In this age of consumerism film criticism all over the world - in America first but also in Europe - has become something that caters for the movie industry instead of being a counterbalance.
Interpretation
Film criticism has shifted from being an independent evaluation to one that serves the interests of the movie industry.
Wim Wenders highlights a critical observation about contemporary film criticism, suggesting that it has become too aligned with the movie industry, prioritizing commercial interests over objective analysis. This phenomenon reflects a broader trend within consumer culture, where critics may prioritize the industry’s goals rather than serving as a necessary counterbalance that encourages artistic integrity and innovation.
In practice
In a film studies class, this quote could be used to discuss the role of critics in shaping the perception of movies.
The most political decision you make is where you direct people's eyes. In other words, what you show people, day in and day out, is political...And the most politically indoctrinating thing you can do to a human being is to show him, every day, that there can be no change.
But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive.
Every photo, every 'ONCE' in time is also the beginning of a story starting 'once upon a time...' Every photo is the first frame of a movie.
Any film that supports the idea that things can be changed is a great film in my eyes.
What is a television apparatus to man, who has only to shut his eyes to see the most inaccessible regions of the seen and the never seen, who has only to imagine in order to pierce through walls and cause all the planetary Baghdads of his dreams to rise from the dust.
I can't just make a song people can dance in a club to... it still has to be real.
We are trying to communicate that which lies in our deepest heart, which has no words, which can only be hinted at through the means of a story. And somehow, miraculously, a story that comes from deep in my heart calls from a reader that which is deepest in his or her heart, and together from our secret hidden selves we create a story that neither of us could have told alone.
Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction.
I have made a silent compact with myself not to change a line of what I write. I am not interested in perfecting my thoughts, nor my actions.
I have an impulse to write all over the orange walls- I need an alphabet of endings ripped out of books, of hands pulled off of clocks, of cold stones, of shoes filled with nothing but wind.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.