Toward the end of his "Notes on
Film Noir," Paul Schrader complains that "American film critics have always been sociologists first and scientists second: film [to them] is important as it relates to large masses . . . " In other words (my reading — speak up if you disagree), the critics saw movies as "mass culture" and were interested in what their popularity
reflects, what their existence
says about Americans, and big issues like that, rather than paying attention to aesthetics, style, or even writers of specific movies. Forty years later, film — or at least
some film — is taken a lot more seriously as art. Is there still condescension toward "pop culture" though? Do you see some art forms or media or genres that are still mostly talked about "sociologically" and not taken seriously as the work of artisans and artists making deliberate artistic decisions that are worth analyzing?
