12/8 - Implicit vs Explicit and the Importance of Connotation (Sarah H)

Today in class we continued with our discussion about film reviews. Our specific focus for today was explicit vs implicit positive/negative critique. When writing a review, people tend to use words such as "good", "great",  "bad", or "awful" repeatedly. This is explicit critique, and it makes the review seem boring and repetitive. The way to avoid this is through implicit critique. To best understand this, we examined a (spoiler-free) review of Moana, the Disney movie that came out recently. A.O. Scott, the author of this particular review, was very positive, utilizing both explicit and implicit praise. For example,  at one point Scott says about the idea of the Disney Princess:

"It is, as these things go, a particularly good brand. The Disney princess tradition has held onto its charm as it has changed with the times, widening its cultural frame of reference and allowing its heroines to travel down paths other than the one leading straight to matrimony."

The use of the word "good" in the first sentence plainly states that this is a positive statement about the Disney Princess brand as a whole. This is explicit praise. However, in the second sentence of this passage, Scott does not use words such as "good" or "great". He   alludes to this movie's charm, relevance, relativity, and uniqueness in a way that we understand to be praises. This implied or inferred meaning is known as the connotation. To achieve this, he uses words such as "changed", "widening", and "allowing", all verbs that imply a sense of freedom and progression. This is an example of implicit praise. Another example could be found when Scott discusses the music of the film, specifically his favorite song and the music penned by Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda:

"The best of these is probably a glam-rock pastiche called “Shiny,” performed by Jemaine Clement in the guise of a greedy giant crab. Mr. Miranda’s motor-mouthed synthesis of hip-hop and show-tune traditions provides jolts of energy and wit, matched by some clever bits of animation."

In this example, Scott's use of the word "best" explicitly tells the reader his feelings about the song, thus this is explicit praise. However, in the second sentence, Scott uses words such as "clever" that generally have a positive connotation. This implicitly tells the reader that Miranda's music was amazing and innovative. Therefore, this is implicit praise. We were advised to make use of both techniques in our own reviews.

Above is the official Moana trailer. This may provide some context that will help you understand the review by A.O Scott. Click the word review (in yellow) to read Scott's review.

The rest of the class was then used to work on either independent reading for Friday's podcast or our review on last Friday's podcast.