Greenday Review: Analyzing and Critiquing the Critics' Views

This assignment delves into the analysis and critique of two reviews concerning Green Day's musical, "American Idiot." The student begins by defining the role of a critic, drawing upon provided course materials and external sources. The core of the assignment involves a comparative analysis of Charles Isherwood's and Tulis McCall's reviews of the show. The student examines the critics' writing styles, their perspectives on the musical's impact, and their overall assessments of the show's strengths and weaknesses. The student's own opinion is clearly stated, favoring McCall's review for its ability to engage readers and its relevance, while also acknowledging the importance of the show's narrative. The student concludes by emphasizing the necessity for reviews to resonate with readers and address contemporary issues to maintain their significance.

Running head: CRITIQUING THE CRITICISM
CRITIQUING THE CRITICISM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRITIQUING THE CRITICISM
This paper is going to focus on how a critique works and it specifically is going to
talk about the criticism of a particular show namely, “American Idiot” by one of the most
celebrated rock bands Greenday. It will draw a comparison between two of the readings and
try and to conclude with how different the readings are from my opinion.
At first one must know who these critiques are and what their jobs are. Critiques are
basically those people who opine on different fields and have expertise on that specific sphere
of art. Now Charles Isherwood in his “Stomping Onto Broadway with a Punk Tantrum”
literally travels to the core of the band and the show “American Idiot” to analyze it. Here the
critique uses some eloquent expressions to describe the song like “…“American Idiot” is
drawn in brash, primary-colored strokes, maybe too crudely for those looking for specifics of
character rather than cultural archetypes.” (Isherwood). He does not restrict his research only
in this song rather he excavates the truth behind the show and the book the vocalist along
with another member of the band has written. He in fact believes the show “detonates a fierce
aesthetic charge in this ho-hum Broadway season” (Isherwood). On the contrary, the review
of Tulis McCall of the same show sounds disappointing because she firmly believes,
“American Idiot didn’t make it to the curb.” It is evident in both the reviews that they
describe the show and the content of the show in their own manner. However, Tulis asserts
that the show has already lost its relevance in 2010, “The global condition has changed, and
the generation of “instant everything” has changed with it” (McCall).
Both the critiques choose to write on the background of the show which is really
impressive. However, the first review sounds more aesthetic but less informative whereas the
second review by Tulis is more appropriate with her proper justification of not liking the
show that much. The first review seems to have been written from a watch tower hence the
details are missing while the second review is written with minute details where even a tiny
loophole cannot be missed out by the critique. There is no scope of participation of the

2CRITIQUING THE CRITICISM
readers in the first review where the second review is written in a manner where the readers
will be involved automatically, “How long does the show stay with you after you leave the
theatre? That’s what I’m referring to” (McCall)
I am certain to choose the second review not because my opinion matches with the
review but also because it is able to draw the attention of the readers very quickly. I
personally felt the show offered nothing that the audience could take home and the second
review seems to be more justifying to me. I liked the story woven for the show but the
significance it had six years before is definitely not the same anymore.
Therefore it can be concluded that a review should involve its readers otherwise the
relevance is lost which is also true for the show. The show could have incorporated certain
current issues and that would have been a joy to watch.

3CRITIQUING THE CRITICISM
Sources cited
Isherwood, Charles. "Stomping Onto Broadway, With a Punk Temper Tantrum." The New
York Times online 21 (2010).
McCall, Tulis. "Review". 2010, Accessed 1 Apr 2020.