HEADS UP — there won’t be a newsletter next week as I’m in Liverpool visiting my sister!

Anyone who spent any time on the internet this week will have seen that article about Shrek. It was a piece in The Guardian titled ‘Shrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation’, which criticized the Shrek franchise and interrogated exactly why it has endured so well, 20 years after it was first released in 2001.

There was outrage from every corner of the internet as people reacted to the article — it was immediately clear from the ratio of likes to quote tweets what people thought of the piece. Twitter users across the globe said, “Hey now, how dare you criticize our beloved Shrek, bastion of meme culture and hallmark of the millennial experience?”

The Guardian @guardian

Shrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation

theguardian.comShrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animationThe fairytale comedy was a hit with critics and audiences but its toilet humour, glibness and shoddy animation mark it out as a misfire

A tidal wave of people chimed in saying that the article reflects the decline of media, with The Guardian resorting to ‘clickbait’ in order to generate advertising revenue. The cynic in me thinks that there’s likely some truth to this — particularly since The Guardian isn’t behind a paywall. I couldn’t resist making my own quip in the heat of the moment, riffing on the franchise’s excellent soundtrack, as my feed was flooded with similar reaction posts:

Beth Kirkbride @BettyKirkers

Hey now, you're an attention seeker, get your game on, go play Hey now, you're clickbait, get the show on, get paid

The Guardian @guardian

Shrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation https://t.co/VgqMqEXbu8

‘How incendiary is this likely to be?’ is certainly a question that commissioning editors ask themselves before greenlighting a pitch. I know that some of the highest performing articles on The Indiependent are those that have a strong opinion hook — and usually these are the same pieces that attract swarms of union jack inspired usernames to leave unsavoury comments on our social media channels. As an editor, you’d be foolish not to consider the viral potential of each piece you commission.

If you’re an editor tasked with trying to make money and keep the lights on at an outlet, then it follows that you would commission ‘harmless’ opinion pieces like the Shrek feature in order to drive traffic to the site. As an editor, this is a far easier decision to take than it is to commission an unsavoury political figure whose views may result in you being personally cancelled. It’s unlikely that heads would ever roll over a feature about a loveable ogre. So the basis for why the piece was commissioned is clear — it was a harmless way of making sure The Guardian was the paper at the forefront of everyone’s mind last week.

But the more I thought about the Shrek piece over the course of the week, the more I realised how rare it is for us to read genuine criticism these days. In a world where journalists are sent extravagant Christmas gifts, given press passes to ‘exclusive’ events and screenings where they are plied with booze, and then cajoled by PR reps to review the latest book/film/album/TV series, it’s easy to default to positive review writing. If you’re feeling generous, then perhaps you might see this as a desire to help independent creators on their way up by only writing nice things. My mum’s mantra of “If you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say it”, springs to mind. But if you’re less generous — or perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of these freebies and know firsthand how persuasive they can be — then you’ll probably feel uneasy about the often over-the-top lengths that PRs go to get their clients in the press.

What was so refreshing about the Shrek article, then, was the fact that it was so unapologetically critical. Yes, the headline was clickbaity. But the piece itself was well-articulated and couched its title’s bold claim in sound reasoning. So what can early career stage journalists take away from this whole ‘controversy’? Well, I’m taking away the reminder that not everything I write has to be a glowing endorsement. Sometimes it’s OK to hate stuff everyone else loves.

My week

… in editing

Here’s a great piece by my co-editor James Reynolds on the new album ‘Delta Kream’ by The Black Keys; a really interesting interview with Tyler Shaw (who has toured with Selena Gomez) by Salma Ouaguira; and a review of ‘Untitled’, the new JAWS song, by Alannah Williams.

… in writing

Pitches: 0

Commissions: 0

I got approached by a company that wants to work together on a long-term project. It looks promising money-wise but I’m waiting until we have an initial meeting before getting my hopes up.

Articles written: 0

Articles published: 0

I put a lot of effort into a job application which I sent off this week, so motivation to pitch alongside my day job has been at a big fat 0. I’m hoping to get back in the saddle next week — watch this space.

… in listening/watching

I started watching The Sopranos with my boyfriend and it’s really chuffing good.

I’ve been listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR pretty much on repeat, too.

… in reading

If you’d like some alternative Shrek takes then check out Ella Kemp’s VICE piece on ‘A cultural evolution of ‘Shrek’, from Blockbuster hit to historic meme’
I loved this Journo Resources piece on ‘Everything new writers should know about starting out in journalism’
I’m a massive geek when it comes to machine learning so I loved this MIT Technology Review piece on how ‘A GPT-3 bot posted comments on Reddit for a week and no one noticed’
This piece in The Atlantic by Arthur C. Brookes about using the pandemic as ‘A once-in-a-lifetime chance to start over’ was thought-provoking
Serena Smith’s Huck piece on ‘Why more young people are ditching their smartphones’ was fascinating
Sophie Gallagher’s piece for The Independent on ‘How the pandemic and modern work made burnout an acceptable state’ was an eye-opening read
I really liked this GQ piece by Justin Myers ‘Friendship is a greater reward — and challenge — than romance’
Gina Tonic’s piece on kink and whether any are actually off-limits for Refinery29 was great

Events

On 22 June The Guardian Live is hosting a lunchtime event on ‘The importance of newsroom diversity’. Starts at 1.00pm, and is in partnership with The University of Manchester.

On 12 July at 8.00pm, former The Guardian foreign correspondent Hella Pick will be talking to Emma Graham-Harrison about her extraordinary life and career — get tickets here.

Opportunities

Make sure you enter the Freelance Writing Awards, and nominate your freelance writing colleagues that you think deserve to win! It’s free to enter, and there are lots of great awards — nominations close at midday on 3 June, and award entries close at midday on 8 June. Details here.

**About me:** I’m Beth Kirkbride, an NCTJ-qualified freelance journalist from Sheffield. I’m the founder and music editor of *The Indiependent*, a communal platform for early career-stage journalists. I started this newsletter because there’s a tonne of great resources promoting journalism and media opportunities in London, but not all of us want to live or work there. Because I’m passionate about access to the media industry for all, this newsletter will always be free – but you can buy me a ko-fi if you’d like to say thank you.

The Peak District

Hate can be a useful creative resource