Roger Ebert just posted a thought-provoking piece on his blog about the death of serious film criticism (and respectable newspaper journalism in general) and the rise of the Celebrity Cult. One of the more disturbing manifestations of this trend: the AP recently restricted all entertainment writers to 500 words or less, whether it's an interview, film review, think piece, etc. There goes "The Sacrifice" :-)Of course, it's ironic that the man who reduced film reviews to the orientation of his opposable digits is lamenting the death of thoughtful criticism.
Frankly, I couldn't care less what newspapers do. They're the real dying breed, and these desperate actions are their death throws. Serious film criticism, on the other hand, isn't dying. It's just that its venues have changed with the times. And I also couldn't care less about celebrity culture. In this world, there's room for both. Most people just occasionally dabble in media-driven obsessions. But if you want to spend your life neck-deep in all of the celeb-sewage oozing out of Hollywood, I won't stop you.
