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chelseadoherty's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Incest, Sexual assault, Addiction, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Mass/school shootings, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, and Suicide
cpalmerpatel's review against another edition
This would've been a great book if they had included just a little bit of critical research. Their "lit review" consisted of emailing an old professor to ask him what's written on the topic and upon being told there wasn't anything, set out to fill the gap with their own personal opinions.
I'm not entirely sure who's the intended audience for this book. Other film critics? Or maybe her usual audience? ie the people that turn to film critics as the authority on whether a film is good or bad. She drops in names of people without explaining 1) why they're famous and 2) what they've done that was monstrous, assuming you already know and it leaves you turning to google to fill in the gaps. When she discusses a film, she talks about characters and setting in a way that assumes that everyone has seen it and appreciates it's "genius". I'm not convinced that any work of art can be described as "genius" and it left me with the feeling that the author wrote the entire book in order to justify why she continues to love her favourite movies even though the men creating them were rapists.
She also focused more on men and when the discussion turned to women it centred on the classic dillemma of the working mother trying to balance mum mode with work mode, except exasperated here because art ("real art"?) isn't "work" but a madness or passion.
I'm not entirely sure who's the intended audience for this book. Other film critics? Or maybe her usual audience? ie the people that turn to film critics as the authority on whether a film is good or bad. She drops in names of people without explaining 1) why they're famous and 2) what they've done that was monstrous, assuming you already know and it leaves you turning to google to fill in the gaps. When she discusses a film, she talks about characters and setting in a way that assumes that everyone has seen it and appreciates it's "genius". I'm not convinced that any work of art can be described as "genius" and it left me with the feeling that the author wrote the entire book in order to justify why she continues to love her favourite movies even though the men creating them were rapists.
She also focused more on men and when the discussion turned to women it centred on the classic dillemma of the working mother trying to balance mum mode with work mode, except exasperated here because art ("real art"?) isn't "work" but a madness or passion.
It was okay, and sparked some ideas but not as stimulating as I thought it was going to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual harassment, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Incest
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexism, and Transphobia
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