Friday, March 04, 2011

What's with the New York Times Magazine adding editor credits to the end of features? - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine:

The New York Times Magazine's move reflects the growing fetishization of credit-making and -taking in our culture. As recently as the early 1950s, a motion picture would begin with a few brief credits to the artists, actors, and technicians who had contributed to it, and the closing credits would be nonexistent or confined to a list of the featured cast. But at some point—was it the biblical epics?—the crews grew larger and larger, and so did the closing credits. When did the endless credits that accompany fashion photo shoots become di rigueur? Or the inane credits that follow some public radio shows?! I'm sure that moms everywhere celebrate the credit explosion, but who else?