In a mass market dominated by oversold, largely disposable films tailored to middlebrow tastes, discerning critics and audiences often find themselves pushed to the margins, searching for fresh ways to wrest themselves from the studio machinery. As the title of Greg Taylor's invaluable Artists In The Audience suggests, this is a creative response, led by quot;vanguard" cultists and camp aficionados driven to find the art in junk or turn the junk into art. Taylor traces the vanguard tradition back to Oscar Wilde's assertion that an artist's work is merely "a starting-point for a new creation," and leaps forward to discover postwar American tastemakers from Manny Farber to Pauline Kael filtering popular movies through their own distinct, iconoclastic perspectives. A convincing and accessible marriage of film theory and sweeping cultural commentary, Artists In The Audience nails the cineaste's impulse to champion neglected work while reveling in the unabashed crumminess of cynical Hollywood product. For those whose film education is supplemented by forays into Danny Peary's Cult Movies series or episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the book offers a generous dose of creative empowerment. But Taylor warns that "artistic criticism" has its limitations—in particular, the question of how to react when a Charlie Chaplin comes along and merges popular entertainment with high art. Is it possible to mine the trash and still remain open to more serious endeavors? While Taylor admires critics who search for gems in a medium seized by consumerism, these troubling questions temper his enthusiasm. Artists In The Audience worries for a future in which aesthetic values are ignored and all the creativity and art comes solely from the viewer.