Raymond Carney (born February 28, 1947) is an American scholar and critic, primarily known for his work as a film theorist, although he writes extensively on American art and literature as well. He is known for his study of the works of actor and director John Cassavetes. He teaches in the Film and Television department of the Boston University College of Communication at Boston University and has published several books on American art and film. Background Carney was educated at Harvard (magna cum laude) and Rutgers University. Professor Carney taught literature at Middlebury College and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was also a William Rice Kimball Fellow at Stanford University, working on a study of performance art, particularly the stand-up comedy of Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. Viewpoints Carney is highly critical of Hollywood filmmaking, and the way it is approached from an academic standpoint. He is well known for the controversial stridency with which he attacks directors such as Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, the Coen brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, whom he describes as tricksters using empty style and pseudo-intellectualism to score points with an “in” crowd. Carney often refers to Spielberg’s output after Schindler’s List (1993) as “Steven ‘Please take me seriously’ Spielberg movies.” Carney is as critical of the academic establishment that gives plaudits to these directors as he is of the filmmakers themselves. In his 1989 The Alaska Quarterly Review essay on Woody Allen, “Modernism for the Millions,” Carney notes that Allen uses humour in his films to defuse situations that he, the filmmaker, is uncomfortable with, such as drug use and depression. At the same time, Allen wants to get credit for bringing up these issues, as that is what serious artists do. Carney argues that an emphasis on interpreting symbolism shows a “high school” understanding of art, and that this kind of “decoder ring” approach is in place because it is easier to grasp and makes scholars feel more important and esoteric. Carney believes that the meaning of a creative work lies at its surface, and imagines a world where art is appreciated for what it objectively contains rather than what is read into it, an aesthetic he refers to as pragmatic. He argues that audiences can, for example, simply appreciate the acting in a film and gain meaning from this, what