History Main / StrawCritic

* The ''{{Viz}}'' strip "The Critics" is about a pair of stereotypical ''avant garde'' art critics who despise anything vaguely accessible to people outside the ''avant garde'' clique, love anything "shocking", and see themselves as politically revolutionary while being '''ludicrously''' intellectually-snobbish and class-prejudiced.

* The bout of VolleyingInsults in ''WaitingForGodot'', which is won decisively with the ultimate epithet: "Crrritic!"

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has Jasper Rolls, a critic boss character who was the absurd epitome of this trope; an ugly, obese, snobbish man who has many jokes at his expense and who [[WordsCanBreakMyBones literally hurls]] cliched derogatory adjectives like "tedious" and "monotonous" etc. whilst you battle him. This gets even more interesting when you remember that the battle takes place [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind in the mindscape]] of [[WhiteDwarfStarlet demented former actress]] Gloria van Gouton, whose insanity is partially due to the harsh mockery of critics when her act fell apart. Jasper is a manifestation of their criticism combined with Gloria's own insecurities and self-doubt.
** In a bit of a [[FridgeBrilliance Fridge Brilliant]] [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] to this trope, Jasper doesn't die after you defeat him--he just shrinks from his previously huge size. Having an inner (or outer) critic isn't ''bad'' in and of itself (without it, we wouldn't feel the need to improve ourselves)- but if it grows too harsh or too negative (like in Gloria's case), it can become a problem.

* In ''Film/TheatreOfBlood'', VincentPrice plays a Shakespearean actor who kills the critics who had panned him. While dueling with one (the only one who makes it to the end of the film), he delivers an AuthorTract lashing out at critics.

See also ReviewerStockPhrases. Compare FanDumb, UnpleasableFanbase, CausticCritic, and {{FanHater}}s.

** In a more recent internet video Sam tries to sing American Woman ([[TheGuessWho hazarding]] that it was written by, "I don't know...John Philip Sousa?"), only to discover that it is not, as he believed, a ballad in praise of Lady Liberty, at which point he starts getting into this on patriotic grounds. But what really gets his hackles up is that the Guess Who are ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Canadian]]''.

* This is the entire point of the TobyKeith song ''The Critic''.

* Even Creator/{{Voltaire}} gets into this in his novel ''{{Candide}}''. In the later chapters there's Count Pococurante who owns an extensive library of great literature. But he's incapable of enjoying anything and ruthlessly critiques all of it. The character also counts as SelfParody- all of his literary opinions are those of Voltaire himself, who also a pretty snarky guy- but the character takes it to insufferable levels.

* Approvers for Equestria Daily and The Royal Guard are far from professionals, and it shows. While some reasons for rejecting stories can be obvious i.e. not meeting guidelines, having terrible grammar, or being painfully written, most rejections seem to come about for what could be described as no reason but nitpicks. Critic thinks you should have used third instead of first person? Rejected! Critic didn't like that a war story named some equipment used? Rejected! Critic doesn't like the fact that your story focused on a single character gives them the bulk of the attention instead of side characters? Rejected! Critic completely misinterprets what you write in a way counter to every single things you said and implied? Rejected! Critic doesn't like how you used participles instead of relative clauses? Rejected! Critic thinks that a sprawling exploration of a complex world and its characters should have been a mundane, tightly focused slice of life story about the daily grind of one character? Rejected!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' features an antagonistic restaurant critic who doesn't seem to care much about his journalistic ethics, as he publicly discloses his identity and tells restaurants ahead of time that he's giving them a bad review. In the end he proves to have HiddenDepths, but this is communicated via a monologue about how critics are inherently inferior to artists.

[[folder:Sports]]
* Former German UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball pundit Günter Netzer falls in the Type 1 category, but was hugely popular because of his extensive knowledge about the game, and other pundits [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny at the time]] being the [[YesMan exact opposite]].
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* The ironically named ''Zesty'' Gourmand of WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic was a food critic who somehow managed to get almost every restaurant in Canterlot to serve bland and stereotypically tiny food dishes even though no one else seemed to like eating them. While she is often compared to [[WesternAnimation/Ratatouille Anton Ego]] by the fanbase, her characterization is considerably weaker and she doesn't even ''try'' the restaurant's more unique food at the end of the episode, even going as so far as to complain that ponies were eating there when it didn't have her coveted "three hoof" rating.

* A stylish (as if we expect any less) example from OscarWilde, ''TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'':
--> '''Algernon:''' The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility.\\

* StatlerAndWaldorf, on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', who appear in the "audience" and only exist to heckle Kermit and the rest of the Muppets. In a subversion, though, they are generally shown as being sharp-witted and incisive; usually they come off as the show being self-deprecating, rather than making a straw man out of their critics.

Can occasionally be a case of TruthInTelevision, since some critics have been known to make pronouncements about media which they haven't even seen firsthand. But this rarely happens so spectacularly as in fiction.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has Jasper Rolls, a critic boss character who was the absurd epitome of this trope; an ugly, obese, snobbish man who has many jokes at his expense and who [[WordsCanBreakMyBones literally hurls]] cliched derogatory adjectives like "tedious" and "monotonous" etc. whilst you battle him. This gets even more interesting when you remember that the battle takes place [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind in the mindscape]] of [[WhiteDwarfStarlet demented former actress]] Gloria van Gouton, where Jasper represents Gloria's own insecurities and harsh self-judgements about her performance.

* ''ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' had a recurring set of critic characters, although they were more of the academic, literary-analysis type. One of them (the one that Hugh Laurie played) said that he had written a book of his wise sayings, but it had been critically lambasted. "But what do critics know of the work we do?" he wonders.

* Former German [[TheBeautifulGame association football]] pundit Günter Netzer falls in the Type 1 category, but was hugely popular because of his extensive knowledge about the game, and other pundits [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny at the time]] being the [[YesMan exact opposite]].

* One character in ''Film/LadyInTheWater'' is a movie critic whose primary traits are that he is very GenreSavvy and is extremely jaded. He sometimes gives advice to the other characters. Eventually, he suffers from DeathByGenreSavviness. It's worth mentioning that the director Creator/MNightShyamalan's most recent movie at the time, ''The Village'', had been critically panned, something which did not go unnoticed or unremarked upon by many of the real-life critics who reviewed the movie. RogerEbert found that in fact, the Straw Critic got ''off easy''.

* PiersAnthony wrote a short story, "Nonent", which he included in a short story collection called "Alien Plot" that consisted of stories of his that he had tried and failed to publish elsewhere. In "Nonent", an alien [[ASimplePlan comes up with a plan]] to destroy humanity. The alien is going to do this by shutting down printed fiction so that everyone will turn into TV-watching degenerate zombies and destroy themselves. Earth has too many publishing houses to destroy directly, but he finds a weakness - they accept and evaluate unsolicited submissions. He writes a short story that will cause anyone who reads the beginning it to be compelled to finish (unless they're already a degenerate zombie), and the last page contains a picture that [[BrownNote will drive anyone who sees it insane]]. The story ends with the alien receiving a pile of rejection letters. The reason the plot failed [[DontExplainTheJoke is left unstated]]. [[spoiler:Not one editor finished reading the story!]]

* The ''{{Viz}}'' strip "The Critics" is a type one parody.

# The caricature ''avant-garde'' lover who only likes TrueArt, which is, of course, [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty]], foreign, [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]], daring, political, and created by someone who is [[TrueArtIsAncient long since dead]]. He [[FanHater thinks less of you]] for liking whatever it is that [[ItsPopularNowItSucks you do like]], and firmly believes that ViewersAreMorons. After all, if viewers weren't morons, they obviously wouldn't be watching LowestCommonDenominator crap!
# The caricature conservative who is incapable of understanding any TrueArt created by a living person, and judges it harshly based on its stubborn failure to be like the stuff he likes that was created over a hundred years ago.

# The guy who only likes TrueArt, which is, of course, [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty]], foreign, [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]], daring, political, and created by someone who is [[TrueArtIsAncient long since dead]]. He [[FanHater thinks less of you]] for liking whatever it is that [[ItsPopularNowItSucks you do like]], and firmly believes that ViewersAreMorons. After all, if viewers weren't morons, they obviously wouldn't be watching LowestCommonDenominator crap!
# The guy who is incapable of understanding TrueArt, and judges it harshly based on its stubborn failure to hold to any conventional formal scheme.

* The StephenSondheim musical ''MerrilyWeRollAlong'' features a Broadway producer who dismisses a certain song as not having "a tune you can hum," which Sondheim himself has heard once or twice during his career. The song, revised with a new lyric and accompaniment, becomes a chart-topping success; indeed, the same producer is caught humming along to it.

* DC has a few of these: Funky Flashman (created by JackKirby as a thinly-disguised and none-too-affectionate parody of StanLee) and Superboy-Prime (a parody of the very worst aspects of the continuity-obsessed forum-posting online fan) both spring to mind.

->''"It '''stinks'''"!''