posted 17th June 2023
What did you do? How would you define your life's work? I wrote things. I acted. I made films. I produced plays on the London stage. What ever the answer you gave to the above questions, it can only be superior to the answers a critic could possibly give. I started to ponder on the question after a famous film critic panned one of my favourite movies. Was it that I was wounded by the negativity directed at a film that defined my childhood? No. Culture is a very personal thing. Books I love are disliked by others. Actors I don't like are adored by millions. Music I value is dismissed by many. So, why was I so incensed by the critic who shall remain unnamed arrogant contempt for this film?
When I start writing a novel, I'm beginning a journey. A voyage towards a destination that I have decided on but wish to fill in with character and story telling that I hope grips a reader and draws them in to other worlds. It's hard work, working full time in the day and writing in the evenings and weekends. The dedication it requires often means I'm working fifty hour weeks and not pursuing my interests with as much freedom as I'd like. Reading. How I'd love more time to read. More time to listen to music and watch new movies. More time to engage in new historical eras. I take pride in finishing a novel. It's an achievement that I look back on with fondness.
The life of a critic seems an empty one to me. To make a living by degrading the work of others is like a vulture praying on the dying. Like a con artist trying to cheat people of their life savings. The late critic, Alexander Walker, was no fan of the work of late filmmaker Ken Russell whose film The Devils Walker hated. During a heated televised exchange Russell rolled up the newspaper that Walker's review was in and hit him on the head with it. Ken Russell was asked later if he regretted the incident and simply stated that he wished he'd used an iron bar instead of a newspaper. I say three cheers for Ken Rusell. To have to have your life's work ridiculed must be a challenge indeed, and it must be extremely difficult to maintain your composure under such provocation.
I wonder if you haven't enjoyed reading this article. I saw a film the other day I didn't like. I tried reading a classic novel that I'd never read before but couldn't develop a relationship with it. I just couldn't engage with the music I was listening to during the week. We all have our likes. We all have our affections. And, of course, we all have the opposite feelings of dislikes and hostile feelings. But do we make our living by lampooning things we don't like. No thank you. I'll leave that to the critics.
