Anyone else getting tired of
people deciding they don't like a movie because the mass media told them not to? Americans used to be much better at forming their own, individual opinions.
sharepeople deciding they don't like a movie because the mass media told them not to? Americans used to be much better at forming their own, individual opinions.
shareThe TomatoMeter knows all...
shareI'm more tired of the backlash brigade coming in about a week after something great comes out. The pattern keeps going that an amazing movie comes out, people love it, and about a week later you get all these youtube channels coming up with "plot holes" (which usually aren't actual plot holes) and people trying to be counter-culture or something by just ripping on the film. "It wasn't that good", or "Why such-and-such a film is actually just a shallow, bad movie!", or (my favourite), "Whatever this movie is is "problematic"..." (as though difficult, challenging, or depicting immoral actions makes a movie bad).
shareOne wonders when it became a bad thing to excel at one's job.
shareI think it's partly that every film has at least one person who legitimately didn't like it. Like, I can see where Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood might not appeal to everybody. It barely has a perceivable plot, it's meandering and rambly, and the whole summertime atmosphere is of a lackadaisical pace. I loved it, I thought it was great, but I can see where somebody might get bored (and I'm not saying they're dumb or "only like Marvel films" or something).
And with the internet, those people can find like-minded voices and pump out some blogs about how the movie sucked, or whatever.
But beyond that, I think there's just an appeal in being the counter voice. "I don't think like you!" It's appealing to go against the norm. For instance, I got bored of superhero/Marvel films awhile ago, and I kinda like that I'm in the minority. It feels fun when everybody else is fawning over Infinity War and Endgame to be able to say, "I hated the former and didn't bother with the latter".
I get tired of "this movie is overrated." Why can't people just say they didn't like it as much as everyone else did?
shareIf there was a sense of what "overrated" meant, I think that could be a good conversational spark about film (or art, or whatever), but most people use it to mean, "I didn't like this and everybody else really liked it a lot." Or sometimes not even that. Sometimes they're just saying, "It was bad", which isn't the same thing.
I think you can think something is both overrated and still great (or underrated and bad). A lot of people claim The Beatles are overrated, which since they get "BEST BAND EVER!" all the time, I could see that (although I personally don't think so, partly because of the burgeoning numbers of these naysayers...) but I also see people saying, "They're overrated; The Beatles suck," or similar statements about other properties. They can't divorce "over/underrated" from "bad/good".
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shareI'm with you on that one.
share