Welcome to the latest season of State of the Arts Arizona, a podcast of KJZZ’s Hear Arizona.
First up, we’re looking at the role of cultural critics. They’re the people who make a living by exploring meaning in what we create and consume, like films, art, food, even podcasts. Think of them as curious guides whose objectivity and skill can help the rest of us decide what is worth our time, our money, and very often both.
“My favorite albums, my favorite bands, I was introduced to by critics who were able to place them in a context that, when I read it, I thought, ‘Oh, well, this is for me,” Ed Masley, a popular-music critic for the Arizona Republic, told State of the Arts host Robrt Pela.
It wasn’t that long ago, Pela says, that cultural critics were expected to know well the medium they were reviewing and use critical thinking skills to analyze what they were looking at with objectivity. Pela is a longtime critic and journalist working in metro Phoenix.
“Our editors relied on us to know which movie to see, or which restaurant to eat at. We were expected to know whether the leading lady was properly cast and well directed,” Pela said. “Readers put their faith in us, knowing we’d been writing about this subject for a long while.”
At a time when most people get headlines and opinions from social media, is cultural criticism still relevant?
Pela checks in with fellow critics, a social media influencer and members of the Valley arts community to find out.
