The Art of Criticism Concerning Life Experience

By Maddie Whiting

“The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.” – Oscar Wilde

The Aphorism, “The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography” stands out to me in relation to the 1986 film Stand By Me directed by Rob Reiner, inspired by Stephen King’s book The Body. I’ve seen this film a number of times over the years. The first time I ever watched it was with my family as a kid, when my dad picked it out for us to watch. The film is about a group of young boys living in a small town who go on an adventure in the woods to search for the body of a missing boy in their small town. I remember heavily criticizing it upon the first watch, it was too gory and masculine for my taste. At the time, I didn’t watch films with the intent to overanalyze them, I took them at surface-level value for what they were. My younger brothers, on the other hand, loved Stand By Me. I interpret Oscar Wilde’s phase as a declaration that when people interpret or criticize art, in a way, they’re revealing more about themselves than the art itself. Oftentimes, personal experiences play a significant role in the way we relate to art and how we discuss it. 

Years later, in high school, my sophomore year English class watched Stand By Me. After the second time watching it, I felt as though I had seen a completely different film than the one I’d seen years ago. This was a film about the loss of childhood innocence, the significance of friendships made at a young age, and how they have the power to change the trajectory of our lives. In the film, there are four boys in the friend group, and two of them end up making it out of their small town when they grow up, while the other two do not. Having experienced more of life and my childhood, the way I critiqued this film was entirely different than before. Nothing is perfect, but I had very few bad things to say about the film. This relates to the aphorism because the way the film made me feel about my own life experiences impacted how much I related to it and therefore enjoyed it. When I asked my close friends in our class if they enjoyed it, they told me that they did not. This is them sharing an aspect of who they are, meaning that perhaps they did not relate to the film as much as I did, or did not connect to the characters, whereas I was able to compare some of them to real people in my life.

The last time I watched the film was this year, and it had the biggest impact on me yet. I believe this to be true because of my personal life, learning to experience and accept loss, in relation to the ending of Stand By Me. I somewhat agree with Oscar Wilde’s statement, but can also understand that professional critics are meant to be objective, having no personal opinions sway their views on a work of art. But, it’s extremely difficult not to let our past, the way we were raised, and our morals dictate the way that we critique, or do not critique, a work of art.