Abstract

Swedish film criticism today

- A study in its existence from the film critics’ point of view

Because film criticism has changed significantly over the years, this paper will hopefully clarify what the film criticism in Sweden means today. In this research paper, six Swedish film critics have been interviewed to find out their views and interpretations in the matter. Rónán McDonald claims in his book The Death of the Critic, that the critic as it used to be is now dead. By this he means the traditional New Critic where the writer focuses on writing objectively rather than subjectively.  He also claims that because of the introduction to cultural studies in the 1970’s and Internet and social networks today, the critic has lost its meaning and that the critic has long lost its purpose and power.

For this paper, a qualitative method was required in order to reach a result to its main purpose, to see what the Swedish film criticism looks like today and if McDonald’s theories can be found in Swedish criticism. The interviews that are done for this paper is the research material used and analyzed in order to come up with answers regarding Swedish criticism today.  Interviews have been provided by phone or email. An interview form has been used for all participating film critics in this paper, so whether the film critics have provided their answers by email or by phone, the questions have been the same.

The main theory for this paper has been based on McDonald’s claim that the critic today is dead.  However, another theory that has been used, is the one Magdalena Nordenson mentions in her book Opinionsjournalistik, att skriva ledare, kolumner och recensioner. She claims that due to the fact that everyone has a right to critic today, the professional critics have taken a snotty and elitist attitude towards criticism. This paper shows that it is the quite opposite. Swedish film critics today welcome everyone’s opinion and they see themselves as guides to help when the production of films today come in a much wider range than back in the 1970’s.

While McDonald’s theory turns out to be partly true, this research proves it is no longer provided the way it used to be in the 1970’s and earlier. Even though the change started back then, it is even more progressed today, meaning that the criticism has even less space than it had in the 1970’s and more opinions are available due to the use of Internet, social media and media platforms. Although McDonald claims the critic is dead, this research shows that it is not, only that it has changed its original form and purpose. It used to be a discussion between professionals, while today the film critics in Sweden are guides who let everyone join the discussion.  However, the criticism today has proven to be a little too opinionated, but thanks to the internet there is a chance for the survival of the kind of critic McDonald claims to be dead. It is not dead. It is only adjusting parallel to the digital changes and what comes along with these changes, as they are done in the world we live in today.