind that films can be savored (or shunned) on artistic grounds, too. In other words, he'd like to start having conversations about why movies matter in the first place, and not merely why they're pernicious purveyers of patriarchal propoganda.

Though everything related to film history/criticism sparks his interest, Mears is especially concerned with the great filmmakers themselves (Hitchcock, Truffaut, Scorsese, pick your poison).

Senior Project Outline

My project is the construction and maintenance of a website consisting of:

-my own film reviews
-editorials on emerging trends and tendencies in cinema
-a range of retrospective pieces (e.g. tributes to departed or overlooked figures in film)
-miscellaneous essays (the year’s most impressive/underrated releases; my alternate Oscars, the Golden Steves)

The purpose of the undertaking is to develop my voice as a film commentator, create a forum for the exhibition of my work, stimulate productivity on my part, and impart a sense of the routine I will face in my ideal career (film critic).

This is the work in progress:

[1]

Presently I have two extended (1000+ word) essays. Topics discussed include:

1) The recent death of acting icon Paul Newman and its significance to the film industry

-I regard him the last clear-cut example of the "great actor-movie star" (i.e., a successful star of mainstream fare whose performances are consistently inspired and idiosyncratic in ways the mainstream tends to discourage)
-I contrast the implications of "great actor" and "movie star" and conjecture on the growing futility of inhabiting both realms
-I place Newman's career in a historical context and consider his successors, purported and real

2) The year 2008 and its cinematic output

-At first glance it seems fairly undistinguished, but several outstanding features have slipped through the cracks
-I comment on their merits and discuss the widening gap between the meaningful and the popular

Rationale:

Advantages of blogs aside, I perceive a decline in informed criticism since their advent, or perhaps it would make more sense to call it a proliferation of uninformed criticism. Many reviews seem to exist in a vacuum, with no acknowledgment of films/filmmakers not under direct scrutiny (e.g. no mention of the influences on the director of the film being reviewed). In many cases, they consist of pedantic plot synopses conjoined with cut-and-dried, "is it good?"-based assessments lacking depth of analysis. My project will (hopefully) serve as a rejoinder to the encapsulation mentality.

Goals:

-to affirm and augment the style of criticism I respect
-to afford a stronger sense of my own position within the framework of film consumption
-to hone my ability to appraise film analytically but approachably, with a firm commitment to style stopping short of eclipsing the objects of my focus

Resources:

-primarily my own knowledge and perceptions
-information and modes of critiquing acquired from 5C media studies courses
-some limited theory, keeping in mind this is a personal development project, not a research one

Visually the site has a classic movie motif, evidenced by a portrait of Orson Welles and a Godard quote in the heading. This speaks to my reverence for cinema of the past, which will likely manifest itself in every piece I write.