Critical Work
Chair's Introduction:
Works of criticism address the meaning of cultural objects (film, novels, photographs, video games) both in their original historical context and in their meaning for the present day. However, all cultural objects represent (rather than merely objectively reflect) the reality of the societies from which they emerge. Critical essays, such as those in these panels, help us ask, “Whose political interests do such representations of reality serve? Who do they exclude and include? What gets lost when we mistake a given cultural object’s vision as an objective catalogue of reality?” As such, they help us remember that our understanding of reality is crafted, and as such, can be refashioned for the better in moments of crisis.By Zen Dochterman, Lecturer in the Writing Program.