WEDNESDAY, Oct. 15th| Thanks, I Hate It: The Art of Writing a Bad Review is a two-hour crash course in how to write a well justified bad review of a movie, television show, or even book that you hated for all good reasons. Maybe it’s racist, or unnecessarily misogynistic, homophobic, or just plain poorly produced, there’s a time in every writer’s life where we need to write about a cultural artifact that went wrong—and why.
This class is designed for writers with some experience reviewing texts of all stripes in order to help hone your critical skills to give a work some bad news about why it’s problematic. We will read and discuss work by Myriam Gurba, Roger Ebert, Angelica Jade Bastien, and class leader Sezin Devi Koehler who have made an art of the necessary sociocultural takedown of troubling pop-culture trends and releases.
The class will work from prompts and brainstorming to help you figure out how best to approach a bad review, and especially whether a certain work actually needs the critique you’d like to offer. You’ll also get guidance on how to punch up in your bad review, not down on marginalized communities, in order to unpack why a piece of media just doesn’t work for you, or society and culture as a whole. We will also discuss when it’s appropriate to simply decline to review a piece.
Sezin will offer constructive feedback on essay ideas and outlines, as well as a first read of your essay draft after class with notes and ideas of places you could pitch the piece. Students can submit essays of up to 1500 words, due no later than ten days after this class concludes.