i'm taking this journalism III class called, "Arts Reporting & Reviewing" where my journalistic values are twisted into criticism formulated by my own choice of words. for once i don't have to write beats about public safety officers on segways or about the overcrowding of USF anymore, i get to be free. i get to be creative. i get to play on words and steer away from news columns. i get to write about something i've always wanted to try my hand at. i get to review art in a very critical manner.
now i took this class because 1) it's required in my minor, 2) i wanted to write under a different style, and 3) i wanted to write about something different; something that would be a column instead of a full-on hard news article.
but i'm slowly realizing that i have a harder time writing reviews than articles. it may seem ironic, since reviews are basically just you writing you're own opinion on something. whereas, an article requires research, reliable sources, and investigation. for some reason though, i find accumulating a clear opinion in my case is difficult for me. i'm a pretty chill but indecisive individual so maybe that's why it's so hard for me to write critically?
in the class we've already done a restaurant review in which i talked about La Victoria Taqueria a.k.a. "La Vics." i had a lot of fun with that review, but it took me forever to start it. i don't know why. although, it was definitely more interesting and entertaining to write with more adjectives than straight facts, i still had a difficult time figuring out what i could make of the restaurant or how i could illustrate it to my reader.
we also just finished a movie review on Woody Allen's film: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." now i'm not a movie buff at all. shit, one of my favorite movies is the 80's flick: "Ferris Buellers Day Off," just because... just because i enjoyed it. anyway, i watched the Woody Allen film with no previous knowledge about the movie or the director, i just went in there blind and open-minded. which in turn kind of killed me because after the end of the movie, i wrote a rather honorable review on the movie when my classmates absolutely HATED it. they said it was one of Allen's worse work yet and that the story and the characters were too fake and complicated.
wtf?! were we watching the same movie? then again, i probably have a different mindset then all of my classmates. then again, i don't watch a lot of movies and it doesn't take much to please me. (then again, i streamed the video online free of charge the night it was due, haha)it's hard for me to NOT be entertained. i can pretty much watch anything as long as it's not horrible. and i didn't think this movie was horrible. but apparently, i'm the only one who thought that. so as i sat in class wondering what my grade will be on this review, i also wondered if i'm doing this all wrong? or if art can really be reviewed critically?
it's difficult to grasp the concept of art and to compose your own opinions on it. everyone has their own definition on what art essentially is. our own perceptions on different kinds of art are so general and unique, who's to say who is right in this case? the difficulty and variation of art interpretation in this class is giving me a hard time. i'm already not so much an opinionated person, so to review a movie for me is like watching tv at night. it's just on, unless i find something interesting about what's on screen. it's just for entertainment and i hate to criticize it.
gawd, i love this class haha, it's got me trippin over what i like and don't like. as difficult as it is for me to formulate my thoughts, this class has got me writing. i definitely can't wait till we move on to reviewing concerts and spoken word artists - subjects more along my steez. maybe then i'll have a better grasp on what i'm writing about.
so please if you want me to review a movie, let's just say i'll probably say i liked it when you didn't. and hated it when you did. which might just be the beauty of my reviews.
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