How many texts (in the broadest sense of the term) have you consumed without knowing anything about them? Most likely, the answer is very few. In fact, most of the time we hear about a book or film it’s as part of a review. A friend recommending a book they’ve just read, a post on social media pushing a classic film, a youtube video about the masterful (or very dreadful) prose in a young author’s work. Reviews are how we determine which pieces of media to consume, and which aren’t worth our time. But reviews don’t just serve those who read them. They also bring many benefits to the writers of those reviews. So in this little article, I’m going to try to convince you to write reviews of the media you consume! For both public benefit and your own.
Have you ever read a popular book you thought was awful? Maybe it misrepresented a field you’re very familiar with, or maybe it perpetuated harmful stereotypes or ideologies you don’t align with. Instead of shaking your head and tossing the book out with a witty quip about how people have lost all media literacy, why don’t you make your opinion heard?
You might think “what’s the point if no one will read it?” or “everyone liked it, so I’m just going to get dog piled on,” or worst of all “well, I guess it’s just not for me”. No! All the reviews you’ve seen were written by some person (sigh, or some AI), and your ideas and opinions are just as important and worthy of being heard. If the people with “no media literacy” can write a review praising the book, then isn’t it also your duty to tear it apart? On the contrary, if you read a book that you think is actually quite good, then all the more reason to push it out there! The truth is that anyone can post a review, and if we let the loudest people have all the say, then we’re not going to have very high quality reviews. So please, help a fellow reader out and put your opinion out there!
This point is very simple. By writing about writing (or cinematography or whatever you like), you get to flex your writing muscles and have some fun getting as creative (or practical) as you like. You can write as much or as little as you want. There are literally no stakes. Anonymous, not typically open for comments, and well, if it sucks then nothing was really lost. It’s a great playground to get your feet wet in writing! Especially if you haven’t written any kind of review since grade school. It’s a lot more fun when you get to set your own rules.
When you write a review (and especially if you are in the habit of doing so), you get a moment to really reflect on the work as a whole, your preferences and dislikes, what worked and what didn’t, etc. That’s how you really improve your media literacy! If you’re interested, you can also get into media analysis, but there’s no need to go so far. Just thinking critically about and engaging with the material not only lets you see more of the story, but allows you to get closer to the media, the author, and what they’re trying to do. This has the added benefit of making the media more memorable, and you might realise things about yourself too!
I’ve also noticed that now that I am in the habit of writing reviews, I pay more attention to the media as I am consuming it so that I have things to write about for the review. I’m thinking about my preferences and how the book is structured from the first read, and seeing a lot more of the ‘behind the scenes’ as a result. I’ve seen my media literacy improve first hand as a result of this more careful and engaged reading/watch style.
Have you ever had someone ask you about a movie you watched and you came up empty? You remember maybe liking it, but you can’t remember much more. Well, if you write a review, not only are you more likely to remember it later on (see above), but you also have a written record of exactly what you liked about it.
If you get your friends into writing reviews (which I hope by the end of this you will be convinced enough to convince them too), then you also get to see exactly what your friends liked about a certain piece of media too! And then you can have a battle of the wits or whatever. But in all seriousness, it’s a fun way to get to know both yourself and your friends better, and have something fun to talk about. Plus, you can say smarter things when you want to convince someone to watch your favorite movie.
Yet another benefit of writing reviews is that when the book is over, it’s not really over. No longer am I left with a hole in my heart, wishing the characters back and the story to continue. Now instead of a hole I feel like I’m left with ideas and pieces of narrative to mull over and evaluate, to think carefully about and to craft into my review.
Instead of being sad that a great book is over, now I am excited to share with the world exactly why it is so good and hopefully get other people to enjoy the book as well. That’s how you bring the characters back and keep the story going. By talking about it with others. By discussing the little intricacies and by seeing the novel through the fresh eyes of another. No more sadness. Now we can act!
Now that I write reviews, I actually enjoy writing them so much and adding them to my catalogue that I found my motivation for reading and watching increase just so that I can write about them afterwards. Now, I always did have a propensity for writing so this might not apply to everyone, but I do believe that the more we engage with media the more we get out of it and the more we seek it out. So if you’ve been in a rut where the appeal of the infinite scroll is particularly strong, then maybe give review writing a go.
Those are just the benefits I’ve seen personally in my life as both reader and writer of reviews. I’m sure there are many more out there that I haven’t named or encountered yet, but seriously I hope I was able to convince you even just a little about the writing of reviews. I think there’s a lot of people “without media literacy” that will really just take the opinions of others and accept them as fact. “People say this movie is good so it must be good and I like it.” “People say this movie is boring so I hated it.” Please, please, please, if we can just get a good mix of opinions out there, maybe more people would be saying “huh, people are split on this. What do I think?” instead.
