One of the absolutes in media is that there will always be critics. This absolute ranges across everything that consumes my free time – film, television, anime, video games, music. But there is a trap that all critics fall in at one time or another in their career, something to which even I have not been immune. The benefit of experiencing this first hand has made it all the more obvious in others’ works.

Let me start with a lesson in storytelling; specifically, screenwriting, since all of the above forms of media are rooted in it. To start a discussion on screenwriting, one would be remiss to exclude the work of Syd Field. Field is the master of screenwriting fundamentals. His book, The Foundations of Screenwriting, breaks down the craft of writing a script to a relatively simple formula, influenced by select variables. If you think about it analytically, it separates the passion of an idea with the manufacturing of a smooth, flowing narrative. Acts, plot points, and paradigms all make up the perfect screenplay.

Now, one thing that we see in all forms of media, which Field writes about, is the hook. The hook is that attention-grabbing sequence at the beginning that “hooks” the audience and engages them throughout the rest of the film (I have my own theory on screenwriting called the Frame of Reference, which I will explain in a later post, that is fed from the hook). But this doesn’t just pertain to movies – this happens in all forms of media. In video games; what about every RPG nowadays that starts with the character having absolute power, fighting a boss battle, getting defeated and starting out in a village completely powerless and with memory loss? That opening battle is the hook. In music; how many times have you bought an album with that awesome first track you play over and over and over again? What about those sensational scenes at the beginning of your favorite television show, just before the break, that glue you to your seat and scream, “don’t change that channel!” Or that first episode of anime with the awesome animation and battle scenes that at least bait you to purchase that second volume? That’s the hook, in a nutshell.

Saying that, the trap to which I was referring earlier is the hook. So many times reviewers are enamored by that amazing opening that they just can’t see past it. A lot of times, it is because of time constraints – reviewers are usually fed with more media than they can consume, so they sample it in digests consisting of the complete opening and a montage of the rest. This is why you see a lot of reviews quoting the lyrics from or making special mention of the first song on an album – because that’s usually the only complete reference the reviewer has of the material.

I was inspired to write this based on a couple of recent podcasts I listened to, one about music and the other about anime, both which will remain nameless. But this has been an ongoing problem for years in the anime world, one that originally inspired me to create the original incarnation of SpotAnime. I found that so many reviewers would gush about the early volumes of an anime series, only to have it stall somewhere in the middle of its run. It was very difficult to get that overarching view of the series, and to have someone review it based on the complete work rather than the subset of episodes. Of course, by nature of the releases, reviewers were only exposed to series in this method, but people guilty of watching the fansubs en masse really only paid attention to “the hook.”

Back to the point. In the case of the anime podcast, the reviewer read upwards of fifty chapters of a particular manga, yet the review consisted of explaining in great detail the first few chapters – essentially, the hook that sets up the main storyline. It is however in no way indicative of the entire body of work. And that’s the problem I have with media critics today.

Video games reviews rarely fall in this trap – they are largely based on the entire work rather than a subset. However, due to time there are instances where debug codes are used to run through some levels after digesting what is good and bad about them. If there is a problem with this method it is that reviewers sometimes don’t spend enough time on a particular level to get familiar with its specific gameplay mechanics, and this is seen when a review is overly critical of or completely glosses over a particular point. Where video game reviews fail is when they are based on an early, or even unfinished build of a title. How many of us have picked up Maxim, FHM or Stuff and seen the reviews for games that ended up being delayed months out? Obviously the reviewer cannot formulate an opinion with the title that is work-in-progress, and it sometimes reeks that the reviewer didn’t even play the game to begin with.

So just like Peter Pan, be cautious of the hook. Just being aware of it, as I am, is half the battle.