InsertAuthorHere wrote:There's legitimate merit to discussing the cons of something and why you disliked it. By exposing what was done wrong, you can show the damage those mistakes caused and educate others to recognize those issues and strive to correct them. Just pointing out what works doesn't help anyone, because they're already good at that; they need to see what still needs improvement to become better.
I agree with nearly all of your post, but I guess - and I'm not saying salaried critics > proles, or at least I hope I'm not - but the reviews by the AV Club's Todd VanDerWerff and some others differ from the video reviews hugely, not in quality necessarily but in what they are actually examining about the thing.
I know there's a pressure for people to get these things up on the Saturday or Sunday, and the ones I've seen in my limited experience have been plenty articulate, but there's a lot of "this sucks, that was stupid, that was a cute moment for this character", which is mostly valid as a perspective, but I don't see as too different to a post on a messageboard by someone who's thought pretty hard about an episode and tried to construct a critique.
Which is fine and probably all a lot of the reviewers think this is, but... I dunno. The video Scion posted opens with a lot of "this episode was shit, the breezies sucked. I hated these creatures, they were so needy and pointless", and I get that they're going for a Morning Zoo talk radio-type vibe, but man, I don't care if you thought the breezies were pointless, that's not a review for me.
It's not like reviewers don't get into themes or whatever, but the need to have content up asap means they often run through a laundry list of things about an episode - that was cool, that could have been done better, that character was written funny there, the subtext of this seems to be, etc - mixed with swearing or humour or some grading system the guy's made up or however else they individuate themselves.
I'm not saying someone has to have read Pauline Kael to review a cartoon horse show, but most of the review stuff I've seen skews toward episode recaps with colour commentary, and it's a shame no ones trying anything more than that. Maybe it's because they're aimed at ultra-fans only, it'd be interesting to see a youtube review who talk about this stuff as if every person listening didn't know everything about the show and the episode before they click play.
Two great bits from Todd VDW's write-ups, since I skimmed over them again in writing this.
From a season one review:
The best word to describe it is probably “relentless,” in that it’s relentlessly cute, relentlessly happy, and relentlessly entertaining. In its own way, it reminds me of a movie like Singin’ In The Rain, in that both properties aim to overwhelm any cynicism directed at them via sheer and utter joyfulness. It seems like it should be easy to watch either property with an ironic sneer of detachment, but both utterly wear down all defenses.
From A Canterlot Wedding:
Yeah, this is still a show where the power of love conquers all. But it’s a show where the sheer, earnest hope that such a thing might be true carries you over the innate cynicism you’ll probably have about the very idea. My Little Pony acknowledges to its target audience of 6-year-old girls that, yes, they can be anything they want to be, be that the more athletic Rainbow Dash or the fashion-oriented Rarity. But at the same time, the series acknowledges that this idea is a little bit scary, that growing up is an isolating thing that can make you feel all alone, that it’s sometimes hard to make friends and just as hard to keep them. Yet buried down within that is a message that cuts across all ages: If we just tried to be a little bit better to each other, wouldn’t everything run that much more smoothly?
It would just be cool if someone was trying to examine the show in that light, in terms of the emotional messages and wider stuff. I think focus on the episode can be interesting, but can end up being a little forest for the trees. Was Pinkie annoying this week y/n? etc.
Apart from anything else, I guess the extracts above imply that the show is worth discussing in that light.