Criticism

Last night I was up late watching some late night comedy. After that was done, I found a documentary that was directed by Jamie Kennedy. Yes, that Jamie Kennedy. As it turns out, Mr. Kennedy has suffered from severe depression due to the criticisms he received on his movie, Son of the Mask.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that too many times, we are quick to criticize without a thought for those we are criticizing. Never would I have considered that someone who has had a successful career in Hollywood EVER be so deeply affected by the words of critics. Yet here he was, deeply hurt, severely depressed and struggling to find a way to validate himself as an artist and a comedian.

What struck me as strange, was that the most scathing words came from bloggers. That’s right, every day Joe’s with enough nouse to create their own websites and somehow get that website in the public eye, were the very source of the pain and torture inflicted on Mr. Kennedy. I found that absolutely amazing! People with NO credentials, no valid education in the arena in which they were offering up their criticism, other than that they were capable of sitting in front of a large screen while a film was being played for them.

How is it that these people were so harsh and so willing to offer up nothing but venomous, scathing attacks upon an individual they nothing about. Surely, the purpose of criticism is ultimately to help someone improve their craft? That being the case, why is it we never see this kind of criticism in the wild? As Jamie Kennedy confronted critic after critic, I was amazed at one in particular. This man took pride in the fact that he could hurt someone, whom he has NEVER met before, by the way, so deeply. He actually sat there and beamed as Jamie read his criticism back to him. I wanted so badly to see Jamie cram his fist in that guys mouth. He sat there so smug and proud that he had the power to influence someone with little more than rhetoric.

This got me to thinking about all the criticisms I’ve received and given over the years. I wondered how many people I’d hurt over the years, simply because I didn’t like their music, or what they were doing, or how they were doing something. I know there have been times that I’ve felt the sting of a critical word and I wish I could say it hasn’t affected me. There have been many times that I have simply walked away from something because I was afraid of the what might be said about me.

As a musician, some of the most enjoyable moments were those I experienced on a stage, with people in front of me listening intently to every chord I strummed and every note I sang. However, I was acutely aware that for every person that enjoyed what I was doing, there another 10 behind them that just didn’t like it. One of the greatest hurdles for any artist to overcome is the knowledge that its impossible to please everybody. No matter what we do, there will be AT LEAST one person who doesn’t appreciate it.

I don’t know when it happened, or even how it happened, but I slowly became a music snob. I knew what I liked and that was it. No artist limits himself to a narrow range of music and it severely limits his creative inputs and yet here I was, shutting out everything but the small list of genres that piqued my interest. I was extremely critical of everything outside of this range and if I happened to know someone playing music outside of the range of music I enjoy, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell them I didn’t like and why.

As I sit here reflecting on the times of old, I can’t help but wonder how many people I’ve discouraged enough to walk away and stop trying. I hope that never happened, but I know I was harsh at times. Only now, in my early 30’s do I realize the full meaning of the phrase “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That phrase, I think, that phrase needs to be reworded, ever so slightly to “If you don’t have anything constructive to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Criticism is a part of life. A very necessary one at that. Without criticism, people like George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg and yes, even Jamie Kennedy, would have no direction in which to turn for guidance. Criticism should always be constructive, with the intent of helping the people we are criticizing to improve and become better. Anything beyond that is nothing more than noise.

It’s strange, that it took a documentary from a comedian whose work I don’t particularly enjoy, simply because it doesn’t hit my style of humor, to truly that the effects of my words linger long after they have left my tongue. Something to think about, thats for sure.