Film and entertainment journalism is a topic I’m very passionate about and invested in. Following how film (and television) is reported in the media, and social media in particular, is a subject that is very close to my heart. My Twitter follows are a mix of random feel-good accounts (like WeRateDogs), friends I’ve made in person and online, random celebrities I find funny or engaging in some way, and others. But what probably makes up the majority of my social media follows is the film community, whether it be studios, directors, writers, and especially critics.
A few years ago I was working, maybe not entirely happily, but at least contentedly, in my regular 9-5 job. I had never found something that I was exceptionally passionate about career-wise, and I expected that that would always be the case. Not everyone can “do what you love,” or even ever know what that means for them. At least not in a way they could build into an actual career. But then I started listening to a few pop culture podcasts by some well-known and respected voices in media criticism, and suddenly it clicked for me. This was something that I could not only do, but that I could really love doing. Something that eventually led me to decide to go to college for the first time, in my thirties. Writing about film and television culture, and pop culture at large, was what I wanted to do. And through that I discovered the fascinating and often complicated online culture surrounding the film and entertainment industries.
The way film and culture critics (a lot of whom I follow across various social and digital media platforms) are received online has been a surprising and interesting foray into that world. Between sites like Rotten Tomatoes – where unprofessional viewers can leave their own reviews and shape (for better or worse) how films perform in the box office, to the often toxic elements of online fandoms and how they interact with the professional critics, I believe there is a lot to learn about how we as a society, and as sometimes clashing cultures, engage with media.
