role of a critic

The role of a critic is to be able to study and analyze something through the lens of objectivity. A critic should be able to remove themselves from their own feeling and emotion and objectively make observations about whatever it is they are criticizing. The role of a critic of popular culture specifically should be able to analyze popular culture to see why it is popular, what the underlying aspects are of whatever it is they are looking at that cause people to be attracted to it and take it up, and understand the effects that popular culture has on a person or a group of people. I believe in the class I am supposed to be objectively learning. Learning about methods of criticism, about other people’s ideas and theories and deciding my own, and learning the lenses of criticism through which to study popular culture. I think that we study popular culture in order to better understand ourselves. By studying popular culture we see inside people to what they desire and what they respond to and by knowing what people in general desire and care about, we are able to discover what we ourselves care about and respond to. Understanding the why behind the popular nature of different aspects of popular culture not only offers a lens of insight into society or a subset of society but also into oneself and I believe it is very important for every person to know themselves. I hope to get out of the class a little more insight into the mass mindset of society and a little more insight into myself and my own innate desires and respondents.