Theater The Death of Criticism
posted by May 29 at 11:28 AM
onChris Page, who covered local theater for the Tribune from 2003 until early this year, was found dead Monday at his Mesa apartment. He was 29.
Mesa police were called to the apartment Monday morning by friends and co-workers who hadn’t seen him since Wednesday. His body was inside, and he apparently committed suicide…
In early May, his position was included in a round of layoffs at the paper.
More bad news: Alan Rich, the LA Weekly classical music critic who just got laid off at age 83, just found out he won’t be getting any severance.
(h/t to commentor sherman.)
Comments
Criticism died when we started seeing TV ads that credited glowing reviews to shitty web "critics" like AintItCoolNews [sic].
That's what happens when you choose a carrier in a dying industry... Buggy whip manufacturers have been in hard times for a while now...
Not really, @2.
The more resourceful ones shifted their product lines to cater to the BDSM market back in the 1930's...
These stories are sad.
Extravagences like Art must be put aside until America has brought peace to the planet through Militarism. Therefore, there is no point to criticism.
@5 Truly, solomon, thou art wise.
The Pax Americana wasn't won through the triumph of our poetry. Those M-16s aren't shooting opening-night bouquets.
Criticism attracts second-guessing and mealy-mouthed hesitation.
Ignorance is Strength.
@2,
Yeah, the 83 year old certainly should have foreseen the death of print media when he graduated from college 60 years ago.
Nice coverage, B.
Hopefully media outlets and their critics can eventually weather the shift online, but the public that doesn't care about the disappearance of qualified criticism will a.) be left with no record for future generations to interpret a work's cultural significance, and b.) have to slog through a whole lot of crap without a map, a result which may ultimately signal the death of theater. It's so much easier to turn on the TV and let it lull you into complacency...
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