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Shane Lynch

Professor Wilson

Writing 2

21 April 2017

WP1 Draft Film Reviews and Online News Articles

People come to a film review expecting its content to consist of personal,

unaltered opinions from the writer with the intention of letting them know whether

a film is worth their time, while a tabloid news article is often seen as trashy but

potentially entertaining; designed to fill readers in on the latest celebrity gossip. In

assessing the general conventions of these genres, one finds that there are

additional dimensions to consider in addition to those that are immediately

apparent. Looking at a review of Manchester by the Sea in The Guardian in addition

to a tabloid piece on the film in the New York Post, it becomes clear that there is a

strong commercial element driving their construction that ends up being just as

critical to their overall content and purpose as the aforementioned reasons. Being

aware of these multiple aims allows a reader to better assess the content of a piece

and to make their own judgments with the knowledge that a variety of critical

perspectives should be taken in order to maximize understanding. By including both

straightforward reader-oriented goals and less obvious commercial ones, film

reviews and tabloid articles reveal how genre conventions may both cater to the

expectations of the reader while simultaneously fulfilling the subversive needs of

the publisher.
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Looking closely at The Guardian review of Manchester by the Sea, it is

apparent that film reviews are designed in part to cater to certain demographics and

let them know whether a given film will be worth their time and money. To first

examine the conventions themselves, this review makes use of a strong heading,

brief introductory plot summary, rating system, engaging photographs, discussion

of the actors and performances, as well as commentary on the cinematography and

direction in order accomplish its intended goals. Strong film reviews are able to

recognize who the audience of a given film would be and break down the reviewers

opinion in relation to the audiences sensibilities, as we see here. To achieve this,

the author must look at the genre of a given film to assess the values it appeals to as

well as the aims of the film. In this case, Manchester by the Sea is a rather heavy,

challenging drama film, so audiences are more likely to go to the film for intellectual

reasons than for mass entertainment. The reviewer here recognizes this and writes

about the film in thematic terms while additionally deconstructing elements of the

mise-en-scene and performance, as in the line Pointedly ignoring any displays of

affection, Lee is as flat and frosty as the snowy scenery, crisply captured by

cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes (Kermode, 2016). Additionally, the tone of the

review is rather serious and reflexive throughout, which would not likely be the

case when reviewing a blockbuster action flick.

Despite the perception of Manchester by the Sea as a more serious, artistic

production, reviewers also recognize that the film was in the Oscar circuit this year

and received a lot of general buzz from the press. Because of this, they know that the

film will attract more than just the independent art crowd, and attempt to blend
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elements into their reviews that are more broadly appealing to casual cinemagoers.

For instance, though Casey Affleck won best actor for his role in the film, the review

spent a great deal of time discussing his personal life and other projects in a manner

which didnt necessarily add anything to the discussion. Additionally, the

accompanying images in the review all feature Affleck, stealing attention away from

the actual content of the article. This points to the commercial aims of film reviews,

as the reputation of Affleck as a major Hollywood star is used to draw readers in. By

being aware of these tactics and recognizing that a publisher needs to attract people

to stay in business, a reader may begin to approach reviews with a cautious eye and

distinguish between the commercial aims of the publisher and the personal aims of

the author.

Casual readers may view tabloid articles as a reliable source of

entertainment and gossip, though their aims are hugely commercial and it is

important to recognize the embellishment and potentially false information in these

stories. They typically make use of bold text, large gaps between paragraphs, catchy

headers and captions, large numbers of photographs, and casual, opinionated

commentary on the film in order to appeal to readers who may have been drawn to

the ad through pop ups or who are less invested in the content of the film. The New

York Post article adheres to all of these, using them to hold readers attention despite

the limited value of the articles content, and to keep them marginally entertained

through flashy, gimmicky conventions. Perhaps the most obvious element branding

this article as a tabloid is the title, Couple Alledgedly Kills Son After Watching

Manchester by the Sea, (Musumeci, 2016) which is obviously designed as a strong,

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sensationalist yet vaguely disrespectful hook. The article here attempts to justify

its relatively far-fetched points through various quotations from alleged experts,

though the experts are simply offering additional opinions and commentary. The

authors of a piece like this must recognize that the article lacks substance, hence

why there are so many additional elements necessary to draw audiences in. The

headline is especially pertinent here as stated earlier, as it must serve as an effective

hook. This is all further evidenced by the slew of additional links to articles on the

site, as the aim is to get readers to express enough interest to simply click on one of

them. The article additionally makes use of plot summary, much like the reviews,

though it relies too heavily on this component and includes too much detail. Rather

than providing the basic framework of the plot then providing personal insights, the

author instead uses the plot details to fill dead space in the article. Ultimately, this

all points to tabloids being rather devoid of interesting content, though they are

aware of this and shamelessly draw readers in with catchy phrases and tools.

These elements seen within both articles serve to show how crucial genre

conventions are in fulfilling the various goals of a given genre. This information

additionally sheds some light as to how genres form in the first place, as it seems

entirely possible that the aims of a piece of writing dictate which conventions will be

used as well as their implementation within a given work. A key component of both

articles is the awareness and recognition of the audience of a given piece of writing

and why the audience would want to consume a given text in the first place. This is

especially true in media that has a commercial basis, such as articles like these that

represent larger corporate outlets. This points to how economic factors influence
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the content and conventions of writing, as authors must attract specific kinds of

viewers and readers in order to sustain their work, with certain tricks and content

being more successful in this task despite their potential to diminish the validity of a

piece of writing. In a film review, the aims of the author are both highly personal

and broad, as they have their own opinion of the film but must convey these

attitudes towards a wider audience with varying degrees of interest and

understanding of the subject. All of this reveals a great deal about the nature of

writing and its relation to publication and distribution, suggesting an adversarial

relationship between creative agency and economic demands.

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References:

Kermode, Mark. Manchester By the Sea Review Tremendous Heart and Soul The

Guardian.com, 2016

Musumeci, Natalie. Couple Alledgedly Killed Son After Watching Manchester by the

Sea TheNewPost, 2016