Does anyone know why writing a harsh review is referred to as panning?
e.g. I agree the movie was somewhat flawed, but he really panned it.
I did a little digging in the online OED and came across this in pan, n.1:
III. Extended uses.
14. colloq. (orig. U.S.). A severely critical or dismissive review. In early use freq. in on the pan: (of a person) under reprimand or adverse criticism. Cf. pan v.3 6.1899 W. J. Kountz Billy Baxter's Lett. 20 She just put everybody in town on the pan and roasted them to a whisper.
The 1899 quotation couples the idea of roasting (giving someone enough heat to almost burn them) and the logical requirement that roasting is done in a pan may be the link you seek.
Emmett
Does this mean that critics might pan a movie that featured a camera panning a desert landscape?