Rotten Tomatoes Lab: Critics Edition is a series of resources designed to support critics in developing their craft and career, from how-to guides to advice on pitching, publishing, and networking, to conversations about film, television, community, and culture.
This conversation has been edited for concision from a GLAAD-produced panel at SXSW 2025.
Film critics play an integral role in shaping our culture through the titles they celebrate and critique, champion and challenge. Individually, critics have immense responsibility and power over how we see ourselves and each other. They frame our understanding and fuel awareness of the movies and television around us. Critics’ expertise and their place in the industry is so important, because they facilitate conversations about how stories reflect or change our culture and collective consciousness.
Critics, much like the titles they review, shape our understanding of what is fair, accurate, and worthy of our attention. This is ever more true when marginalized groups are targeted by misinformation and misrepresentation.
Moderator Alex Schmider (Senior Director of Entertainment at GLAAD) was joined at SXSW for a conversation by LGBTQ+ critics and journalists who deeply understand their role as informed cultural framers:
Each of GLAAD’s panelists offered meaningful advice for audiences and fellow critics about our distinct roles in media literacy and awareness.
Alex Schmider: A lot of people have opinions about art that they watch and listen to. So what makes a critic a critic?
Katie Rife: It’s not just, “Oh, I liked this, and I didn’t like this.” If you’re going to say that, in my opinion, you have to back it up with examples.
If you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t like the lighting.” You have to say, well, “I felt like I couldn’t see this.” You have to be able to provide specific details as to what works and doesn’t work. And I think that is the difference between a critic and an influencer or a fan.
The most important thing is to have a very broad knowledge base and to just watch a ton of movies. You have to watch lots and lots of movies, because it also shows you what’s unique, and that’s what gets me excited – it’s the things that are unique and special.
Dino-Ray Ramos: I really think it’s the job of a critic to give a 360 view of the movie. What is this film trying to do? What is this trying to tell me? What kind of discussions, conversations is this bringing up?
Ramos: What I love is getting access, and then seeing something succeed. Or watching a director’s early work fly under the radar and then gain visibility later.
Rife: Advocating for someone’s very first movie really means something.
Ramos: That’s what I feel like film community is.
Rife: Oh, that’s the reason that I keep doing it. The struggle is very real with getting jobs, making money. It’s a grind. And when you’re freelance, you do your own invoicing, you do your own pitching, you do everything yourself. But I do it because I’ve been doing it for about 10 years now, and there are a couple of filmmakers who, I saw them come up, and now they’re doing great things. And that really means a lot to me, honestly.
Rendy Jones: I got to see Cooper Raiff’s Shithouse in New York in 2020, and I talked to him afterwards and learned that we were the same age. We had a nice little heart to heart – he told me he likes my reviews because I have that “eye of empathy.”
It’s so nice to feel that that is because of my work, and the relationship that I built by being the person in the room and in the right spaces at the right time.
Rife: I was a big advocate early on for The People’s Joker. When I saw that movie, I said, “I have never seen anything like this movie before,” and it just got me so excited. Vera Drew‘s voice is very clear and authentic, and she really knew what she was doing.
Ramos: We just want to get the story. We want to build a community.
Schmider: Representation really does matter, and there’s a distinction to be made between visibility and representation. What role do you think critics play in the narrative of a film during its trajectory at large, and into awards season?
Ramos: I do feel like critics have a role, and it’s different from the role of influencers. Influencers promote, and film journalists critically analyze.
A lot of us critics and journalists are lucky enough to have access to films early, and studios or distributors need to do their homework in terms of who has that early access, because it does shape the conversations around representation.
Schmider: This field isn’t just about identity and experience, it’s about expertise, something that you hone and craft. It’s not just being part of a community that allows you to do the work you do, there’s a practice behind what you’re doing. So, what does it mean when you’re not able to get access?
Jones: I really had to fight for several years to be taken seriously by the studios, and there are a lot of the films that, if you’re self-publishing especially, get you the traffic you need in order to amplify the smaller titles. I value quality over quantity, but sometimes, festivals and studios prioritize people who are publishing more reviews.
I’m grateful to have this opportunity to be where I’m at because I don’t have to stress as much about accessibility. However, it is still very lonely in the field because I am still just my one voice, and the years that go by, I wish that there were more of me, especially more young people.
Rife: The problem for me, and I think some people here could probably relate to this, has always been institutional support and the people whose company flies them out to film festivals, people whose accommodations are covered. A lot of those people are from similar demographics or don’t have marginalized experiences.
Schmider: According to Media Literacy Now, “Media literacy is the ability to navigate within our complex and ever-changing media landscape, acquiring skills and tools to know how to consume and evaluate information as critical questions, avoid manipulation, and engage in digital spaces safely and confidently.” What do you think is the function of media literacy in criticism?
Rife: If you are part of a community, if you’ve lived that life, you can smell misrepresentation a mile away. And if you haven’t had that life experience, maybe you’ll think a stereotype is real. So, if you have people who have lived that life talking about these movies, importantly, you have to listen to what they have to say.
Schmider: And not just having one voice. You can have an opinion about a piece of work, but if you’re not able to look around and talk to your colleagues who have shared experiences and are also looking from that 360 perspective, it’s going to paint an incomplete picture without multiple viewpoints.
Jones: I would say even sometimes when you’re in the room and it’s like a movie aimed for your demographic. I’ll be watching a Black movie and it is like, “Oh, great, there’s a lot of Black people in the room,” but the representation is still outdated. Or, on the flip side, there’s a challenge of being someone within the community that doesn’t like the movie that many others in your community are celebrating.
Schmider: It’s important to note that just because you are a person within a community doesn’t mean you’re going to love everything you see about the community! Oftentimes, I’m very disappointed with the kind of queer stories that are told because they’re often just recycling the same that we’ve seen and there’s no further interrogation about why it isn’t fresh.
But also, equality is being able to say, “Actually, that was or wasn’t for me,” and it not be about the misrepresentation of a person or a community.
Ramos: And going back to media literacy, readers have to take a moment, too – don’t just read the headline, get into the article. It’s just trying to understand. Don’t just take something at face value. You have to do that due diligence of like, “OK, where is this coming from?” If something interests me about a certain movie, I will go down a rabbit hole and be like, “Oh, this is why they did that.”
Rife: I’m still the person that, if a movie’s based on a book, I read the book before I watch it. I’m very thorough with my background information, and that’s part of being informed. It’s part of media literacy, but I read the whole 50 Shades of Grey series and it was terrible… but it informed my reviews!
Ramos: I read all of Twilight!
Jones: For me, it was Hunger Games, but that was also my demographic. It made me more excited for the movies, and then I had an eye for what might be missing from the movie that was still part of the story.
Ramos: I think a lot of people are, “Oh, the book’s always better,” but I always treat the book and the movie as two different entities. Books have have more real estate to tell the story!
Schmider: What are some of the programs, festivals, and institutions that have supported you as a working film critic or journalist, that you would recommend other people check out to help them develop?
Ramos: We’re all members of GALECA (The Society of LGBTQ+ Entertainment Critics)… They have annual Dorian Awards and a grant program for up-and-coming critics called the Crimson Honors.
And then, Critics Choice is good. They have LGBTQ+ Celebrations, Asian celebrations to recognize those stories.
Jones: For Critics Choice, if you make it in there, you are set for life.
Ramos: There’s also AAFCA (African American Film Critics Association), LEJA (Latino Entertainment Journalists Association. There’s Gold House and their Journalism Accelerator, PEAK elevating Pasifika entertainment. There are so many organizations. Different cities have organizations, too.
Jones: Look towards whatever state you’re from – look into their local newspapers or local organizations for critics and whatnot, and try to see if you can get your foot into the door, because that’ll help you tenfold.
If you’re in school, try to find the editorial programs, because that’s always a great start.
If you are from a marginalized community, always look towards those organizations that will help you extend further.
Rife: Those kind of identity-based organizations are ones that are often very welcoming.
Sundance has their Press Inclusion Initiative – a lot of people I know who are from different communities have gone to the festival with that grant, and they have a virtual festival because traveling can be expensive.
Founded in 1985, GLAAD is a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. GLAAD works to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive representation and creates national and local programs that advance LGBTQ acceptance. Serving as a storyteller, media force, resource, and advocate, GLAAD tackles tough issues and provokes dialogue so that authentic LGBTQ stories are seen, heard, and actualized.
Learn more about GLAAD at glaad.org.
Check out the Critic Resources page on Rotten Tomatoes for additional tips, tricks, and advice for critics.
