White is known for his provocative, idiosyncratic,[3] and often contrarian reviews, which have made him a controversial figure in film criticism.[4] As an African-American, gay, conservative film critic, he has been called a "minority three times over in his profession."[5]
Early life
White was born in Detroit,[6] the youngest of seven children. His family was the first African-American family to move to a primarily Jewish neighborhood on the city's northwest side, where he grew up. Raised Baptist, he later became Pentecostal, and identifies as "a believer."[7]
White was the arts editor for The City Sun, where he wrote film, music and theater criticism, for the span of its publication from 1984 to 1996. He was hired by New York Press in 1997 and wrote for the paper until it ceased publication in August 2011. He then assumed the editorship of its sister publication CityArts starting in September.
In 1992, White was one of nine newspaper and magazine writers to win the ASCAPDeems Taylor Award for music criticism.[18]
In January 2014, White was expelled from the New York Film Critics Circle for allegedly heckling director Steve McQueen at an event for the film 12 Years a Slave.[19][20] White maintained his innocence,[21] and called his expulsion a "smear campaign."[22] The previous year, White had shouted protests at Michael Moore while Moore was delivering a speech, as White felt Moore had been unfairly maligning the Catholic Church.[23] After White's explusion, film critics Harlan Jacobson and Thelma Adams defended White, with the latter calling the move "Stalinist".[23] White received an Anti-Censorship Award at the 35th annual American Book Awards for being "unfairly removed" from the critics' organization.[24]
Views on film
In 2013, Time Magazine wrote that White's reviews on Rotten Tomatoes agreed with the Tomatometer consensus just under 50% of the time.[25]
White made some comments about some of these, saying: "Movies don't change but we do. I did not see Sansho the Bailiff until recently and it had the same powerful effect on me as A.I. did ten years ago, so off with Spielberg to give Mizoguchi's masterwork its props. Godard's rarely screened Nouvelle Vague looms in my memory as his grandest work—grander and more important still due to cinephilia's recent decline."[50]
Personal life
White is gay and a Christian.[51] According to the New York Times, he "lives by himself in Chelsea with no pets or plants, amid piles of DVDs. Standing 6-foot-3, he cuts an imposing figure. Yet in conversation, he comes across as exacting, quiet and polite, far different from what his writing—and seeming bad behavior—might suggest."[23]
Public reception
In his 2009 essay "Not in Defense of Armond White",Roger Ebert called White "an intelligent critic and a passionate writer" but also a "smart and knowing [...] troll".[52] White has in turn criticized Ebert, writing, "I do think it is fair to say that Roger Ebert destroyed film criticism. Because of the wide and far reach of television, he became an example of what a film critic does for too many people. And what he did simply was not criticism. It was simply blather."[53]
In 2014, film critic Walter Biggins of RogerEbert.com wrote the essay "In Defense of Armond White", a reference to Ebert's earlier essay. Biggins criticizes White's combative style, but defends him as a critic, calling White "an important, distinctive, and...necessary voice in film criticism". Biggins writes: "He's no troll, and he's one of the few critics capable of noting the inherent—and latent—racism of much of cinema and its discourse... he has provided a rare black voice, and perhaps an even rarer conservative voice, to film/video commentary."[54]
Time Magazine called White an "undeniably talented writer" who "developed a kind of notoriety for his rather contrarian opinions. Some of his colleagues have praised his against-the-grain approach to film criticism, while many others, including a broad swath he's publicly condemned, have been less kind".[25]
White has responded to criticism of his reviews: "If there were a whole bunch of critics who I thought were doing a good job, then I would stop...Because really, the reason why I do what I do is because I think there are things that need to be said about movies, about culture, about the world, that nobody's saying.[53]
Critic Thelma Adams has cited White as an influence on her work.[55]
Make Spielberg Great Again: The Steven Spielberg Chronicles, 2020 (ISBN978-0984215911)
In popular culture
White is briefly mentioned in Charlie Kaufman's 2020 absurdist novel Antkind. The novel's protagonist, a paranoid failed film critic, believes he is being spied on by White through the use of miniature drones disguised as bugs.[57]
Further reading
Roberts, Jerry. The Complete History of American Film Criticism. Santa Monica Press, 2010. ISBN978-1-59580-049-7
Lopate, Phillip (ed.). American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now. Library of America, 2006. ISBN1-931082-92-8
^"Armond White". The African-American Literature Book Club. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
^McNeil, Daniel (2015). "The last honest film critic in America: Armond White and the children of James Baldwin". In Frey, Mattias; Sayad, Cecilia (eds.). Film Criticism in the Digital Age. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pp. 61–78. ISBN978-0813570723.
^Knipfel, Jim (August 24, 2020). "On the Upstart NYC Alt Weekly That Gave Us Armond White". Literary Hub. Retrieved November 15, 2021. Born in Detroit, Armond first appeared on the New York scene as editor of the Brooklyn's City Sun.
^ ab"Armond White". BFI. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2023. Movies don't change but we do. I did not see Sansho the Bailiff until recently and it had the same powerful effect on me as A.I. did ten years ago, so off with Spielberg to give Mizoguchi's masterwork its props. Godard's rarely screened Nouvelle Vague looms in my memory as his grandest work – grander and more important still due to cinephilia's recent decline.
