Reviews: A Philosophy

I’m no expert critic.

But I find that I have ideas in response to things I watch or read. Unfortunately, all too often, those ideas flit away into oblivion about 3.5 minutes after they occur to me. Coupled with an overall poor sense of memory, I have often walked away from a media experience wondering what I’m carrying with me. Having enjoyed the experience of reading or watching, what impact on my life has resulted?

In an effort to explore those impacts, I will post, from time-to-time, my reflections on some media item. In the truest sense “review” means for me to “re-view”, to look at it again, to digest the experience, clarify it, consolidate it–for my own benefit, and perhaps as a help to others.

I’d be very interested to hear how you retain experiences, how you hold onto and live out the impacts of specific media experiences in your life. Do you write? Talk them over? Internally reflect? What works for you? Some media is primarily for our entertainment, but even then, I think there are good possibilities for learning and growing from them. These reviews are one more attempt for me to try and own these experiences in a way that will make a difference.

Most of the reviews you’re likely to see will be movies or books, especially classic works of fiction. Along those lines, I’d welcome any recommendations for items to take a look at. Perhaps we can engage in the process of “re-view” together.