The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism: The Anxiety of Authority [Paperback]

Film criticism is in crisis. Bemoaning the current anarchy of Internet amateurs and the lack of authoritative critics in a time of laid-off film reporters, many journalists and scholars claim that cultural commentary has become dumbed down and fragmented in the digital age. Mattias Frey, arguing against this idea, examines the history of film discourse in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He demonstrates that since its origins, film criticism has always found itself in crisis: the need to show critical authority and the anxieties over challenges to that authority have been long-standing concerns.

Mattias Freyis senior lecturer in film at the University of Kent and editor of the journalFilm Studies.

“Compelling. . . . Frey demonstrates that in all arts criticism, crisis is a continual and perpetual cycle. Recommended.”