a few days ago, I muted the word “backlash” because I often believe it to be a discriminating word in criticism that masks a general disdain for healthy dissent within discourse.

backlash is something that grows over time. it does not happen immediately. if your early review of a film is positive and then the film is released to critics with less press access, their reaction is not a “backlash.” they just spoke AFTER you. it’s not an attack.

the films in which the term “backlash” is weaponized most often are: films about disabled people, films about Black people, films about queer people, films about trans people, etc. and the dissent usually comes from people in those communities.

“backlash” is basically a dog whistle at this point—whenever the term is deployed it tends to say more about the person using it than anything else.