SXSWORLD

Panel To Explore How Twitter is Changing the Film Criticism Dynamic by Alison Willmore niche followings and spur discussions years after the fi rst appearance, Twitter has allowed people from around the globe to connect about the things they love or hate, and applications like GetGlue provide a place to share one's media consumption with friends or the world at large. But with these new platforms have come some major changes in what it means and how to be a critic, with a premium and added pressure on being the fastest or most clever. "Arts Criticism 140 Characters at a Time," a panel coming to SXSW Film 2012 and organized by Time maga- zine, will tackle some of the issues of being a critic in the Twitter age. Th e panel will bring together James Poniewozik of Time and Emily Nussbaum of New York magazine, critics from traditional print outlets who have used social media to keep conversations going the best songs of the year or whether David Fincher is a better director than David Lynch. While Facebook has made it possible for cult objects to fi nd their own T articles; GetGlue CEO Alex Iskold; FILM CRIT HULK! (the Twitter persona-turned- thoughtful long-form writer at the Badass Digest); and NPR editor and blogger Linda Holmes, who will serve as the moderator. According to Poniewozik, who helped come up with potential panel- ists, the goal was to fi nd people who do not just use social media as a platform to broadcast what they have written elsewhere, but who use it "as a tool of criticism in itself in terms of developing ideas, fl eshing them out and bouncing things off the hive mind." For Poniewozik, one of the benefi ts of the proliferation of social media has been the way in which it has made criticism more democratic. "In the old days, you were either anonymous or you were published," he notes. First with blogging and now microblogging and social net- working, the barrier to entry is lower in that talented writers can attract attention via likes, retweets and links getting passed around. "It creates more of an opportunity for quality to win out." Th is also means that Twitter and the like can become forms of person al branding, and though he feels there is nothing wrong with using social media as a kind of self-marketing tool, there is also a discussion to be had about how it is all too possible to go overboard. "Most of us know that person who's just constantly re-tweeting their own praise," he laughs. "If you're not actually using it as an earnest eff ort to engage in the fi eld of idea, then it's eventually going to seem bogus." between James Poniewozik Alex Iskold 36 SXSW ORLD /FEBRUAR Y 2012 hanks to social media, now television, fi lm and music fuel 24/7 conversations, with journalists, fans and creators chiming in to off er their thoughts on the latest episode of Breaking Bad or safety of everyone present, he'll be appearing in David Banner-mode on the panel, though not using his real name), social media became a way to interact with critics whose work he'd admired. "AT FIRST IT JUST OPPORTUNITY FOR CRAFTY ONE LINERS, BUT HULK THEN REALIZED THE CAPACITY FOR INTERAC- TIVITY," he writes. "TWITTER'S ABILITY TO CONNECT PEOPLE WITH COMMON INTERESTS IS JAW-DROPPING. HULK HAD BEEN READING THE ONLINE CRITICAL COMMUNITY FOR YEARS, AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS A PLACE FOR DIALOGUE WITH THOSE VERY SAME PEOPLE." to a cocktail party "where everyone has a megaphone … It's a social environment in which people have diff erent kinds of interactions." While she agrees that there is an argument to be made for how, in His writing has attracted famous followers like Patton Oswalt and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, caused Edgar Wright to deem him "the smartest critic on the block. He smashes it every time" and ultimately secured him a column on Badass Digest, where he has off ered all-caps thoughts on everything from Putney Swope to Batman to the benefi ts of communal moviegoing. Whereas Poniewozik refers to social media as a kind of eco- system, Nussbaum compares it the realm of television coverage, criticism has been aff ected by recap- ping, she does not feel the same debate can or should be applied to social media, which she believes has a happier relationship to longer- form coverage and is not in danger of replacing it. Instead, social media platforms provide a place for interaction and public dialogues, though there can be a danger with that open a forum. "Th e tricky thing about Twitter is that all of the creative people that I'm writing criticism about are also on Twitter," she sug- gests. "Th ere's a slowly building etiquette about how to cope with that, and it's genuinely nerve-wracking." While social media is throwing new complications into the critical mix, it's also generating ways for fresh voices to be heard, and it is certain that this panel discussion will spur responses on Facebook, Twitter and beyond that will carry this exchange from SXSW to the greater online world. ■ For more information on "Arts Criticism 140 Chracters at a Time" and other panels, visit sxsw.com/fi lm. For someone like FILM CRIT HULK! (who notes that for the JOSEPH MORAN PHOTO COURTESY OF GETGLUE

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