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Pauline Kael Quotes

Film critic

Pauline Kael was an influential American film critic, born on June 19, 1919, and passed away on September 3, 2001. She was a prominent figure in the film criticism world, known for her unique perspective and profound insights into cinema.

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All Art Ifs Movie People Artist Television Want Knows Believe Film May Actors Feels Saws Seems Stills Thinking Way Audience Country

Famous Pauline Kael Quotes

“Television represents what happens to a medium when the artists have no power and the businessmen are in full, unquestioned control.”

Happens Artist Television Mediums Businessman

Book:For Keeps

Source: For Keeps

“For perhaps most Americans, TV is an apppliance, not to be used selectively but to be turned on - there's always something to watch.”

Used Watches Television Tvs

Book:For Keeps

Source: For Keeps

“Television as we have it isn't an art form - it's a piece of furniture that is good for a few things.”

Art Form Pieces Television Furniture

Book:Raising Kane and Other Essays

Source: Raising Kane and Other Essays

“There is something spurious about the very term 'a movie made for TV,' because what you make for TV is a TV program.”

Made Term Television Tvs Program

Book:For Keeps

Source: For Keeps

“McLuhanism and the media have broken the back of the book business; they've freed people from the shame of not reading. They've rationalized becoming stupid and watching television.”

People Book Reading Media Stupid Television Broken Becoming Shame Watching Television

Book:For Keeps

Source: For Keeps

“What this generation was bred to at television's knees was not wisdom, but cynicism.”

Political Generations Television Knees Cynicism This Generation

Author:Pauline Kael

“Movies are a combination of art and mass medium, but television is so single in its purpose-selling-that it operates without that painful, poignant mixture of aspiration and effort and compromise.”

Art Purpose Effort Television Mass Painful Selling Mediums Compromise Combination Aspiration Mixtures Poignant

Book:For Keeps

Source: For Keeps

“Watching old movies is like spending an evening with those people next door. They bore us, and we wouldn't go out of our way to see them; we drop in on them because they're so close. If it took some effort to see old movies, we might try to find out which were the good ones, and if people saw only the good ones maybe they would still respect old movies. As it is, people sit and watch movies that audiences walked out on thirty years ago. Like Lot's wife, we are tempted to take another look, attracted not by evil but by something that seems much more shameful -- our own innocence.”

Source: Raising Kane and Other Essays

About the Author

Born: June 19, 1919
Died: September 3, 2001
Known for: Film critic
Quotes: 94

Books & Sources

For KeepsRelated source material

i lost it at the moviesRelated source material

Raising Kane and Other EssaysRelated source material

HookedRelated source material

5001 Nights at the MoviesRelated source material

Movie love: complete reviews 1988-1991Related source material

Afterglow: A Last Conversation with Pauline KaelRelated source material

Going Steady: Film Writings, 1968-1969Related source material

Conversations with Pauline KaelRelated source material

For Keeps: 30 Years at the MoviesRelated source material

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