Chapter 128: Public Enemy of Film Critics

"Because the audiences for the two shows are completely different," Nancy Josephson answered, before offering Duke a brief explanation.

In short, it boiled down to one thing: the audience for The Oprah Winfrey Show was entirely different from the potential audience for Duke's films. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the talk show knew that seventy percent or more of its viewers were housewives over forty, primarily from small towns. But what about Duke's films?

The core audience for his fast-paced, visually driven films fell between the ages of seventeen and thirty-five, and was overwhelmingly male. Even though there were plenty of female fans, they tended to be young women, not housewives.

Who could expect housewives to pay for a movie like that?

Hearing Nancy's explanation, Duke immediately thought of the kind of movies housewives loved most: melodramatic tearjerkers.

Yes, The Oprah Winfrey Show was incredibly famous, but it wasn't a fit for every actor or director. For someone with Duke's style, aside from the general exposure generated by the show's massive fame, appearing on it wouldn't bring much tangible benefit—at least, not right now.

If Duke ever transitioned to making movies aimed at housewives, he would definitely reach out to Oprah.

Duke didn't follow the main promotional team across the country, but staying in Los Angeles kept him just as busy. The Independence Day holiday slipped by in a blur of running around. On the holiday itself, Independence Day slightly reversed the previous day's downward trend and saw a minor box office rebound, taking in 18.56 million dollars in a single day. Regardless of the surrounding resistance, the film was marching steadily toward the 100 million dollar milestone.

The old day ended and a new one began. The sun rose and set. Inside a studio on the outskirts of Chicago, the bright lights never went out—as if they were the only things that could illuminate the gloom in Roger Ebert's heart.

Prompted by a message from his agent, the leading figure in the world of film criticism turned on his television. Switching to the Fox Channel, his eyes stared coldly from behind his glasses at the young director spouting off on the broadcast.

"Why are film critics attacking me and my movie so fiercely? I think their hostility hides something everyone might have overlooked. So far, the overall critic rating for Independence Day sits at a mere 3.1, yet the approval rating from a sample of 120,000 viewers is as high as 85 percent. Huge crowds are ignoring the critics' attacks and pouring into theaters to watch Independence Day. The fact that audiences simply don't care about their reviews is the real reason the critics are so furious."

Roger Ebert's face darkened. Duke Rosenberg was ripping the scab right off the industry's collective wound, and he had no intention of stopping.

"Do you all remember how film critics reviewed Star Wars in the seventies? 'Cheap entertainment' and 'Lucas's doomed child'! And the result? Star Wars became an American cultural icon, answering the critics' attacks with the most powerful voice possible and crushing whatever dignity they had left."

Piercing laughter from the live audience echoed from the TV. Roger Ebert's expression grew icy. He had been one of those critics back then, and the film criticism circle had long shared a tacit agreement never to bring the matter up again. Yet this young director had just paraded their old scars in front of a national audience!

"Even though Independence Day can't compare to Star Wars, it won't fall to the critics' attacks either. The opening weekend box office and the phenomenal word of mouth have already proven this. Honestly, the only thing I want to say is that nowadays, the film industry and the audience really don't need to care what film critics think..."

His hand tightly gripped a pencil on the desk. Treating the pencil like the young director on the talk show, Roger Ebert looked ready to throttle him and choke off his next words.

"The field of film criticism has produced great figures like Andrew Bazin, who made outstanding contributions to the development of cinema. But after that initial generation of highly professional, deeply competent critics retired, what became of professional film criticism? I don't know if you read yesterday's newspapers, but the critics' columns were filled with vicious personal attacks against me. I'm very curious—is this the supposedly 'instructive' film criticism they pride themselves on? Or are they just teaching audiences across America how to curse?"

Roger Ebert's brows furrowed tightly. Even though that vitriol was only the work of a fraction of the critics, the young director was directly pinning it on their entire industry.

"The caliber of today's film critics is getting lower and lower. Aside from complaining and hurling insults, they can't write a single review with genuine insight. Their own knowledge and professional standards are incredibly poor. Can the abusive trash they write even be called film reviews? What is a film review? What Andre Bazin wrote in the Film Handbook was true film criticism. Andre Bazin didn't just offer critiques; he played a vital role in the development of cinema. Even though he wasn't a director, his film theories guided the industry's growth."

The man on the TV had no intention of stopping. Just as the critics had wantonly attacked Independence Day, he was delivering a forceful counterattack.

"A true film critic must possess profound cultural depth. They shouldn't just understand pop culture; their professional grasp of cinema must be equally profound. Originally, film criticism was a highly prestigious profession, but now it has been completely cheapened. People utterly lacking in professional credentials have infiltrated the ranks, and they are completely useless outside of employing vicious, sensationalist language to grab readers' attention."

"Think back to what the caliber of film critics was like in the fifties and sixties. Then look at today. The overall quality of the critics' ranks has severely declined. Where can you even find a good review nowadays?"

The hand gripping the pencil tightened further. Roger Ebert realized the man was indeed smart. People were nostalgic—especially fans and industry insiders who had lived through the fifties and sixties. They definitely missed that golden age.

Duke Rosenberg was extremely good at taking advantage of that!

Although Ebert offered him a rare word of silent praise, the person on the TV screen clearly wasn't going to let the critics off the hook.

"Most of today's film critics just follow the herd. They strike down commercial films across the board and sneer at any fast-paced movie packed with visual impact. Where are their own opinions? Even when they happen to be right and a movie is genuinely bad, if you ask them to explain why, the reasons they give are downright embarrassing. They completely lack the most basic professional competence."

"They never analyze a film as a phenomenon. It seems today's critics are intentionally isolating themselves from the general public just to highlight their own superiority. They never analyze why the masses favor a certain film. If it's popular, they automatically turn up their noses at it, using that disdain to showcase their own loftiness."

"Film critics are deliberately detaching themselves from the public to prove their relevance, rather than objectively analyzing why a film is so successful. What exactly attracts the audience? What are the film's merits? They naturally position themselves in direct opposition to the audience!"

Hearing words that pointed directly to the ugly truth of the matter, Roger Ebert's hand suddenly clenched tight. The tip of the pencil snapped with a sharp crack, and a layer of anger surfaced on his face.

The young director was telling the truth—but it was a truth all film critics deliberately avoided!

If this truth became a consensus among the public and Hollywood, the critics' influence during the highly lucrative summer season would undoubtedly plummet. Their incomes would sharply decrease, and they might even be reduced to only proving their relevance during the awards season!

Finally, under Roger Ebert's cold stare, the young director disappeared from the television screen. However, the segment that followed seemed specifically targeted at the episode of the Movie View program he and Gene Siskel had hosted a few days prior.

The TV screen showed a montage of scenes from Speed, The Rock, and Independence Day, accompanied by a voiceover that sounded like pure propaganda to Roger Ebert.

"Ever since Speed, Duke Rosenberg's films have been beloved by moviegoers, a trend that has reached its peak with Independence Day. Over the three days of last weekend, nearly 13 million viewers walked into theaters to watch this film, setting the highest opening weekend box office record in cinematic history with 63.08 million dollars. Why are his movies so overwhelmingly popular?"

"Duke Rosenberg values the audience's viewing experience, and there are three things he does exceptionally well."

"He loves explosions! Film critics might find the high number of explosions annoying, but the audience feels they got their money's worth. Moreover, Duke's explosions are different from everyone else's. He used to blow up cars, then he blew up an island, and now he's blowing up spaceships. Every time, it gives people a surprise. From Speed to The Rock to Independence Day, Duke Rosenberg's explosive scenes manage to give the audience a fresh sense of shock every single time."

"Beautiful visuals! He uses a lot of wide-angle, massive shots, making the scenery look breathtaking. The flips and explosions on the highway in Speed and The Rock, with the camera angle following the spinning tires—these are things rarely seen in other movies. What Duke Rosenberg shows the audience is always the freshest thrill."

"Clever subjects! The concepts Duke chooses are incredibly high-concept. He loves using unconventional background settings. For example, Speed focused on the intense thrill of characters trapped in a tight, high-speed space, while Independence Day is about humanity driven to the brink, fighting back to the death! High-concept works can attract people just through their synopsis. Even before a movie is released, it has already grabbed everyone's attention."

"Actually, one sentence sums it up best: Duke Rosenberg possesses a natural talent for attracting audiences!"

Sitting there, Roger Ebert gradually regained his composure. This program was taking the exact aspects he and Siskel had attacked and using them as selling points, bleaching everything they had painted black into pure white. Judging from Independence Day's box office trend over the past few days, the promotional effect probably wouldn't be bad at all...

He turned off the TV. After sitting and thinking quietly for a while, Roger Ebert had to admit that competing with a highly popular summer season director and his blockbuster right now was not a wise choice. It seemed he should start holding back to avoid things getting completely out of hand.

He would be waiting for Duke Rosenberg during the awards season, when film critics wielded their greatest power!