I've always assumed classical critics are searching for archetypical qualities which they tend to "over-fit" to over time. It helps them become good at what th

I've always assumed classical critics are searching for archetypical qualities which they tend to "over-fit" to over time. It helps them become good at what they do, but then when the inevitable disruptive new expression occurs, the are unable to fit it into their model and reject it. The modern version of this has seem to evolve into genre-level criticism which insulates the critic from that level of disruption. At the extreme, it just becomes fanboy-ism.