20 Examples of Criticism

Criticism is an expository – argumentative text  that summarizes the fundamental aspects of a cultural product (which may be a literary work, an essay , a film, a theatrical performance, a visual creation, among others) and also offers a well-founded evaluation of its quality by a critic or specialist in the subject.

This is a text that combines characteristics of expository and argumentative texts because it pursues two objectives:

• Informative. To provide information, such as the content of an art exhibition or a synopsis of a film, among others.
• Persuasive. Present an assessment of the reviewed product and demonstrate the truthfulness, plausibility, or reality of the critic’s arguments.
• Continue with: Literary Criticism

General characteristics of criticism

• It constitutes an autonomous text that reformulates, synthesizes, or refers to another text. Therefore, it must be understandable to all readers, even if they are unfamiliar with the work on which it is based.
• The present tense is used to express opinions or commonly accepted ideas, and to give the text relevance and relevance.
• The third person is used alternately with the first person singular or plural, so that the reader feels involved and the persuasive effect is accentuated.
• Denotative terms are combined to explain or expound, and evaluative vocabulary is used to communicate opinions.
• Politeness strategies are used to highlight positive aspects and mitigate negative comments.
• Praise. To highlight the author’s merits.
• Friendly persuasion. To make explicit your affinity with the work being reviewed and, in this way, get the audience to rate it positively.
• Alternating positive and negative comments. To soften negative judgments.
• I’ll start with the positive aspects, to moderate the negative assessments that remain at the end of the text.

Structure of criticism

A critique can be organized in this way:

• Introduction. Presentation of the subject matter.
• Expository summary of the cultural product. Brief description of the argument.
• Argumentative critical commentary. A critic’s assessment of a proposed cultural product, contrasting its various aspects with arguments or opinions.
• Conclusion. Closing of the writing in which the critic reaffirms or explains his or her point of view.

Linguistic resources to reformulate the argument

To present the essence of the source text, the following linguistic procedures can be applied:

• Discourse markers. These are used to describe the content and structure of the source text. For example: first, then, lastly, in the last chapter, finally, later, lastly.
• Verbs introducing the reported discourse. Also known as verbs of saying, these present the critic’s assessments. For example: affirm, maintain, emphasize, point out, admit, offer, protest, indicate, observe, etc.

Examples of criticism

1. Film review. Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay’s new film, tells the imaginary story of a possible meteorite impact on Earth. Significant in size—slightly larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs—its trajectory indicates it would reach our planet about six months after being identified and could cause a supermassive extinction event. A PhD student at Michigan State University, Kate Diabiasky (played by Jennifer Lawrence) and her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo Di Caprio) discover this and try to get governments and politicians, as well as the general population, to pay attention to the issue. The film, which features numerous A-list stars, such as Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalament, among others, attempts a satire in which it aims to make it clear that humanity is a dumb species, whose narrow-mindedness makes it unable to measure the gravity of the situation it faces, so it is doomed, sooner or later, to extinction. However, what could have been a cynical analysis of human behavior is reduced to a series of cartoonish characters who alternate screaming and shouting at the camera. The director’s own desperation, weariness, and anger are reflected in a manner too linear to be considered a sharp and intelligent critique. In conclusion, the lack of subtlety, a clever script, and better-defined characters reduce it to an effervescent and cathartic response from a director outraged by the epochal changes taking place in our societies.
2. Art exhibition review.ArteBa is the most important art fair in Latin America and, in 2021, it was held again, this time in the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires, after having been canceled on previous occasions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, in its new venue and with significant changes to its schedule, it exhibited works by more than 300 artists represented by 59 galleries from Argentina. In addition, a wide variety of activities were held both on and off-site. Considered a “showcase of contemporary art,” it lasts four days and brings together gallery owners, artists, and curators with people interested in acquiring works of diverse nature. Although many critics recognize this exhibition as having very high-quality works, others find it opportunistic and superficial artistic expressions, sold at ridiculously low prices to a public that knows less than it appears. In a completely dollarized market, artistic quality is often relegated to other characteristics such as the impact or amazement it can generate at first impression, or the size, color, or materials used. Many of the works demonstrate a lack of creativity, originality, and even a lack of taste.

The problem is that the fair’s selection of artists lacks strict evaluation and, as such, is poorly targeted at the average public, who form an overvalued impression of low-quality works. For the Fair not to lose the positive reputation it has acquired over its thirty years of existence, it must always maintain strict criteria in the selection of exhibitors and not lose sight of the important role it plays in shaping opinion.

3. Book Review. ” Daddy’s Leap,” by Martín Sivak, is a moving and beautiful book in which the author recalls his father’s life, attempting an interpretive reading of his personality and actions that will allow him to understand his final decision: to jump into the void from an apartment on the sixteenth floor. Owner of a contradictory and complex personality, Martín defines his father alternately as a communist banker, a political prisoner, and an exile. The text combines family memories that include the development of his grandfather’s economic empire and the double kidnapping of his uncle with the peculiar life of his father, idealistic and melancholic, whom he has not stopped missing. Martín Sivak, a journalist and writer who has already delved into the lives of personalities such as Evo Morales, Héctor Magnetto, Hugo Banzer Suárez, and Mariano Grondona in previous works, dares this time to tell a painful and personal story to venture an answer to a question that perhaps has no answer.
4. Review of a photography exhibition. “Santa Claus”is the name of the exhibition that revives the photographic work of the Escarria sisters, who portrayed emblematic figures of revue theater and popular culture in the world of entertainment in Buenos Aires. The exhibition will be on display at Malba until March 14, 2022. Curated by Sofía Dourron and with the collaboration of Sol Miraglia, the exhibition is free of charge. The exhibition presents part of the legacy of the studio of sisters Luisa Escarria (1929-2019) and Chela Escarria (1930), from Cali, Colombia. The selection of images includes productions from 1964 to 1980, focusing on revue theater, one of the most developed artistic spaces in this city since the 1920s. In addition to the unique perspective of both photographers, the exhibition reflects the intersection of a phenomenon of Argentine popular culture and the political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that have taken place in each decade. Among the figures portrayed are Ethel and Gogó Rojo, Mimí and Norma Pons, Nélida Lobato, Nélida Roca, Susana Giménez, Moria Casán, and comedians Alberto Olmedo and Jorge Porcel, among others. This valuable exhibition explores the domestic setting of the studio, a space of intimacy for the artists and a space of creativity for the photographers.

In this way, the exhibition emphasizes the role that women photographers have played in the construction of cultural icons. Until now, they have not been valued within the canons of artistic photography.
It also allows us to explore the phenomenon of revue theater, which has been little studied, and the evolution of consumption and the construction of images of those involved, as well as the changes in canons of body image, desire, and identity, which also constitute a part of local culture. Without a doubt, this is an exhibition worth visiting and one that will generate much discussion.

5. Restaurant review.Winner of two Michelin stars, Maido is a unique experience that tests all our senses. This Lima restaurant is widely known for its dishes that fuse traditional Peruvian and Japanese cuisine. As its website states: “Like family trees, cuisines are constantly redefined, their identities enriched by an intense intercultural exchange that has been the basis of all civilization since humans shared their first sounds, products, ideas, and customs.” Helmed by chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura, born in Lima but to a family from Osaque, Maido has been named the best restaurant in Latin America for two consecutive years. Micha’s dishes are anything but simple. Its Peruvian-style seafood, but with the subtlety of sushi, has made it a favorite with the public. The restaurant also offers a “Nikkei Experience,” a twelve-course tasting where fish predominates: dishes such as Paracas scallops with green beans and miso are presented alongside crab and tapioca. Next comes the beef cheek dish, served with tsukemono and a cloud of jora corn. For dessert, diners can’t leave without trying the delicate blend of lucuma ice cream, topped with soy sauce and macambo foam. Finally, the ambiance of the place, its design, lighting, and music, along with the chefs who greet each new guest with a cheerful “maido” (“welcome” in Japanese), contribute to a warm experience worthy of five stars.

More examples of criticism

1. Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilizationby Richard Sennett . The author offers an analysis of the architectural features of the most important cities of Western civilization, from ancient times to the present, considering the bodily experience each offered to its inhabitants, as reflected in the way each organized their private and social lives.
2. Philosophy of Theatre, by Jorge Dubatti (volumes I, II, III) . The author analyzes different theatrical practices, on the specific stage of the city of Buenos Aires, to understand its relationship with other entities and events, political, historical, particular or universal.
3. The Blind Field. Essays on Realism in Cinema, by Pascal Bonitzer . The author offers an analysis of major works of classical cinema (by authors such as the Lumiére brothers, Griffith, Eisenstein, Bazin, Rossellini, Hitchcock, and Godard), to understand the ties that unite these works, representing the most resonant moments of this art form, with reality, through the different resources and styles at play on the screen.
4. Cinema and Painting, by Pascal Bonitzer . The author analyzes the relationships that often arise in subtle ways between cinema and painting, considering aesthetics, movement, points of view, and other aspects.
5. Ways of Seeing, by John Berger . The author analyzes the different ways of appreciating pictorial art and photography that, in his view, can be “read” in the sense that they provide direct information. He also proposes ways of reading and interpreting paintings that differ from the traditional analysis of these works.
6. Hasper, by various authors . Various authors analyze the work of Graciela Hasper, a contemporary Argentine artist who continues the abstract tradition and whose works are mostly found at the Ruth Benzacar art gallery.
7. Kinetic Art and Neokineticism, by Elena Oliveras . The author analyzes the presence of kinetic art in contemporary painting and sculpture, based on observation and research into the work of five artists.
8. 33 Artists in 3 Acts, by Sarah Thornton . The author analyzes the work of thirty-three contemporary artists, whom she considers fundamental to the current art scene, to highlight their importance in the development of new trends and the renewal of the language of art.
9. Becoming Contemporary: The Transformations of Art in the Contemporary Agora, by Boris Groys . In a series of essays, the author analyzes the evolution of art and the various aspects of this transformation captured in major works of each era.
10. Against Interpretation, by Susan Sontag . This book compiles numerous essays by the author, in which she discusses and analyzes the work of numerous established authors and figures in the art world, such as Sartre, Godard, Simone Weil, and Beckett.
11. Linguistic Turn, Literary Theory, and Critical Theory, by Frank Ankersmit . The author presents a series of essays in which he analyzes the relationship between language and reality to understand the narratives with which the past is constructed.
12. On Writing, by Virginia Woolf . The author expresses a series of reflections on writing technique and the creative process, and critically analyzes and explains the works of colleagues.
13. Feminist Literary Theory, by Toril Moi . The author reflects on the relationships between the problems presented in a literary text and the perspective and priorities upheld by feminist politics.
14. Powers of Perversion, by Julia Kristeva . The author analyzes Céline’s work to understand and, at the same time, explain how he achieves the fascinating and mysterious effect of his texts.
15. Understanding Photography, by John Berger. In this series of essays, the British artist and intellectual brings together his most brilliant reflections to analyze the work of photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, and Eugene Smith.