Why Are There Critics, and Why are They Important?

Professional critics are now commonplace in the media. Music, movies, television, video games, and even restaurants, are being reviewed by professional consumers called critics, and because of their place of power, some companies cater to the needs of every critic, giving them advanced screenings, private rooms, even early copies, of whatever they're reviewing to get into the critic's good books, and therefore, everyone else's. But why do we even have critics, and why do their opinions matter?

Many a cynic would criticize the critics by saying that they are full of themselves, sort of 'self important' people, who believe they're right and that everyone else is wrong. Well, that's a true statement, but it's the exception, not the rule, as the saying goes.

The purpose of professional media criticism is this: They represent you, and they represent the integrity of the artform that they are reviewing.
For example, say you are looking at the next Transformers movie (hypothetically speaking) and a critic says that the film was rubbish. Now, if you're already a fan of the film franchise, and don't care about the film's shortcomings, you can ignore that critic and watch the movie anyway, but if you're a new viewer, and have no connection to the Transformers franchise, the critic really represents them, and tells them whether or not the film is worth watching.

Critics really apply to niches. They look at the viewers of their website, or magazine or newspaper, and judge a film both on their own personal preferences as well as what the community would think. For example, the Christian Entertainment Website Plugged In would judge films and games as a christian, and mention certain things that only Christians and similar people would worry about, such as violent or sexual content, language, and themes, along with the typical pieces of quality, such as cinematography, story and acting.

So if you think that critics are the scourge of the earth, maybe you haven't found one for you. Critic-viewer relationships are rather important for anyone who takes watching movies or playing games, or doing anything, worthwhile and important.