Pauline Kael: A Classic Critic (Kael Revision)

   Pauline Kael is revered as one of the greatest movie critics of all time, and as Francis Davis, author of Afterglow, puts it, "No one else has written as vividly about movies."

   Kael's love of movies came at a young age. She saw many movies seated cozily on the laps of her parents, and as she grew older, she and her friends continued frequenting the theaters. It is no great feat to love movies, but Kael went beyond watching movies and created a career for herself as a critic. She wrote freelance for some time and eventually went to work for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. 

     Francis Davis, a writer, and Kael's long time friend and admirer published Afterglow: A Last Conversation with Pauline Kael in 2002. Davis has high praises for Kael, commenting that, "Reading her work was like going to the movies with someone you adored; when you disagreed with her, it was like having a lover's quarrel." Davis, among many other, thought Kael's work to be revolutionary, as it was clear cut and incorporated social commentary.

    Renata Adler, another writer for The New Yorker, extensively criticizes Kael's reviews in her essay, House Critic. Adler found once Kael joined The New Yorker, her work deteriorated: "A collection of her reviews is out. . . and it is, to my surprise, line by line, and without interruption, worthless." Worthless is far too strong a word; if Kael's pieces were worthless, they would never have been published in such a prestigious magazine. 

    While Adler is off with that claim, her essay does speak to many of the faults of Kael's writing. After reading a few of Kael's reviews, her repetitive diction and constant use of "we" and "you" becomes apparent.  As Adler says, "'We' becomes a bandwagon, a kangaroo court, a gang, an elite. . . which readers had better join, or else be consigned to that poor group of deviants, sissies. . ." Kael seems to be forcing the reader to react to the movie in a certain way, which is not comforting or appealing. 

   Through Adler's incessant nit-picking, "you" see that Kael's reviews do have their faults. In one of the interviews with Davis, though, Kael rises above Adler's criticism. She says, "I was stunned when that piece by Renata Adler came out. . . it was a group movement to denounce me. . . I had no idea it was coming, that anything was building. I was busy innocently going to the movies and writing about them." While Adler and other writers spent their time attacking Kael, she continued on her merry way, doing what she enjoyed the most: reviewing movies.

    Kael had an affinity for movies, and as her work clearly demonstrates, she had an affinity for writing about them too. Sure, there is repetition, but there is also devotion. Despite what Adler and others may think, Kael gave her life to reviewing and her reign as a writer for The New Yorker is proof of her timeless talent.